Alexander the Great

1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4438-1743-1
Verlag: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 435 Seiten

This book is possibly the most comprehensive biography of Alexander in print. It presents his story strictly on the basis of ancient sources, making use as much as possible of contemporary Greek inscriptions, coins, and of non-western evidence (Babylonian tablets, Egyptian papyri, Bactrian parchments). The latter in particular change our understanding of how the Achaemenid state was run and how the Macedonian conquests were perceived from the Oriental perspective.

The book’s protagonist was the first in Western Civilization to be hailed Great. The specific aura and charisma of this young ruler, the scale of his conquests and the exotic landscapes and peoples encountered during a tireless trek of over 35,000 km spanning three continents is what the broader public have always found particularly appealing. The author travelled extensively in the footsteps of Alexander and made use of other geographical accounts to elucidate the spatial perspective of his conquests.

Space and politics define the dynamics of his story. The author presents Alexander as a component of the historical processes in his epoch and considers his influence on developments in Greece, Macedonia, the Persian Empire and neighbouring countries. The book tries to steer clear of both idealizing Alexander the Great, typical of some earlier modern biographies, and of deconstructing his personality, which mars the minimalist approach of today’s scholarship.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Nawotka, Krzysztof

Über Autor(innen)

Nawotka, Krzysztof
Krzysztof Nawotka is a classicist educated at Oxford and Columbus, Ohio, now ancient history professor at the University of Wroclaw, Poland. He has published on the Black Sea, Asia Minor and Alexander the Great, his major books being: The Western Pontic Cities: History and Political Organization (1997) and Boule and Demos in Miletus and its Pontic Colonies from the Classical Age until the Third Century AD (1999).