Alexander the Great 12
"Walk Like an Egyptian": Pharaoh Alexander
by CTCWeb Editors
"...Walk the Line Like Egyptian" - The Bangles
In 331 BCE, Alexander and his army reached Egypt. The march from Syria to Egypt was perilous. There was little water and shelter from the sun, and the soldiers suffered greatly during the unavoidable crossing of the Sinai Desert. But, the reward proved to be worth the effort. The Pan-Hellenic soldiers were welcomed as heroes in Egypt. The Egyptians saw Alexander as their liberator. They joyfully received him and his army into their land.
Alexander's Name in Hieroglyphics
From Livius
Recognizing that the young king wielded massive power through his army and alliances throughout the Greek world, the Egyptians paid homage to Alexander, calling him “Pharaoh,” the most important of the kings. This honorific title also conferred upon him divine status. Alexander’s greatest achievement in Egypt was not deification, however. That outstanding action was the establishment of the city of Alexandria, which would become Egypt’s administrative capital and, later in antiquity, would be the site of the city’s immense library.
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Alexander the God?
Alexander’s divinity was proclaimed in a few different ways. From the very beginning, Olympias, Alexander’s mother, would claim that Zeus was really her son’s father. She said that Zeus had come to her in the form of a snake. Alexander, in his mother’s eyes, was a god’s son. The Egyptians added to Alexander’s claim to divinity. When he was in Egypt, Alexander visited the Temple of Zeus-Ammon. In consulting with the oracle there, Alexander was pronounced the son of Zeus-Ammon. Finally, the Persian custom of prostration signaled divinity. When bowing down in front of the king, the person performing the prostration tacitly acknowledged that the king was a higher-being than he.
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