Mutiny at Opis Speech
Delivered at Opis in 324 BCE when Alexander's veteran Macedonian troops mutinied against his integration of Persian troops and culture into his forces.
Full Transcript
I have no intention, Macedonians, of staying your desire to return home; so far as I am concerned, you may go where you will. But I wish you to know before you go what kind of men you have been to me, and what kind of man I have been to you.
Philip took you over as vagrants and poor men, dressed in sheepskins, pasturing a few sheep on the mountains. He gave you cloaks to wear instead of skins; he brought you down from the mountains to the plains; he made you a match in battle for the neighboring barbarians.
I took over from my father a few gold and silver cups, and not sixty talents in the treasury. Yet I crossed the Hellespont, defeated the satraps of Darius, added Ionia, Lydia, and Phoenicia to your rule, and opened the riches of the East to you.
Which of you can say he has labored more for me than I for him? Come now, whoever has wounds, let him strip and show them, and I will show mine in turn! For there is no part of my body, at least in front, that has not been wounded.
Go then! Fly to your homes, and report that your King Alexander, who led you across the Hellespont and over conquered nations, was left by you in the care of conquered barbarians!
Defining Key Excerpts
"I shall make you all subjects of envy to those who stayed at home... go then, and tell them that your King Alexander led you across the Hellespont and conquered the Persian Empire."
"For I have shared every hardship with you, and there is no part of my body which does not bear the scar of battle."
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