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The Seventeenth Book of Diodorus: in Two Parts
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95chapter 96chapter 97chapter 98chapter 99chapter 100chapter 101chapter 102chapter 103chapter 104chapter 105chapter 106chapter 107chapter 108chapter 109chapter 110chapter 111chapter 112chapter 113chapter 114chapter 115chapter 116chapter 117chapter 118
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[3]
A curious thing happened to the
king when he was shown the precious objects. He seated himself upon the royal throne, which was
larger than the proportions of his body.1 When one of the pages saw that his feet
were a long way from reaching the footstool which belonged to the throne, he picked up
Dareius's table and placed it under the dangling legs.
1 The story is told also by Curtius 5.2.13-15, but without the moral tone that is striking here. It is well known that the throne was a symbol of divinity in the Orient, and that a king's clothing, bed, and throne were affected with royal and divine mana. Cp. S. Eitrem, Symbolae Osloenses, 10 (1932), 35; R. Labat, Le Caractère religieux de la royautéassyro-babylonienne (1939); P. Schramm, Herrschaftszeichen und Staatssymbolik, 1 (1954), 316-369; G. Germain, Revue des Études Grecques, 69 (1956), 303-313; S. Weinstock, Journal of Roman Studies, 47 (1957), 146-154. This may explain why it was hybris for Alexander to put his feet on the royal table, but not why the throne was so high. A. Alföldi (La Nouvelle Clio, 1950, 537), however, points out that Persian thrones were normally elevated seven steps up, and this one may have lacked its steps. Probably Diodorus's source did not rationalize the anecdote. Curtius 8.4.15-17 reports that Alexander mentioned this sanctity of the throne, saying that he did not believe in it. Cp. also the second throne incident, chap. 116.2-4.
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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