ABSTRACT
THE LAST PLANS (323 BC) Alexander’s return to the West prompted many states to pay diplomatic respects to a man whose emergence out of India made his “invincibility” appear far less fanciful than it had once seemed. Ambassadors from Europe and Africa greeted the king on his way to, and at his court in, Babylon, and offered their congratulations on a successful conclusion to his triumphant eastern expedition. Envoys from the Corinthian League came garlanded as if they were approaching a god, and carried golden crowns, their highest honor, as gifts. Some came from Libya, the southern Italian peninsula, and Rome, while others were reported to have been sent by Celts and Iberians from the western regions of the Mediterranean. Carthaginians, who feared that they might soon be in conflict with Alexander, also came, as did Scythians and Ethiopians.1
