[For context: Alexander has recently captured, peacefully, the Persian city of Babylon.]
Alexander’s personal ambitions, however, reached farther than mere loot, which never held any great attraction for him. After he had inspected the treasury, his first act – no doubt a calculated gesture – was to seat himself on Darius’ throne, under its famous golden canopy. This, as he well knew, meant death for any other than the legitimate occupant. Old Demaratus of Corinth shed tears of joy at the sight, and died shortly thereafter: nunc dimittis. But despite its symbolic impact, this incident also had a streak of unintentional comedy about it.
Darius was a tall man, and Alexander somewhat under average height; when Alexander sat down, his feet dangled in space above the royal footstool.
One of the pages, with considerable presence of mind, snatched away the footstool and substituted a table. At this a Persian eunuch standing by began to weep noisily. When Alexander asked him what the trouble was, he explained that this was the royal table from which his master Darius had formerly eaten. Alexander, anxious not to offend against any Achaemenid religious taboos, was on the point of having the table removed again; but Philotas, with shrewd perspicacity, pointed out that his act, being committed unknowingly, counted as an omen. Alexander had, in true biblical style, made his enemy’s board his footstool. The table stayed where it was.
Source:
Green, Peter. “The Lord of Asia.” Alexander of Macedon: 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography. Univ. of California Press, 2005. 307. Print.
Further Reading:
Alexander III of Macedon / Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας (Alexander the Great)
Artashata / Darius III / Codomannus
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That sounds too great (no pun intended).