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And now here's some more Plutarch. Alexander still hasn't shown up, but don't worry! It's a good passage. Lots of snakes.
Plutarch - Alexander 2
Alexander--regarding his family--came from Heracles via his father, through Caranus, and via his mother from Aeacus through Neptolemus; all of this is from entirely trustworthy information. It is said that Philip, after being initiated at Thrace with Olympias, while he was still a lad and she an orphan child, fell in love with her and thus joined her in marriage, as she had persuaded her brother Arymbas [to give his consent].
Then while she was a maiden*, before the night on which she would be closed up in the bedroom,** she dreamed*** of a thunderbolt and lightning falling upon on her belly; from this strike a fire was greatly kindled, and then [the fire] shattered into flames that were carried about everywhere--then extinguished. And at a later time after the wedding, Philip saw a dream in which he pressed a seal^ upon his wife’s belly; and the carving on the seal, as he thought, held the image of a lion.
But other prophets looked on the image with suspicion, thinking that Philip actually needed to guard his marriage. And Aristander of Telemessus said that the woman^^ was pregnant, for nothing empty gets sealed up, and she was pregnant with a high-spirited child with a lion’s nature. And at one time a serpent was seen stretched out by the body of Olympias while she slept; they say that this especially dimmed Philip’s desire and affection [for her], so that he no longer^^^ slept by her side, either fearing some magic and potion [would be cast] upon him from his wife, or avoiding intercourse religiously& as from a companion to a greater being.
And there’s another story about these things, that all the women in that place are connected to the Orphic rites and the celebrations of Dionysus from very ancient times, taking their name from Klodones and Mimallones,&& and they do many similar things to the Edonian and Thracian women near Mount Haemus, from whom it seems the name “threskuian” became associate with immoderate and elaborate religious services. And Olympia was more devoted to these possessions than the other women, and calling forth the religious frenzies in a more barbaric fashion would bring along enormous tame serpents to the revels, which would often crawl out of the ivy and ritual baskets, and coil themselves around the wands and garlands of the women, throwing the men into a panic.&&&
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* The word here is νύμφη, from which we get “nymph,” but it generally means “young woman of an appropriate age to become married.” It can be used for a young wife, or a bride, or even young married women in general; the point isn’t the “not married yet” so much as the “it would be okay to get married”.
** That is, the night on which they would consummate the marriage. I assume this means that they were officially married before she was quite old enough, and then the actual living together was waiting for when she was, but sans notes (or sufficient cultural context) I don’t actually know.
*** Literally, it just says that all of these things “seemed to her”, but since Latin can use a similar construction for dreaming, I assume it’s doing the same here.
^ The signet ring type. Not the semi-aquatic mammal type.
^^ This is an interesting example of ἄνθρωπος, which we usually translate as “man”, not necessarily being someone male; here it’s used with the feminine article to refer to Olympias. “The person” would probably be a more accurate translation, but confusing in the English.
^^^ Frankly, I’m not sure how to translate this bit. Literally, it’s something like “and not regularly-doing still many times”, with the “regularly-doing” being a peculiar participle that... I guess is an accusative of reference, here? Or something? I don’t know. Suffice to say, he wasn’t doing this so much anymore.
& This was an interesting bit to translate. Not “intercourse”, which was pretty straightforward even with the prissy dictionary available to me that tries to use euphemisms whenever sex might be involved. But the verb that takes “intercourse” as an object can mean things like “establish” or “consecrate” or “do something for form’s sake.” However, it also offered the meaning of avoiding doing something for a religious reason, which seemed closest to accurate; if he’s avoiding sleeping with his wife, he really can’t be therefore also deliberately having sex with her in a half-assed manner because he thinks a god is also sleeping with her. I mean, not as I understand it.
&& My notes say these are “Macedonian names for Bacchantes.”, so there you have it.
&&& Or possibly throwing the men out. Or throwing the men into a frenzy of desire. The verb is...ambiguous. But I’m going with “panic”.
