HONOUR IN THE RANKS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT'S ARMY

In the field of Alexander studies honour is generally considered as what is accorded to Alexander, or whoever else, for some action or quality that marks the individual out as exceptional or unusually meritorious. In F. H. Stewart's scheme this is honour on the vertical axis, but this paper deals rather with honour on the horizontal axis, that is an individual's sense of entitlement to respect as a member of a group or stratum in society, or, as is more relevant here, in the army. The individual claims the right to respect by adhering to a basic, generally unwritten, code of conduct. The professionalisation of the Macedonian army helped to develop the type of group solidarity that surfaced, for example, in the mutinies at the Hyphasis and Opis, and a sense of entitlement to respect that was manifested in numerous episodes concerning individuals and groups, as in the conspiracy of the Pages.