ABSTRACT
In one of the most astonishing careers of conquest in history, Alexander of Macedon (356-323 bce) swept through the vast Achaemenid empire bent on realizing the long-cherished Greek dream of revenge on the heirs of Darius I. After ascending the Achaemenid throne and consolidating his conquest as far as the Indus, Alexander died unexpectedly in 323. His conquests were divided between his Macedonian generals. The complex problems of Alexander's successors are beyond our immediate interest, but the devices of their theologians certainly do concern us. The god bears a grain measure (modius) on his head as a symbol of his Osirid powers of fertility. A Greek identification of 'Horus the Child' originally depicted as an infant with a finger in his mouth but the god here is the quintessential Hellenistic icon of youthful royalty. The term 'Hellenistic' has been coined for the hybrid art forged from the cross-fertilization of Hellenic and Asian ideals under Alexander and his heirs.