Plutarch - Alexander 2
Alexander--regarding his family--came from Heracles via his father, through Caranus, and via his mother from Aeacus through Neptolemus; all of this is from entirely trustworthy information. It is said that Philip, after being initiated at Thrace with Olympias, while he was still a lad and she an orphan child, fell in love with her and thus joined her in marriage, as she had persuaded her brother Arymbas [to give his consent].
Then while she was a maiden*, before the night on which she would be closed up in the bedroom,** she dreamed*** of a thunderbolt and lightning falling upon on her belly; from this strike a fire was greatly kindled, and then [the fire] shattered into flames that were carried about everywhere--then extinguished. And at a later time after the wedding, Philip saw a dream in which he pressed a seal^ upon his wife’s belly; and the carving on the seal, as he thought, held the image of a lion.
But other prophets looked on the image with suspicion, thinking that Philip actually needed to guard his marriage. And Aristander of Telemessus said that the woman^^ was pregnant, for nothing empty gets sealed up, and she was pregnant with a high-spirited child with a lion’s nature. And at one time a serpent was seen stretched out by the body of Olympias while she slept; they say that this especially dimmed Philip’s desire and affection [for her], so that he no longer^^^ slept by her side, either fearing some magic and potion [would be cast] upon him from his wife, or avoiding intercourse religiously& as from a companion to a greater being.
And there’s another story about these things, that all the women in that place are connected to the Orphic rites and the celebrations of Dionysus from very ancient times, taking their name from Klodones and Mimallones,&& and they do many similar things to the Edonian and Thracian women near Mount Haemus, from whom it seems the name “threskuian” became associate with immoderate and elaborate religious services. And Olympia was more devoted to these possessions than the other women, and calling forth the religious frenzies in a more barbaric fashion would bring along enormous tame serpents to the revels, which would often crawl out of the ivy and ritual baskets, and coil themselves around the wands and garlands of the women, throwing the men into a panic.&&&
---
* The word here is νύμφη, from which we get “nymph,” but it generally means “young woman of an appropriate age to become married.” It can be used for a young wife, or a bride, or even young married women in general; the point isn’t the “not married yet” so much as the “it would be okay to get married”.
** That is, the night on which they would consummate the marriage. I assume this means that they were officially married before she was quite old enough, and then the actual living together was waiting for when she was, but sans notes (or sufficient cultural context) I don’t actually know.
*** Literally, it just says that all of these things “seemed to her”, but since Latin can use a similar construction for dreaming, I assume it’s doing the same here.
^ The signet ring type. Not the semi-aquatic mammal type.
^^ This is an interesting example of ἄνθρωπος, which we usually translate as “man”, not necessarily being someone male; here it’s used with the feminine article to refer to Olympias. “The person” would probably be a more accurate translation, but confusing in the English.
^^^ Frankly, I’m not sure how to translate this bit. Literally, it’s something like “and not regularly-doing still many times”, with the “regularly-doing” being a peculiar participle that... I guess is an accusative of reference, here? Or something? I don’t know. Suffice to say, he wasn’t doing this so much anymore.
& This was an interesting bit to translate. Not “intercourse”, which was pretty straightforward even with the prissy dictionary available to me that tries to use euphemisms whenever sex might be involved. But the verb that takes “intercourse” as an object can mean things like “establish” or “consecrate” or “do something for form’s sake.” However, it also offered the meaning of avoiding doing something for a religious reason, which seemed closest to accurate; if he’s avoiding sleeping with his wife, he really can’t be therefore also deliberately having sex with her in a half-assed manner because he thinks a god is also sleeping with her. I mean, not as I understand it.
&& My notes say these are “Macedonian names for Bacchantes.”, so there you have it.
&&& Or possibly throwing the men out. Or throwing the men into a frenzy of desire. The verb is...ambiguous. But I’m going with “panic”.