Abstract

Alexander’s proclamation as King of Asia was not a claim to be the new king of Persia or the new Great King. Alexander’s empire was one above and beyond the local kingship of Persia, and this “revisionist” interpretation of Alexander’s kingship requires a new assessment of Alexander’s reconfigured royal costume. Alexander rejected the upright tiara (the symbol of Achaemenid kingship) and the “Median” (or riding) dress, such as the kandys and anaxyrides. In adopting a new and impressive royal costume, Alexander expressed the exalted nature of his recently won kingship of Asia by devising a hybrid Macedonian– Persian dress.