In language and manners the courts of Alexander's successors were Greek.
Even the Macedonian dialect, which it was considered proper for the
kings to use on occasion, was often forgotten (Plut. _Ant._ 27). The
Oriental features which Alexander had introduced were not copied. There
was no _proskynesis_ (or certainly not in the case of Greeks and
Macedonians), and the king did not wear an Oriental dress. The symbol of
royalty, it is true, the _diadem_, was suggested by the head-band of the
old Persian kings (Just. xii. 3, 8); but, whereas, that had been an
imposing erection, the Hellenistic diadem was a simple riband. The
king's state dress was the same in principle as that worn by the
Macedonian or Thessalian horsemen, as the uniform of his own cavalry
officers. Its features were the broad-brimmed hat (_kausia_), the cloak
(_chlamys_) and the high-laced boots (_krepides_) (Plut. _Ant._ 54;
Frontinus, iii. 2, 11). These, in the case of the king, would be of
richer material, colour and adornment. The diadem could be worn round
the kausia; the chlamys offered scope for gorgeous embroidery; and the
boots might be crimson felt (see the description of Demetrius' chlamys
and boots, Plut. _Dem_. 41). There were other traces in the Hellenistic
courts of the old Macedonian tradition besides in dress. One was the
honour given to prowess in the chase (Polyb. xxii. 3, 8; Diod. xxxiv.
34). Another was the fashion for the king to hold wassail with his
courtiers, in which he unbent to an extent scandalous to the Greeks,
dancing or indulging in routs and practical jokes.[6]
The prominent part taken by the women of the royal house was a
Macedonian characteristic. The history of these kingdoms furnishes a
long list of queens and princesses who were ambitious and masterful
politicians, of which the great Cleopatra is the last and the most
famous. The kings after Alexander, with the exception of Demetrius
Poliorcetes and Pyrrhus, are not found to have more than one legitimate
wife at a time, although they show unstinted freedom in divorce and the
number of their mistresses. The custom of marriages between brothers and
sisters, agreeable to old Persian as to old Egyptian ethics, was
instituted in Egypt by the second Ptolemy when he married his full
sister Arsinoë Philadelphus. It was henceforth common, though not
invariable, among the Ptolemies. At the Seleucid court there seems to be
an instance of it in 195, when the heir-apparent, Antiochus, married his
sister Laodice. The style of "sister" was given in both courts to the
queen, even when she was not the king's sister in reality (Strack,
_Dynastie_, Nos. 38, 40, 43; _Archiv. f. Papyr_, i. 205). The "Friends"
of the king are often mentioned. It is usual for him to confer with a
council ([Greek: synedrion]) of his "Friends" before important
decisions, administrative, military or judicial (e.g. Polyb. v. 16, 5;
22, 8). They form a definite body about the king's person ([Greek:
philon syntagma], Polyb. xxxi. 3, 7); cf. [Greek: hoi philoi] in
contrast with [Greek: hai dynameis], id. v. 50, 9), admission into which
depends upon his favour alone, and is accorded, not only to his
subjects, but to aliens, such as the Greek refugee politicians (e.g.
Hegesianax, Athen. iv. 155b; Hannibal and the Aetolian Thoas take part
in the councils of Antiochus III. A similar body, with a title
corresponding to [Greek: philoi], is found in ancient Egypt (Erman,
_Ancient Egypt_, Eng. trans., p. 72) and in Persia (Spiegel. _Eran.
Alt._ iii. 626); but some such support is so obviously required by the
necessities of a despot's position that we need not suppose it derived
from any particular precedent. The Friends (at any rate under the later
Seleucid and Ptolemaïc reigns) were distinguished by a special dress and
badge of gold analogous to the stars and crosses of modern orders. The
dress was of crimson ([Greek: porphyra]); this and the badges were the
king's gift, and except by royal grant neither crimson nor gold might,
apparently, be worn at court (1 Macc. 10, 20; 62; 89; 11, 58; Athen. v.
