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Historie: el reemplazo espiritual de Vinland Saga revela su primer avance
Con el final del manga de Vinland Saga y sin una fecha concreta para la tercera temporada del anime, los seguidores de la obra de Makoto Yukimura buscan desesperadamente algo que llene ese vacío. La respuesta podría llegar en enero de 2027 con el estreno de Historie, una adaptación que promete transportar a los espectadores a la Antigua Grecia con una narrativa histórica tan intensa como la del…
Historie : le digne successeur de Vinland Saga dévoile sa première bande-annonce
Alors que Vinland Saga a récemment tiré sa révérence et que la saison 3 de l’anime se fait toujours attendre, les amateurs de récits historiques épiques peuvent se tourner vers une nouvelle série prometteuse. L’adaptation animée du manga Historie, annoncée en janvier dernier, vient de dévoiler son premier trailer officiel, confirmant une sortie pour janvier 2027. Réalisée par le studio…
Hi Dr. Reames! What do you think of the remarks made by some people that Hephaestion was a rash, spoiled and foolish person because of his quarrels with Craterus and Eumenes?
As my answer to this is pretty much the sum of my published work on Hephaistion, that might be a bit much for a Tumblr reply. Ha. It's Peter Green who said a variation on that, btw (and Plutarch supposedly quoting Alexander). Green called Hephaistion, "Tall, handsome, spoilt, spiteful, overbearing, and fundamentally stupid" (p. 465, U. Cal ed., 1991 reprint), and more or less jump-started my dissertation. (Waldemar Heckel would agree with Green, btw.)
You can find my articles on academia.edu
As for the Hephaistion-Krateros quarrel in particular (and Alexander's supposed retort telling Hephaistion he was rash and foolish), I just submitted a paper which should be out with Karanos some time next year/late this year (?), called "Cyclops vs. Wolverine: Hephaistion and Krateros, Plutarch, and Swords." It's the elaborated-on version of what I gave at the big international ATG conference here in Omaha last fall (September 2024).
The abstract might interest you (and others)....
Abstract: The tale of Hephaistion and Krateros pulling swords on each other in India, recorded only by Plutarch, may not be a real event but an anecdotal illustration of Alexander’s new Persianizing policies versus traditional Macedonian resistance, embodied by Hephaistion for the former, and Krateros for the latter. If tension between the two marshals was probable enough, as suggested by the Philalexandros-Philobasileus comparative, a physical confrontation was most likely invented by Plutarch for literary ends.
My current monograph on Hephaistion and Krateros (although I made zill headway on it this summer for a variety of reasons connected to the next ATG conference in Barcelona February 2026, and university duties) also deals with Hephaistion's reputation in more detail, and his quarrels with both Krateros and Eumenes.
I'd also point out that Eumenes quarreled with a lot of people. ;-)
Do you think Alexander had a friendship with Eumenes, or did he find him irritating?
Oh, I think Alexander actually respected Eumenes. Others may have found him annoying, but Philip brought him on for a reason, and Alexander kept him for a reason. He seems to have been quite competent and clever, not only as a grammatikos (γραμματικός, secretary), but then as a military commander too.
That said, he was also, it seems, tough to get along with. Yet, to be fair, that might owe to being a Greek at the Macedonian court. I think he was regularly underestimated. That would annoy anybody.
Forgive me if this is a very elementary question (inspired after watching your TikToks!!) but… I’ve always been curious: what exactly was the role of a secretary in the Macedonian court such that Eumenes could wield so much power and influence, especially during the Successor Wars? Like, to the point that the Chilliarch, the second-in-command to the king himself, would have beef with him? I guess when I think of a secretary, I envision the more stereotypical modern version of them, which is like an executive assistant, or the front desk receptionist, or a customer service agent, which obviously seems to be anachronistic. But I’m just struggling to comprehend what would have made Eumenes, or the role he occupied, such a controversial figure.
First, let me point to an important book by my colleague, Ed(ward M.) Anson, Eumenes of Cardia: a Greek among Macedonians (2nd ed., 2015). It’s a quite excellent discussion of Eumenes’s career, and was actually Ed’s dissertation topic. I reckon, like me, he waited a long while before turning the dissertation into a monograph (even the 1st edition). Alas, it’s expensive. Even I don’t own a copy, as I have access to the university library’s. But I do recommend that folks interested request it via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Even smaller public libraries offer that service, although you might have to pay a (relatively) small shipping fee.
So, Eumenes is an interesting character in many ways. As you suggest, “secretary” gives the wrong impression. The word in Greek is grammateus, and it can mean any sort of scribe, clerk, records keeper…or the official in charge of the whole royal office: official correspondence, what letters the king actually saw, the keeping of the Royal Journal and other state records, etc., etc. A hugely influential position, his might be closer to what we’d call, in the US, the Chief of Staff.
In my opinion, that was the heart of Eumenes’s dislike of Hephaistion. I said it in my dissertation and still think it’s true. When Hephaistion was made Chiliarch, that put him above Eumenes in administration around Alexander. The Chief of Staff got demoted…and didn’t like it. It’s from Susa onward that the two men seem to clash—at least twice that we know about. (I differ with Ed on this; he thinks it was about personalities while I think it was more political- and status-driven.)
That Eumenes was loyal to Alexander—and the Argead family—isn’t in question. But it wasn’t just Hephaistion he had trouble with. We know he also didn’t like Antipatros—one reason he sided with Perdikkas, even when (his friend) Krateros joined Antipatros. He also had a long-standing family beef with Hekataios of Kardia, and later hated Kassandros (as the son of Antipatros). But he seems to have got on with Olympias and Kleopatra—who he tried to get Perdikkas to marry. Perdikkas took his advice and divorced Antipatros’s daughter Nikaia, which eventually led to his downfall. One can’t escape the sense that Eumenes was touchy. Then again, as I’ve said before, they all were. And he had to put up with being constantly looked down on both as a “mere secretary” and as a Greek among Macedonians. He advanced on Alexander’s favor…which probably made others jealous of him. In fact, I think that’s one reason he took Hephaistion’s promotion hard. He’d worked hard for Chief of Staff, and didn’t like Hephaistion butting in. And if Hephaistion was also of Greek descent (as I’ve argued), both may have had a sense that there was room only for one. Or at least Eumenes may have thought so.
Men in his position weren’t normally entrusted with military commands, but he proved to be surprisingly good and, according to Ed, probably had more army assignments during Alexander’s lifetime than he’s credited with. (He was allied with Ptolemy’s enemy, Perdikkas, remember and Ptolemy was Arrian’s chief military source.) When Perdikkas was elevated to Hephaistion’s position, Eumenes took Perdikkas’s old command, and later, was himself Chilliarch. The infantry seems to have liked/trusted him, and later, he was quite successful at securing Cappadocia. In fact, during the early Diadochi wars, it was his stratagem that defeated Krateros’ army and got him killed (perhaps to his own regret, although I think Plutarch exaggerated that account). He also fought—one-on-one—against Neoptolemos … another of Alexander’s officers he couldn’t stand. And beat him. Neoptolemos was a demonstrated military commander.
So he seems to have defied the usual expectation of what a grammateus could do—and become. He was the highest ranking Greek in Alexander’s army, the only one to really rub shoulders with the Macedonian inner circle.
EDIT: I realized I forgot Nearchos. So Eumenes AND Nearchos were the two top-ranked Greeks at Alexander's court at his death. But if anything, Eumenes had edged Nearchos in place.
Hey, Scythian!
