CALDER, WILLIAM M., III, Alexander's House (Pausanias 8.32.1) , Greek, Roman and 
Byzantine Studies, 23:3 (1982:Autumn) p.281 

Alexander's House (Pausanias 8.32.1) 

William M Calder III 

Die Geschichte des Unwahren zu verfolgen 
kann wol nicht ganz ohne Interesse sein.l 

A T ABOUT A.D. 175 Pausanias visited Megalopolis. Among other 
Sehenswiirdigkeiten he recalls (8.32.1): 

7rATJuiov 8E OiKia,2 i8tWTOV KaT' EJLE KTijJLa av8p<k 0 'AAE~&:v8p<p 
Tef) <l>,AL7r7rov TO E~ apx.i,<; E7roirWaJr E(Tn 8E a:ya'AJLa "AJLJLWvo<; 
7rpoe; rfi OiKtq., TOte; TETpaydwOfS 'EpJLate; elKaUJLEVOV, KEpam E7rL 
Tije; KE<PaAije; EXOV KpWV. 

Nearby a house, in my time possession of a private citizen, which 
originally they constructed for Alexander son of Philip. There is an 
image of Ammon near the house, in the form of a four-sided 
Herm,3 with ram's horns on its head. 

Christian Habicht queries merely whether the structure were a 
residence or a chapel, delivering the verdict "ungewiss."4 Ernst Ba­
dian endorses Habicht.5 E. A. Fredricksmeyer argues of the building 

I Karl Lehrs, "Ueber Wahrheit und Dichtung in der griechischen Litteraturge­
schichte," Populiire Aujsiitze aus dem Alterthum vorzugsweise zur Ethik und Religion der 
Griechen2 (Leipzig 1875) 407. Lehrs' views have recently and independently been 
expanded by Mary Lefkowitz, The Lives oj the Greek Poets (Baltimore 1982). My title 
reveals how much lowe to WILLIAM J. SLATER, "Simonides' House," Phoenix 26 
(972) 232-40, and "Pindar's House," GRBS 12 (1971) 141-52 (hereafter 'Slater'). 

2 M. H. Rocha-Pereira, Pausanias Graeciae Descriptio II (Leipzig 1977) 290, reads 
OiKiaV, followed by Fredricksmeyer (infra n.6). I prefer OiKia (Fa) with its relative 
attracted to the gender of the appositive KTT;I-W. OLKT/I-W (Hitzig-Bllimer with Pa) is the 
lectio facilior, a correction made to ease the gender of the relative, while OiKia is con­
firmed by the following OiKU;t:. I cannot construe the accusative (Fredricksmeyer pro­
vides no translation), apparently a gloss on the neuter OLKT/I-W, misunderstood as an 
accusative. I may add that Rocha-Pereira's apparatus throughout is inadequate for close 
work on Pausanias. 

3 After Ernst Meyer, Pausanias Beschreibung Griechenlands Buch Vill bis X (Munich 
1979) 412: "ein Standbild des Ammon in der Form der viereckigen Hermen." 

4 Gottmenschentum und Griechische Stiidte2 (Zetemata 14 [1970)) 29 n.3: "In Megalo­
polis sah Pausanias (8,32,1) ein ursprlinglich flir Alexander erbautes Haus. Es ist 
ungewiss, ob es ein Kultgebaude war ... " 

5 "The Deification of Alexander the Great," Ancient Macedonia, Studies in Honor oj 
Charles F. Edson (Thessaloniki 1980 59 n.51: "the verdict, I think, remains: 'unge­
wiss' (Habicht)." Badian distinguishes, however, between a chapel and "a building 

281 



CALDER, WILLIAM M., III, Alexander's House (Pausanias 8.32.1) , Greek, Roman and 
Byzantine Studies, 23:3 (1982:Autumn) p.281 

