When Alexander had crossed the desert, and arrived at the temple, the priest of Ammon greeted him as the son of the god.  He inquired whether anyone of his father’s murderers had escaped, to which the priest answered that he must not ask such questions, for his father was more than man.  Alexander now altered the form of his inquiry and asked whether he had punished all the murderers of Philip:  and then he asked another question, about his empire, whether he was fated to conquer all mankind.  On receiving as an answer that this would be granted to him and that Philip had been amply avenged, he made splendid presents to the god, and amply rewarded the priests.

This is the account which most historians give about the response of the oracle; but in a letter to his mother, Alexander says that he received certain secret prophecies, which upon his return he would communicate to her alone.  Some narrate that the priest, wishing to give him a friendly greeting in the Greek language, said “My son,” but being a foreigner, mispronounced the words so as to say “Son of Zeus,” a mistake which delighted Alexander and caused men to say that the god himself had addressed him as “Son of Zeus.”  We are told that while in Egypt, he attended the lectures of the philosopher Psammon, and was especially pleased when he pointed out that God is King over all men, because that which rules and conquers must be king.  He himself thought that he had improved upon this by saying that although God is the common father of all men, yet that he makes the best men more peculiarly his own.

XXVIII.  In his dealings with Asiatics, he always acted and spoke with the greatest arrogance, and seemed firmly convinced of his own divine parentage, but he was careful not to make the same boast when among Greeks.  On one occasion, indeed, he wrote to the Athenians the following letter about their possession of Samos.  “I,” he said, “should not have presented you with that free and glorious city; but it was presented to you by its former master, my reputed father Philip.”

Yet afterwards when he was wounded by an arrow and in great pain he said “This, my friends, is blood that runs from my wound, and not

     “Ichor, that courses through the veins of gods.”

Once when a great thunderstorm terrified every one, Anaxarchus the sophist, who was with him, said “Son of Zeus, canst thou do as much?” To this, Alexander answered with a smile, “Nay, I love not to frighten my friends, as you would have me do, when you complained of my table, because fish was served upon it instead of princes’ heads.”  Indeed we are told that once, when Alexander had sent some small fish to Hephaestion, Anaxarchus used this expression ironically disparaging those who undergo great toils and run great risks to obtain magnificent results which, after all, make them no happier or able to enjoy themselves than other men.  From these anecdotes we see that Alexander himself did not put any belief in the story of his divine parentage, but that he used it as a means of imposing upon others.