Chares of

Mytilene Mytilene (; ) is the capital city, capital of the Greece, Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of the Aegean. It was fo ...

() was a Greek belonging to the court of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

. He was appointed court-marshal or introducer of strangers to the king, an office borrowed from the Persian court. He wrote a history of Alexander in ten books, dealing mainly with the private life of the king. The fragments are chiefly preserved in

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

. These fragments are largely concerned with court ceremonies and personal gossip, including a description of Alexander's introduction of the Persian custom of

proskynesis Proskynesis (), also called proscynesis () or proskinesis (; ; ), was a solemn gesture of respect towards gods and people in many societies. Among the Persians, it referred to a man prostrating himself and kissing the land or the limbs of a r ...

to his court. See ''Scriptores Rerum Alexandri'' (pp. 114–120) in the Didot edition of

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

References

External links

Chares of Mitylene
in

Encyclopaedia Iranica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...

. Generals of Alexander the Great Ancient Mytileneans 4th-century BC Greek historians Historians who accompanied Alexander the Great Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{Greece-historian-stub