282 ALEXANDER'S HOUSE (PAUSANIAS 8.32.0 

"that it was a shrine dedicated to Alexander as son of Ammon."6 He 
dates its construction either to 331/0 B.C. or "more likely" to 324. In 
either case the aorist E1Tol:."uav must apply to construction completed 
some 500 years before Pausanias' visit to a land subject to depreda­
tion and earthquake. Fredricksmeyer approaches the passage as an 
Alexander historian. The arguments with which he defends Pausanias 
are purely historical ones, founded on broad and long familiarity with 
Alexander cult. I should like to suggest that one might better exam­
ine the passage from the point of view of Pausanias rather than of 
Alexander. I should further suggest that, if one does, one will believe 
that Pausanias truthfully reports what he was told at the site.7 The 
question of veracity lies not with Pausanias but with his informant, 
the owner of the house. 

Pausanias remarks again and again how one shrine after another at 
Megalopolis had fallen into disuse and ruin: 8.30.1 (Poseidon Epop­
tes), 30.4 (Mater Deorum), 30.6 (Hermes Akakesios), 3l.9 (Athena 
Po lias) , 3l.9 (Hera Teleia), 32.2 (the sunnaoi Muses, Apollo, and 
Hermes), 32.2 (Aphrodite), 32.3 (Ares), 32.3 (Dionysus), 32.3 (the 
sunnaoi Herakles and Hera). Earlier Strabo (8.8.l [388]) dramatically 
attests the utter destruction of Megalopolis, citing a comic writer 
(CAF Adespota 211): "the great city is a great wasteland." The view 
is confirmed by Polybius' account of its sack by Kleomenes III in au­
tumn 223.8 Kleomenes' sack of Megalopolis (Plut. Cleom. 23ff after 
Phylarchus) was as much against Antigonus Doson (Plb. 2.54) as 
against an Achaean League betrayed by Aratus to the Macedonian 
king. I doubt that Kleomenes would have spared a shrine of Alexan­
der, symbol of Macedonian Herrschajt, while destroying systema­
tically shrines of the Olympians. 

At the end of his visit Pausanias pauses for a homily, suggested by 
the desolation of the place, on how the mighty are fallen. He com­
pares Megalopolis with Mycenae, Nineveh, both Thebes, Orchome­
nos, Delos, Babylon, and exalts, as often, the omnipotence of Ty­
che.9 Amidst such universal wreckage there is the miraculous survival 

honouring Alexander as son of Ammon (which does not imply cult)." Habicht seems 
to mean a building erected for Alexander (to reside in when visiting Megalopolis?). 

6 "Three Notes on Alexander's Deification," AJAH 4 (979) 1-3. 
7 Reading Pausanias has confirmed for me the famous evaluation of J. G. Frazer, 

"Intrinsic Evidence of Pausanias's Truthfulness," Pausanias's Description of Greece I 
(London 1898) lxvi-vii. 

82.55.2-7. See Benedictus Niese, Geschichte der griechischen und makedonischen Staa­
ten II (Gotha 1899) 338-40, and Thomas Lenschau, RE 11 (1921) 705-06 S.v. "Kleo­
menes" 6. 

9 8.33. The topos, known from Thuc. 1.10.1-2 (Mycenae), Xen. An. 3.4.10 (Nine­
veh), and later prose writers, is amply illustrated by Hermann Hitzig and Hugo Bllim-



CALDER, WILLIAM M., III, Alexander's House (Pausanias 8.32.1) , Greek, Roman and 
Byzantine Studies, 23:3 (1982:Autumn) p.281 

WILLIAM M. CALDER III 283 

of one private house and its herm. Pausanias' own context arouses 
skepticism. There are further grounds for distrust. 

