Composed in 2026

Duration: 10'

Bass Melodica - Efe Yüksel

Guitar - Goi Ywei Chern

Recording and audio editing by Efe Yüksel, London, 2026.

These six short movements depict scenes from the story of Eumenes of Cardia, Alexander the Great's secretary, from Alexander's death in 323 BC to his own in 316 BC. 

Sunrise, Babylon portrays the morning after the death of the king, a time of mourning which also promises a new, violent beginning as his successorts tear his empire apart. 

Wreathed in Grain is titled after an episode decribed by Plutarch, in which Eumenes claimed to have seen, the day before his first major battle against another of Alexander's sucessors, a vision in which an army of Alexander supported by Demeter was victorious, and thus ordered his soldiers to "wreath their arms in ears of grain". 

Distant Lights follows the period spent by Eumenes raiding the Anatolian territory claimed by another successor, Antipater. At this time he was said to have used fast raids with his experienced cavalry, in which I would imagine he would have been glad to see the distant lights of towns and villages, or cautious when spotting the camps of the enemy. 

He was eventually cornered and defeated in battle by an ally of Antipater, Antigonus Monophthalmus. At this point he retreated to a Cappadocian fortress, Nora, to wait out his enemies. 

After finally escaping, possibly through trickery, the siege of Nora, Eumenes gathered allies, some of which were unwilling to follow his command as he was a Greek rather than a Macedonian. Thus, he came up with a solution for planning his strategy by setting up a tent in which Alexander's diadem, sceptre, and throne were present, and so he and his allies could meet as equals in the presence of the king's Spectre.

The Field at Dusk refers to the battlefield near Gabiene, Eumenes' final battle. Here he faced and nearly defeated Antigonus, but during the battle his men's baggage were captured by the enemy, and as dusk fell there was no time to continue fighting to retrieve it. Thus, despite the battle being inconclusive and having inflicted far more casualties on the enemy, Eumenes' men betrayed himand delivered him to Antigonus in exchange for their possessions. Thus ends the story of Eumenes, who was executed shortly after by his reluctant former friend Antigonus, at the demand of his army.