The Wise advisor trope in Arrian’s account of the battle of Granicus
by Charles Le Brun
In several places in his account, Arrian uses the wise advisor tradition from Greek literature and he is not the only Alexander historian to do so. In fact, all the main four Alexander sources make use of the wise advisor trope. Herodotus is one of the earlier authors to use this trope in his narrative, for example, Artabanus & Demeratus advise Xerxes. In every case with Alexander the traditional trope is inverted, the older ‘wiser’ advisor Parmenion, offers his opinion only to be ignored by Alexander who then proves him wrong. This is supposed to demonstrate how superior a human Alexander was.
At the battle of Granicus, the first engagement in the Persian campaign, Parmenion according to Arrian advises Alexander not to attack when the first reaches the Persian army, instead he wants to wait and attack at daybreak. He speaks to Alexander not only as an advisor but also as the leading general of Alexander’s father Philip. Parmenion had also been in Asia for months, as he was sent by Philip to lead the initial expeditionary force. So not only was he an older more experienced general who had fought with Philip on his numerous campaigns, and he was also more acquainted with Asia than Alexander at this stage. In his speech, he advises Alexander to be cautious and reserved, and in this case, strategically he is correct.
The actual events of the battle of Granicus are very confused, as all three surviving accounts of the battle are different and contradictory. However, Arrian’s account, which claims that Alexander charged over the river after disregarding Parmenion’s advice is the least credible. It is strategically stupid because the cavalry apparently charged across a river into a prepared and organised army, a move that would have been suicide. This does not fit with the image we are normally given of Alexander as an excellent tactician.
This speech in Arrian is probably a result of the sources that he relies on. One of his major sources is Ptolemy, who became the king of Egypt and wrote an account of Alexander’s life. His other major source was Aristobulus. Later in the Alexander narrative, Parmenion and his son are murdered on the orders of Alexander after a supposed assassination plot. These kind of wise advisor interactions are partly to show Parmenion as incompetent and were probably inserted later by Ptolemy and Aristobulus to explain Alexander’s later actions. Aristobulus was known in antiquity for writing a very flattering account of Alexander, and Ptolemy needed Alexander’s memory to legitimise his own rule of Egypt. So, both men had reasons to negatively colour the memory of Parmenion. So this picture of Parmenion cannot be trusted.