We have all visited homes where Napoleon, Lord Byron, Goethe, 
or George Washington have reputedly slept. Were houses touched by 
the great shown tourists in antiquity? Certainly. 
1. Pausanias (9.25.3) records that, having crossed the river Dirke, 
he saw the ruins of Pindar's house. This would presumably have 
been the dwelling allegedly spared by Alexander in October 335. In 
an article of fundamental methodological importance William 1. Slater 
demonstrated that the whole tale of Pindar's house with its neigh­
boring shrine is a biographical fiction that began as na·ive exegesis of 
Pythian 3.77ff and grew to infect handbooks and vitae.10 He concludes 
(149): "It becomes more than a possibility, then, that Pausanias was 
deceived not only by his handbooks and vitae, but also by local infor­
mants who were aware of these." Slater never suggests that Pausa­
nias lied. He put down what he was told. He was shown Pindar's iron 
chair at Delphi and says SO.l1 On the other hand there is no reason to 
believe that he saw the ruins of a house which some 650 years before 
the poet Pindar had inhabited. That the shrine of Dindymene is an 
anachronism makes the house a hoax.12 Pausanias remarks that the 
shrine was open but one day a year and that he had luckily arrived on 
that day. Rather a clever custodian knew how to extract an extra tip 
from a gullible tourisP3 
2. Strabo (17 .l.29 [806]) was shown at Heliopolis in Egypt the 
'haunts'14 of Plato and Eudoxus. There is no reason to doubt that 

ner, Des Pausanias Beschreibung von Griechenland III.1 (Leipzig 1907) 233-35, and see 
Otto Regenbogen, RE Supp!. 8 (1956) 1041.55ff s. v. "Pausanias." For the importance 
of Tyche in Pausanias see Joyce Heer, La personalitl! de Pausanias (Paris 1979) 307-11, 
esp. 308; this book is a splendid example of accepting Pausanias on his own terms. 

10 Slater (197\); cf my remarks at GRBS 15 (1974) 272, and Lefkowitz (supra n.\) 
65. A. B. Bosworth, A Historical Commentary on Arrian's History of Alexander I (Oxford 
1980) 91 (ad 1.l0.\) simply does not understand Slater's argument (in the manner of 
Lehrs) or he would not dismiss his evidence as "very flimsy." Arrian was less gullible 
when shown the anchor of the Argo by the natives at Phasis (Peripl.M.Eux. 9.2) and 
because it was of iron questioned its antiquity. 

1.1 10.24.4; Lefkowitz (supra n.O 65, where correct the reference. 
12 See Slater 148: "Pindar himself could not have used the name Dindymene; it 

belongs to a later time. This is important, since it means that Pausanias learnt the 
name (and presumably the other details) from a local historian or guide, and not from 
a genuine inscription on the statue." 

13 Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Pindaros (Berlin 1922) 270 n.l: "Zu den 
eigenen Erlebnissen, mit denen Pausanias sich gern aufspielt, gehort, dass er zufallig in 
den Tempel kam, der nur an einem Tage im Jahre aufgemacht ward. Das mag der 
KUster den seltenen Fremden erzahlt haben, um einen besonderen Bakschisch einzu­
streichen. " 

14 W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy IV (Cambridge 1975) 15 n.2: 
"Strabo speaks of being shown ... the Sw:rpL/3ai of Plato and Eudoxus, which if earlier 



CALDER, WILLIAM M., III, Alexander's House (Pausanias 8.32.1) , Greek, Roman and 
Byzantine Studies, 23:3 (1982:Autumn) p.281 

284 ALEXANDER'S HOUSE (PAUSANIAS 8.32.0 

Eudoxus observed the heavens in Egypt.l5 Plato's Egyptian sojourn, 
by contrast, is best explained as imitation of Pythagoras and naive 
exegesis from passages in the dialogues (e.g. Phdr. 274c-275c, Ti. 
22B, Phb. 19B-D, Leg. 656D-657B, 799A-B, 819A-D) that reveal 
'Egyptian influence' .16 Strabo reports a thirteen-year residence. If the 
text is not corrupt,17 the statement is absurd,18 and causes us to 
doubt the whole. I approve the skepticism of Wilamowitz, Shorey, 
and Leisegang.19 'Plato's haunts' are comparable to 'Pindar's house'. 
A biographical fiction in handbooks and vitae influences local infor­
mants who impose to their advantage upon gullible tourists. Guth­
rie's allusion to "the ways of tourist guides" is apt.20 
3. Aulus Gellius (NA 15.20.5 Hosius) on a visit to Salamis saw the 
"grim and gloomy cavern"21 where Euripides wrote his tragedies: 
Phi/oehorus re/ert in insula Salamine speluneam esse taetram et horridam, 
quam nos vidimus, in qua Euripides tragoedias seriptitarit. The learned 
Gellius knew a written source (FGrHist 328F219), traveled to Sal­
amis, and after enquiry was shown the cave presumably by a know­
ledgeable local. Like Pausanias and Strabo, he put down what he was 
told, deceived by an informant.22 Although the tradition ascends to 
Philochorus, I do not for a moment believe that Gellius saw a cave 
where Euripides had composed tragedies. Neither did Wilamowitz23 

