Rethinking of Source Usage The Encounter between Alexander and Ada in the Descriptions of the Alexander Historians

Abstract

With the exception of Curtius Rufus and Justin, almost all of the main “Alexander historians” (Diodorus, Strabo, Plutarch, Arrian) reported in some form that Alexander, in 334 BC, somewhere in an unspecified location met the former queen of Caria, Ada, who had been deposed by her own brother, Pixodarus. As a result of the encounter, Alexander helped Ada and finally reinstated her as queen of Caria. Authors descriptions differ regarding the details and consequences of the encounter, yet, the principal problem is that no historian has named the source or sources he used in his account. Scholars have examined this story from many points of view. Their main question was: which of the so-called “first generation” sources these descriptions could have been drawn from. In my paper, I wish to comment on this topic, so I will examine the earlier and recent research theories in order to prove the necessity of the Quellenforschung method concerning the Alexander research and, at the same time, to draw attention to the limits of the application of this method.