Laertes

Laertes is another exile — a Theban. Alexander destroyed Thebes. It has become popular for Alexander apologists to insist that the Allies supported the decision, or even made it. This is the sort of sophistry that would make a fourth century Greek proud. Alexander was, after the defeat of Thebes, the military overlord of Greece, but neither Athens nor Sparta was down or out, and Alexander needed to make an example to prevent revolt. Despite the destruction of Thebes (about which Alexander may actually have felt remorse for the rest of his life) Sparta revolted against Antipater and Athens revolted - quite successfully, in fact — in the Second Lamian War.

Laertes is a sad man — weaker, in fact, than Sappho, as he has endured less horror and yet has less resolve. In fact, Laertes has been serving Alexander for four years at the start of Tyrant. He is a soldier, and he knows no other life.

Alexander’s empire existed on the back, not of his Macedonian Phalanx (a few thousand men) but on the backs of a hundred thousand Greek mercenaries who manned his garrisons, fought his battles, and served on the frontiers, often doing the dirty work of empire. Many of them would have been men who, if not displaced, would have been Alexander’s enemies — Spartans, Athenians, and Thebans.

The fact is that Greece by 330 BC had seen almost continuous mass warfare since the third decade of the fifth century — nearly a hundred years. Manpower constraints had pushed the requirements of the hoplite class down and down, as is best shown in the lack of armour of the later hoplites. As a consequence, after Chaeronea in 338 BC, Alexander and his father Phillip became the only employers for a mass of young men who knew no trade but war — a situation that recurs in history over and over.