usage is a guide means not the houses where they lived but their customary places of 
resort." Therefore 'haunts': H. L. Jones' 'schools' (LCU, often repeated, is too specific. 

15 George Huxley, GRBS 4 (1963) 85-88. The decisive evidence is Eudoxus' own. 
16 See the excellent discussion of Alice Swift Riginos, "Platonica: the Anecdotes 

concerning the Life and Writings of Plato," Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition 
III (Leiden 1976) 64-65. Evidence for Egyptian travel is late and the Index Hercula­
nensis attests only travel to Magna Graecia. 

17 The variant Tpi<; in the Epitome suggests that it might be; numerals are notoriously 
unstable. But even three years are too long. 

18 See Huxley (supra n.15) 84: thirteen is absurd but may refer to "the interval 
between the date of Plato's supposed visit and that of Eudoxus." 

19 Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Platon: Sein Leben und seine Werke IS (Berlin 
1959) 187. If the priests showed the rooms where Plato is supposed to have lived, one 
need not believe them. Wilamowitz does, however, accept the historicity of Plato's 
Egyptian sojourn although admitting (I88 n.1) that knowledge of Egyptian matters in 
the dialogues does not require autopsy; as does Paul Shorey, What Plato Said' (Chicago 
1968) 24-26; H. Leisegang, RE 20 (1950) 2350 s.v. "Platon" ("nicht zu erweisen"). 
Shakespeare never visited Italy, nor Winckelmann Greece, nor Prescott Mexico. 

20 Guthrie (supra n.14) 15. 
21 So John C. Rolfe (LCU. Contrast the romantic version of Fritz Weiss, Aulus 

Gellius Die Attischen Niichle 112 (Darmstadt 1965) 292: Heine versteckte und wildro­
mantische Grotte"! 

22 Lefkowitz (supra n.O 102 remarks of ancient tourists: "When they visited Salamis, 
tourist guides could point out to them Euripides' cave." 

23 Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Euripides Herakles P (Darmstadt 1959) 6 
n.lO: "Ob den Neugierigen zu Gellius' Zeit die echte Grotte gezeigt ward, ist urn so 



CALDER, WILLIAM M., III, Alexander's House (Pausanias 8.32.1) , Greek, Roman and 
Byzantine Studies, 23:3 (1982:Autumn) p.281 

WILLIAM M. CALDER III 285 

nor does Mary Lefkowitz,24 who holds that references to the sea at IT 
392-420 and Hel. 1451-64 gave rise to the tale. The cave by the sea 
is a beautiful metaphor. The artist withdraws from the world. Tacitus, 
Dialogus 12.1-3, provides the commentary:25 

Nemora vero et luci et secretum ipsum, quod Aper increpabat, tantam 
mihi adferunt vo!uptatem, ut inter praecipuos carminum fructus nu­
merem, quod non in strepitu nec sedente ante ostium litigatore nec inter 
sordes ac lacrimas reorum componuntur, sed secedit animus in loea pura 
atque innocen tia jruiturque sedibus sacris. haec e/oquentiae primordia, 
haec penetralia. 

