| home : index : ancient Persia : ancient Greece : Alexander | ||
Alexander marries Roxane |
||
![]() |
In 327,
Alexander
married the daughter of the Bactrian
nobleman Oxyartes, Roxane.
No source describes the marriage, but a contemporary painter named Aetion
made a painting of it, and this painting is described by the Greek author
Lucian of Samosata (Paintings, section 7).
The translation is by Robin Lane Fox. |
|
|
... a very beautiful bedroom, with a wedding bed on which Roxane was sitting; she was an extraordinary lovely girl but, modestly, she looked down at the ground, feeling shy before Alexander who stood beside her. Smiling cupids were in attendance: one stood behind and pulled back the veil from her face; another removed her shoe, while a third was tugging Alexander towards her by the cloak. Alexander, meanwhile, was offering her a garland, while Hephaestion assisted as best man, holding a blazing torch and leaning against a young boy, probably Hymenaeus, the god of the weddings. On the other side more cupids were playing, this time among Alexander's armor; two heaved his spear, two dragged his shield by the hand-grips, on which sat a third, presumably their king; another had hidden under the breastplate, as if to ambush them. Roxane bore Alexander a son, Alexander IV. |
||
|
|
||