Thanks Darkuser, you are obviously well read on this and I would like to read your article if poss, and generally pick your brains if you don't mind. Can you e-mail me it as I will be studying this in more detail over the coming months.

RE politics, this is what I was saying RE the movie. The interps from the 19th/20th C have to be taken with a pinch of salt. The Phillihellenes movement would obviously have been extremely keen to support the idea of a united Greek identity stretching back to antiquity. Also, whole people like the Eteocypriots have been shown to have been imaginary ideological constructs influenced by 19th/20th C politics. Movies such as Alexander still impact on current politics such as in Cyprus etc. Philip may not have been considered 'Greek' but what was Greek and what was Hellene? Attic? Were the Spartans Hellenes? No I don't think so. Were the Rhodians Hellenes? I doubt it. Were the Ionians under Persian rule hellenes? So Greek and Hellene are not interchangeable.
were there any clear boundary lines on the ground? I doubt it. Was Philip considered more Hellenic than the Persians? I am sure he was.

But, looking at the wider picture, and influences on Greece from before the Persians, there are links with the wider world such as with Egypt etc, which was closely tied with the Ionians in the east before they were taken over. Hellenic culture was formed in the Geometric and Archaic periods, and so, outside ethnic questions, and Persian related issues, there are wider issues of culture as a philosophical pursuit rather than a racial or ethnic question. So what I am saying is that Alexander, under influence from Aristotle, could well have been a believer in these ideals, and not just a military barbarian. Alexandria and Siwa are important in this, and multiple sources from Greece show that the Greeks considered the Egyptians to have been the founders of many of the arts and sciences.

Dave L





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