ABSTRACT
An analysis is undertaken of the episodes recounted in the Classical sources that relate to the court of Alexander the Great, how banquets lasted days at a time, the illnesses he suffered along with his companions, how dramatic scenes, as well as murders took place, such as that of his friend Cleitus. Consideration is also given to Baldassare Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier, and how Alexander is invoked as an exemplary figure to address this work’s enquiry into how to serve as a good courtier and how a court should be organised. Baltasar Porreño also addressed the need for a good monarch to be surrounded by wise, scholarly men, and cited Philip of Macedonia as an example, for having given the best education to his son. Christina of Sweden likewise praised the Macedonian’s love of wisdom. Numerous representations exist of the scenes related to excess, crime and sickness that occurred at Alexander’s court, such as those of Alexander’s doctor curing him in Thassos, or the aforementioned death of Cleitus. Perhaps one of the most famous iconographic treatments of these is the Feast of the Pheasant, which the Dukes of Burgundy recreated in the court on various occasions.