Pythagoras likewise retreated to a cave.26 Felix Jacoby's sober judge­
ment deserves recall (ad FGrHist 328F219): 

All we know about Euripides contradicts: distinguished families did 
not live in Salamis where kleruchs had been settled; when the poet 
was a boy the family took an active share in the cults of its own 
deme Phlya; Aristophanes Ach. 393 ff. makes the poet compose his 
plays in his town-house, although he jealously guards his quiet life; 
even in the Thesmophoriazusae Aristophanes knows nothing about 
Salamis ... We should be pleased to know what Ph. really related 
of the cave, whether he actually believed the story of Euripides 
having composed his plays there. 

4. One later example (not a dwelling) rewards notice. Some two 
hundred years after Pausanias, a Spanish abbess, Etheria, "a pilgrim 
of considerable intelligence and powers of observation, "27 toured the 
Holy Land. She descended Mt Horeb:28 

zweifelhafter, als er sie greulich findet"; Wilamowitz did, however, accept Philochorus' 
cave: 6 and Griechische Tragoedien IV (Berlin 1928) 364. He doubted that in Gel\ius' 
time anyone knew where the cave was. 

24 "The Euripides Vita," GRRS 20 (1979) 196 and (supra n.O 90-91: she considers 
the cave a fiction from the start and so is far more skeptical than Wilamowitz. At viii 
she suggests a different reason for the origin of the tale that is closer to Lesky and to 
me: "The story seems to fit in with Aristophanes' characterisation of Euripides as an 
anti-social and abstracted philosopher who prays to his own gods (Ran. 892f.) ... " 

26 The connection of Euripides' cave with Tacitus is made by Albin Lesky, Die tra­
gische Dichtung der Hellenen3 (Gottingen 1972) 278 n.9, where, under Wilamowitzian 
influence, he observes: "Die Hohle des Euripides muss deshalb nicht Fabel sein." In 
the first edition (1956) 151 n.l, he was more cautious: "Die Hohle des Euripides muss 
deshalb nicht unbedingt Fabel sein." 

26 Porph. Vit.Pyth. 9, cited by Wilhelm Schmid and Otto Stahlin, Geschichte der griech­
ischen Literatur 1.3 (Munich 1940) 313 n.7. For the topos of the intellectual's cave see 
H. Gerstinger, WS 38 (1916) 65 n.3. 

27 F. L. Cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (London 1958) 466. 
28 I cite Peregrinatio Aetheriae 4.6-8 Petre. The work will yield other examples. I have 

simply chosen an especially striking one. 



CALDER, WILLIAM M., III, Alexander's House (Pausanias 8.32.1) , Greek, Roman and 
Byzantine Studies, 23:3 (1982:Autumn) p.281 

286 ALEXANDER'S HOUSE (PAUSANIAS 8.32.1) 

ibi erant monasteria plurima sanctorum hominum et ecc/esia in eo loco, 
ubi est rubus; qui rubus usque in hodie vivet et mittet virgultas. ac sic 
ergo perdescendo monte Dei pervenimus ad rubrum hora jorsitan deci­
ma. hic est autem rubus, quem superius dixi, de quo locutus est Domi­
nus Moysi in igne, qui est in eo loco, ubi monasteria sunt plurima et 
ecclesia in capite vallis ipsius. ante ipsam autem ecclesiam hortus est 
gratissimus, habens aquam optimam abundantem, in quo horto ipse 
rubus est. Locus etiam ostenditur ibi iuxta, ubi stetit sanctus Moyses, 
quando ei dixit Deus: solve corrigiam calciamenti tui et cetera. 

If one dates Moses to ca 1400 B.C. and Etheria's pilgrimage ca 400 
A.D., she saw a bush in the monastery garden that was a bit less than 
2000 years old. One may compare the Menelais, a plane tree allegedly 
planted by Menelaus at Caphyae and dutifully recorded by Pausanias 
(8.23.4). In 1962 I was shown at Kos the plane tree under which 
Hippocrates taught.29 The botanical irregularity did not disturb Ethe­
ria. She saw and believed. And she recorded, deceived by pious 
informants. 

