ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 deals with the use of Alexander in political rhetoric. The first subchapter shows how the writers of Roman history in Latin used the figure of Alexander as a foil to highlight the power and success of Rome. The next section deals with the critical portrait of Alexander as a degenerate oriental despot. This portrayal underlined certain political lessons: foreign practices, values, and the system of government in non-Roman states are not only inferior to the Roman ones but also harmful if they are imitated. The following subchapter analyses how Greek writers generally presented Alexander positively as a sort of culture hero to be seen as a forerunner of the Romans rather than a potential rival. This discussion is followed by an analysis of two Jewish texts to show how changing circumstances could lead to redeployment of the image of Alexander; in 1 Maccabees he is presented as a forerunner of the Hellenistic kings who were opposed to the Jewish people, and therefore a negative phenomenon, while in Josephus he has become a good monarch. The final section of the chapter considers the depiction of Alexander in Later Roman Imperial panegyric and historiography, where the figure of Alexander is used to support, justify, and/or eulogize the Roman imperial order and Roman military operations of both the past and the present.
