ABSTRACT
Alexander was subject to several conspiracies during his reign, and he himself was not above engineering conspiracies against others. We might expect the latter to be directed against those whom he suspected might challenge his power or authority as king, and hence enable Alexander to maintain his power – here, perhaps the most notorious example involved Philotas and his father Parmenion (see Source 101).1
However, there are some grounds for implicating Alexander, when heir apparent, in the plot to assassinate his father Philip II in 336. While there were times in his reign when Alexander had genuine cause to fear conspiracies against him, the result of his increasing ‘orientalism’ which caused dissatisfaction among his closest advisers and army in general, there were times when his own paranoia came too much to the fore (cf. Source 108). Instances of this may be seen in the lead-up to his murder of Cleitus (Source 58),2 or in the fate of Coenus, found dead shortly after the Hyphasis river mutiny in 326 (Arr. 6.2.1, Curt. 9.3.20). Alexander suspected conspiracies where they did not exist, and came to distrust those at his court and elsewhere (perhaps even as far afield as Antipater in Greece); it is no surprise to hear from Ephippus, a contemporary source, that everyone lived in almost a state of fear given Alexander’s disregard for human life (Source 99).
