Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Astor to Philip's Right Eye

One of my favorite stories (I find it rather hilarious) is found in an old book called "Ridpath's History of the World" by John Clark Ridpath (1901). He tells of how King Philip II of Macedon (father to Alexander the Great) lost his right eye.

"During the siege of Methone, King Philip of Macedon had the misfortune of losing his right eye. While the king was standing some distance away from the castle, an arrow flew from the rampart and straight into his right eye. When the arrow was inspected it had a note attached to it which read "Astor to Philip's right eye." Further investigation revealed the whole story. It seems an archer named "Astor" had recently volunteered his services to King Philip, who rejected his offer. Astor, it seems, had told Philip that his skill with a bow was so great, he was able to kill a bird in flight. The king, thinking this was just false bragadoccio, rejected Astor with the remark "Well, well... I shall make use of you when I go to war with the starlings." Following this rejection, Astor had joined the Methoneans and shot the arrow which validated his skill in an unforgettable way." [paraphrased]



Whether the story is true or not I don't know. What I do know is, this Astor fellow really made his point (pardon the pun).

By the way, forensic scientists who decided to accurately recreate Philip's face came up with this:

Looks kinda like Richard Dreyfuss with a messed-up right eye (presumably the result of the efforts of Astor, the disgruntled archer).

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