The Macedonians and the Whale (Patriarchs of Story Pt1)

      When Alexander the Great was out conquering the world, he came into contact with the Indian Ocean, this massive expanse that was virtually unknown to the Macedonians.  Alexander commissioned his naval commander, Nearchus to sail out into the ocean and begin exploring.  The primary writer we have for this story is Arrian, a Roman writer, so lets see what he says.

     "Large whales live in the outer ocean, and fishes much larger than those in our inland sea. Nearchus states that when they left Cyiza (the port), about daybreak they saw water being blown upwards from the sea as it might be shot upwards by the force of a waterspout. They were astonished, and asked the pilots of the convoy what it might be and how it was caused; they replied that these were whales that rove about the ocean spouting up the water to a great height."

     These whales so startled the crew because of their size and ability to shoot out water, that Nearchus had to cheer his men up and encourage them to even keep going.  Having achieved this, he decided to  have the ships give battle to the whales. They turned towards them as if they were going to ram the nearest whale and sped towards him blowing on their bugles and shouting with all their might.  This naturally frightened the whale and he dived under the water.

Back to Arrian  " Thereupon joyful applause welcomed this unexpected salvation, and much praise was showered on Nearchus for his courage and prudence."

But wait!  Oh no! Watch out Nearchus the whales are behind us now! How did they do that? Oh no! Run!

Surprise! Whales are Ninjas!

This ends the tale of the Macedonians and the Whale. As you can see stories like this are ripe for fiction writing. Plot twists and awesome literary encounters are yours for the taking.  A big thank you to Arrian for being a  Patriarch of Story.

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