The Date of Clitarchus

Every student of the history of Alexander the Great — and many others — cannot help knowing the uncertainty that surrounds the date of the historian Clitarchus, who is undoubtedly an important source of some or all of our surviving accounts of Alexander. The relationship between Clitarchus and the first-generation writers (especially Aristobulus) has often been discussed, and widely differing conclusions have been arrived at. ¹ It is not the purpose of this note to survey the problems of Quellenforschung: perhaps enough has been said on this, at least for some time to come. It is rather to point out that considerations of method would suggest that, before literary interrelationship is investigated, the external evidence on the date of Clitarchus should first be carefully scrutinised and interpreted. Though this will not in itself help to resolve the literary problem, it may at least rid us of some hypotheses which — however ingenious — should never have been advanced.