At Iasus, too, Alexander met a local celebrity, a schoolboy who had won the devoted affection of a dolphin. According to one account, the king afterwards ‘made the boy head of the priesthood of Poseidon at Babylon, interpreting the dolphin’s affection as a sign of the deity’s favor.’
Author’s Note:
A different version of the story appears in Aelian, HA 6.15; here the boy is accidentally spiked on the dolphin’s erect dorsal fin, and dies of his injuries.
Source:
Green, Peter. “The Road to Issus.” Alexander of Macedon: 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography. Univ. of California Press, 2005. 194. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Pliny HN 9.8.27.
cf. Athen. 13.606d-e.
Further Reading:
Alexander III of Macedon / Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας (Alexander the Great)
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