211b). The order of Friends was organized in a hierarchy of ranks, which
were multiplied as time went on. In Egypt we find them classified as
[Greek: syngeneis, homotimoi tois syngenesin, archisomatophylakes,
protoi philoi, philoi] (in the narrower sense), [Greek: diadochoi]. For
the Seleucid kingdom [Greek: syngeneis, protoi philoi] and [Greek:
philoi] are mentioned. These classes do not appear in Egypt before the
2nd century; Strack conjectures that they were created in imitation of
the Seleucid court. We have no direct evidence as to the institutions of
the Seleucid court in the 3rd century. Certain [Greek: somatophylakes]
of Antiochus I. are mentioned, but we do not know whether the name was
not then used in its natural sense (Strack, _Rhein. Mus._ LV., 1900, p.
161 seq.; Wilamowitz, _Archiv f. Pap._ I., p. 225; Beloch, _Gr. Gesch._
iii (i), p. 391). As to Macedonia, whatever may have been the
constitution of the court, it is implied that it offered in its
externals a sober plainness in comparison with the vain display and
ceremonious frivolities of Antioch and Alexandria (Polyb. xvi, 22, 5;
Plut. _Cleom._ 31; _Arat_, 15). The position of a Friend did not carry
with it necessarily any functions; it was in itself purely honorary. The
ministers and high officials were, on the other hand, regularly invested
with one or other of the ranks specified. The chief of these ministers
is denoted [Greek: ho epi ton pragmaton], and he corresponds to the
_vizier_ of the later East. All departments of government are under his
supervision, and he regularly holds the highest rank of a kinsman. When
the king is a minor, he acts as guardian or regent ([Greek: epitropos]).
Over different departments of state we find a state secretary ([Greek:
epistolographos] or [Greek: hypomnematographos]: Seleucid, Polyb. xxxi,
3, 16; Ptolemaïc, Strack, _Inschriften_ 103) and a minister of finance
([Greek: ho epi ton prosodon] in the Seleucid kingdom; App. _Syr._ 45;
[Greek: dioiketes] in Egypt, Lumbroso, _Econ. Pol._ p. 339). Under each
of these great heads of departments was a host of lower officials,
those, for instance, who held to the province a relation analogous to
that of the head of the department of the realm. Such a provincial
authority is described as [Greek: epi ton prosodon] in the inscription
of Eriza (_Bull. corr. hell._ xv. 556). Beside the officials concerned
with the work of government we have those of the royal household: (1)
the chief-physician, [Greek: archiatros] (for the Seleucid see App.
_Syr._ 59; Polyb. v. 56, 1; Michel, No. 1158; for the Pontic, _Bull.
corr. hell._ vii. 354 seq.); (2) the chief-huntsman, [Greek:
archikunegos] (Dittenb. _Orient. Graec._ 99); (3) the maître-d'hotel
[Greek: archedeatros] (Dittenb. _Orient. Graec._ 169) (4) the lord of
the queen's bedchamber, [Greek: ho epi tou koitonos tês Basilissês]
(Dittenb. _Orient. Graec._ 256). As in the older Oriental courts, the
high positions were often filled by eunuchs (e.g. Craterus, in last
mentioned inscription).
It was customary, as in Persia and in old Macedonia, for the great men
of the realm to send their children to court to be brought up with the
children of the royal house. Those who had been so brought up with the
king were styled his [Greek: syntrophoi] (for the Seleucid, Polyb. v.
82, 8 and xxxi. 21, 2; _Bull. corr. hell._ i. 285; 2 Macc. ix. 29; for
the Ptolemaïc [Greek: syntrophoi paidiskai] of the queen, Polyb. xv. 33,
11; for the Pontic, _Bull. corr. hell._ vii. 355; for the Pergamene.
Polyb. xxxii. 27, 10, &c.; for the Herodian, Acts 13). It is perfectly
gratuitous to suppose with Deissmann that "the fundamental meaning had
given place to the general meaning of intimate friend." With this custom
we may perhaps bring into connexion the office of [Greek: tropheus]
(Polyb. xxxi. 20, 3; Michel, No. 1158). As under Alexander, so under his
successors, we find a corps of [Greek: Basilikoi paides]. They appear as
a corps, 600 strong, in a triumphal procession at Antioch (Polyb. xxxi.
3, 17; cf. v. 82, 13; Antigonid, Livy, xlv. 6; cf. Curtius, viii. 6, 6).