ABSTRACT
When I was asked by the organizers of a conference in honour of Duncan Fishwick to speak on Alexander the Great in connection with divine honours, I could assume that they knew (as our honorand certainly knew) that I had published a long essay on the deification of Alexander some time ago 1 and have since referred to the subject in passing on other occasions. I obviously cannot treat the subject without reference to that earlier essay. On the other hand, it happens that I have in fact changed my mind on at least one major aspect of the problem, and that I have come to recognize that I failed to pay sufficient attention to the background (and especially the Persian background) in that earlier treatment. Thus, although much that was argued there will here be taken for granted and merely referred to, the present discussion should be regarded as superseding the earlier one in some important respects as well as supplementing it.
