Customer Reviews

Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions (Hellenistic Culture and Society)

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"Alexander The Great And The Mystery Of The Elephant Medallions", by Frank L. Holt. Published by The University Of California Press.

Holt tells us that there have been 2000 books and papers published about Alexander in the last 40 years. What he kindly omits is that most of them have been rubbish; this one is not. It is a fine and valuable contribution to Alexander Studies admirably thought out and very well written. The University Of California Press has, as usual, well presented and marketed the work which is enjoying a popularity it should not have had otherwise. Basically a study of some unusual coin- like medallions depicting Alexander battling elephant mounted men. Holt gives us what might have been a tedious article in an obscure numismatic journal as a fascinating mystery and, along the way, manages to present an unsullied glimpse of Alexander without any of the contemporaneous tints which have been so blithely applied to him over the years. This is an excellent small book by a fine scholar with a keen analytical mind and an unusual facility for communicating with non scholars without pandering.

This book is a delightful read. Like a good mystery, I was mystified by the clues as they were presented in the narration and wondered at times "so what?" But that only made the satifaction so much more pleasant when the meanings of the clues were revealed at the end and the medallions tell their story after thousands of years.

This is on the surface a book about the history of a set of Hellenistic medals, which began to be discovered in the late 19th century. They show on one side, a Hellenistic leader / king figure, and on the other a combat between a mounted Hellenistic figure (usually taken to be the figure from the reverse side) and an elephant with two crewmen. There have been numerous interpretations over the years as to who the figure represents, with the majority favouring Alexander the Great, and the elephant fight being the defeat of Porus at the battle of the river Hydaspes. There have been many theories as to what exactly the medals portray, why they portray it, and where they originated. There are also several forgeries in circulation, just to muddy the waters. The author's research takes us from the former Soviet Central Asia, where the first medals were unearthed; the length of Europe; and to America, where many of the medals are now housed. He looks at the history of Numismatics (the study of coins - created by some of the former owners of the Elephant Medallions), archaeology, and the study of the classical and Hellenistic world, and the changes that have affected them since the medals were first discovered. Many of the characters involved knew each other, and even Charles Darwin's study of the behaviour of earthworms plays a part. However, what the author does best is to show the influence that people's contemporary culture can have on their world-view, and how it can affect their view of the past as they project their current world-view on the way people behaved in the past, and colour their reading of historical sources. Some recent Indian academics have tried to prove that Alexander never defeated the Indian king Porus, for example, and others have tried to place him in Darius's army at Gaugamela, and some have even tried to put Darius on an elephant at the battle. At the end of the study, the author then offers his interpretation of the origin and meaning of the medals, using only historical evidence, and reaches an elegant and satisfying interpretation, that fits with the known facts and the behaviour and beliefs of the Hellenistic world.

This is an entertaining and erudite book, and will be a worthwhile read for people interested in the world of Alexander the Great, and also in the study of history, archaeology, coins, and the great debt owed to earthworms.

That is exactly what I thought when I was assigned this book in Dr. Holt's class, but I was later proved wrong. As stated before he definitely has a knack for communicating with those not in this academic circle. Although I have had the privilege to have a class with Dr. Holt this does not in any way taint my recommendation. I encourage others to read other works by Dr. Holt especially his latest "Into the land of Bones"

This small book and fast read is a wonderful companion voume to thicker biographs about Alexander. You won't get a full accounting of Alexander' campaigns here- that's not the point, but you will get a concise account about how these objects that we use to reconstruct what history might have looked like are found, dated, and then mulled over by experts.
This book is more about the essence of Alexander, and what was important to him and the men who followed him, than the nuts and bolts of his overall story.... I thought it was very entertaining.
JJ

Professor Holt must be a stimulating, admired lecturer in his subject, for this book brings a wealth of knowledge together from a large variety of sources. Primary sources are the medallions themselves, of course. As for myself, this is the first time I have been fascinated with numismatics enough to stay with the whole book (which is easily absorbed in a day). Never again will I briefly skim over exhibits and pictures of ancient coins! Dr. Holt has made me a bit of an expert on many aspects of this subject, and he invites us to delve further with extensive, annotated footnotes on each page. He is certainly a dedicated scholar with deep and wide knowledge of his field, able to clearly present his interpretation while giving a balanced analysis of various theories. Each of his conclusions is supported by strong references to the literature.

Where should I begin? Above all, Holt supposedly invented a mysterious story, but there is no real mystery in it. In fact since the coins were found researchers have come to understand that those coins had been imprinted in memory of the battle between Alexander the Great and Porus, the Emperor of India. It is only the place and time which we think are of secondary importance could not have been determined precisely. In the introduction to his book Holt assumes himself to be Sherlock Holmes, but the solution he suggests at the end of the book is far away from reminding the persuasive arguments of the famous detective and only serves to surprise the reader because of its speculative quality. The majority of the book deals with many ideas which had been previously proposed and refuted by other studies, and apparently re-refutes all of those. When we reach the final part, we encounter the very principal elements of "Sherlock" Holt's solution; the first of these is about the imperfect apperance and imprint of these coins and Holt explains this unusual event by the rushed minting of these coins on a return journey from the Indian expedition, under exteremely difficult conditions caused by muson rains! The historian meticulously discarded a great many arguments throughout the book yet he surprised us by bringing forth this meteorological solution towards explaning the bad apparences of the coins. Perhaps this can justify a reader who may come to propose that the man who was in charge of the minting process was having a bad day! Or even because he did not received the merits he deserved from Alexander. Even more surprising is the explanation which concerns the other side of the coin showing the Alexander holding a thunderbolt. We can't understand why Holt discards the perfectly reasonable, simple yet adequate solution which is in accord with the traditional Alexander narratives deifying him- especially the one which deals Apelles' portrait of Alexander-. Instead he insists on seeing particularly a reference to the the rainy night on which Alexander won a victory against the Indian King Porus. Yes, there are many events in history about rainmaker army leaders. But, for God's sake, Alexander and his troop already knew India's disastrous air and field conditions. While, they advanced to the interior parts of India, they always encountered with such stormes, muds...So, if storm and rain had been an unexpected incident, maybe Alexander's powers which brings rain would have been good and miracolous news. And even after that battle, during the journey to the Babil, Macedonian army suffered from bad meteorological conditions. According to Holt's argument, one may think, Alexander, just after the battle, having been minted that coins, maybe has also seen responsible for that terrible field conditions! But, this time, his men, could not mint properly those coins, because of very same musons(in last chapter, the sentence which concludes with footnote 25!)
Thus Holt's theory -searching the "textual" help to that night- extends to the assumption that these coins were minted in memory of "a dark and stormy night" and these coins function as a narrative picture of the whole war. But this sounds rather weird or impractical because Alexander gifted each of these coins, which allegedly individually represents a particular scene of the war, to his men which means the coins would never come together to form such a picture: One of the generals saves the one with elephant, other has Alexander with thunderbolt and maybe other one has the one with a chariot? As a matter of fact Holt himself was not persuaded by his suggestion that he claimed that these imperfect coins were indeed a turning point in the history of numismatic by this aspect.

As for the much praised popular style of the book, as I read the translation I am unable to comment adequately; however I did not see any extraordinary features that deserve credit. By the way, it seems to me, Mr. Holt's only field of interest -expect coins- Darwinist biology. He mentions him several times, curiously enough, but most of these are unnecessary element of the failed rhetorical construction.