Son of Ammon

According to Egyptian mythology, Osiris was the son of Ra, who later became associated with Amon. In the New Kingdom, these melded together, producing a union of Amon-Ra with his son Osiris. According to Martin Bernal (Black Athena, 1.115-6), Alexander the Great saw himself “as this syncretic divinity, both Ammon and his son,” identified also with Dionysus.

Bernal elaborates: “the actual conquests of Alexander increased the importance of the myths of the vast eastern civilizing expedition of Dionysos or – as Diodoros named him – of Osiris, traces of which can be found in Egyptian tradition from the 18th Dynasty or even the Middle Kingdom. . . . There is no doubt about the political and cultic attention he attached to his many long drinking bouts, and the civilizing mission of Osiris Dionysos provides a crucial background for Alexander’s own activities along these lines. Thus his identification as the son of Ammon, parallel to and rival of Dionysos, was central to his life project. Aryanist historians have preferred to dwell on his reading of Xenophon and his identification and rivalry with Achilles, and there is no doubt that these were significant factors in his decision to invade Asia. But they were less important than his essentially Egyptian religious mission. The fact that his body was buried in Egypt rather than in Greece or Persia cannot simply be attributed to the ruthlessness of his general Ptolemy, who succeeded him as ruler of Egypt. It shows the centrality of that country to Alexander’s life and self-image.”

Thus myths become history, gods become men.