The Stoa of Philip in the agora of the Megalopolitans survived until 
Pausanias' day (8.30.6), not constructed by Philip, but flatteringly 
given his name by the locals. Bricks stamped <l>t.At.7T7TEiov confirm his 
report (IG V.2 469.6). As early as ca 200 B.C. the tradition is ex­
ploited. A Macedonian immigrant, Alexander, raised at Megalopolis, 
claimed descent, naming his children Philip, Alexander, and Apama 
(Livy 35.47.5-6~ App. Syr. 13.50). He was clever enough to palm off 
his daughter on the kinglet of Athamania. Delians too were taken in 
(Syll.3 576). Gortys nearby had seen better days. The templ~ of 
Asclepius contained a statuary group, the beardless god and his 
consort Hygeia. They were attributed to Scopas. There was another 
attraction. "The locals say that Alexander, son of Philip, dedicated his 
breastplate and spear to Asclepius. The breastplate and spear-tip were 
still there in my time" (Paus. 8.28.1).30 I have no idea who put them 
there or when; or who first called them Alexander's. The hoax was 
natural. Arrows and spearheads, presumably votive, have been found 
in the small sanctuary there.31 

Local talent for exploiting a bogus tradition of Alexander in Ar­
cadia and the natural instinct to deceive gullible tourists more easily 

29 Like Aulus Gellius, I had been prepared: see W. H. S. Jones, Hippocrates IV 
(Cambridge/London 1953) lix with frontispiece. 

30 See A. D. Nock, CP 45 (1950) 49 n.31: "As for the breastplate and spear dedi­
cated at Gortys in Arcadia, Pausanias (viii.28.1) relates that the natives said that Al­
exander was the giver; that may be legend." 

31 See R. Martin and H. Metzger, BCH 64/-) (1940/41) 282. 



CALDER, WILLIAM M., III, Alexander's House (Pausanias 8.32.1) , Greek, Roman and 
Byzantine Studies, 23:3 (1982:Autumn) p.281 

WILLIAM M. CALDER III 287 

explain 'Alexander's House' than to postulate miraculous survival 
since 331 or 324 B.C. The image of Ammon was decisive: "this 
makes a difference."32 The corroborative detail was ram's horns. The 
house's owner assured Pausanias that they proved Ammon. A weath­
ered herm, allegedly 500 years old, carved by a provincial mason in 
local stone, bore visible bumps about the ears. Ammon cannot be 
conclusively ruled out. But Arcadia was the home of a more famous 
horned god. Pausanias saw a stone image of him in the agora of 
Megalopolis (8.30.2) and a relief at the temple of the Great God­
desses (8.31.3). Might not a herm of rustic Pan have survived before 
a private house of unknown date, possibly Roman ?33 To call Pan 
Ammon and the house therefore Alexander's would extract a tip 
from a gullible tourist.34 Rather than evidence for Alexander's deifi­
cation we have the third attested Alexander hoax in Arcadia~ and 
Pausanias had been duped before.35 

THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER 

June, 1982 

32 Fredricksmeyer (supra n.6) 1. 
33 Pan herms are attested from the fourth century B.C. On: Fr. Brommer, RE Suppl. 

8 (1956) 1002.60-62 s. v. "Pan," and E. B. Harrison, The Athenian Agora XI (Princeton 
1965) 125. For the variety compare the Apollo herm at Megalopolis (Paus. 8.32.8). 

34 For Pausanias' indebtedness to local guides (f.bJYl1Tai) see the valuable remarks of 
Frazer (supra n.7) and more generally see L. Preller, Polemonis Periegetae Fragmenta 
(Leipzig 1838) 161-62. They are not treated in RE. 

35 I recall how he tarried to hear the singing trout in the Arvanios (8.21.2). An earlier 
version of this paper has been substantially improved by E. A. Fredricksmeyer, E. 
Christian Kopff, William J. Slater, and an anonymous critic. I am grateful. David A. 
Traill sent me to Etheria's burning bush. E. B. Harrison considers confusion of Pan and 
Ammon highly unlikely but adds that she expects no Ammon-Herm before "late 
Hellenistic, ca 100 B. C ."