History of Alexander the Great and ancient Macedon

I recently read an old biography of Alexander by Benjamin Ide Wheeler – part of a series called Heroes of the Nations.  It’s subtitled Alexander the Great – the merging of East and West in universal history.  Originally published in 1900, it’s not a scholarly work, but it is well-informed general history which makes a refreshing change of view from modern historians.

 

 

( Read more... )

 

Has anyone here read any of the Greek AtG sources before? (original Greek or translation)
I'm  referring particularly to Arrian, Diodorus and Plutarch. I'm asking because I've got a assignment to write
which is about a comparison of Alexander's portrayal in Ancient and Modern literature, with a focus on his "philhellenism" vs. his "orientalism".
I'm  pretty much decided about the modern authors I'm going to use, but still need to choose the Ancient ones.
So, if someone's already read one or more of them, and could just give me a hint about whether you'd recommend author x for
this sort of comparison or rather not, I'd be thankful. It's manly about whether there's at least some focus on his "Greek-ness" versus his "behaving orientally"  because that's what I need, and if there's nothing useful, I don't even have to consider the author in question.

Thank you in advance :)

It seems that a new statue of Alexander the Great has been unearthed in Alexandria, Egypt. That's so very exciting!
The full article regarding this new discovery can be read here.
Update: The statue doesn't belong to Alexander apparently. Here is a much better view of it... It's beautiful nonetheless ;D
http://rogueclassicism.com/2009/05/24/alexander-from-alexandria-followup/

did hephaestion have an erastes or would alexander not have let that happen? and i guess a prince wouldnt have one would he?
thank you

Some of you might be familiar with Anna Apostolou's A Murder in Macedon.  It's a pretty terrible book, but the cover illustration is beautiful--is there anybody here who could tell me where it comes from?



Based on the lines in the drawing, I'd say it's almost certainly an 18th- or 19th-century engraving--perhaps it was once an illustration in a fancy history book?  The softcover edition of A Murder in Macedon doesn't credit the artist (which partly confirms my theory--the picture must be out of copyright).  I assume it is actually an illustration of Philip's murder, although I suppose the publishers could have nicked it from another ancient assassination scene.

Have any of you seen this picture before?  Do you have any guesses or advice about where I should look for it?  Thanks!

This probably isn't allowed on this site, and many people are likely to be watching other sites where I've posted it as well, but I thought there might possibly be someone out there who's still passionate about Alexander and might be interested in a character study.

If you would rather this wasn't here, please let me know and I'll delete it.

Alexander and Hephaestion celebrate being alive after Gedrosia

Night One http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/9322.html#cutid1

Night Two http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/9594.html#cutid1

Night Three http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/9810.html#cutid1

Night Four http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/10168.html#cutid1

Night Five http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/10240.html#cutid1

Night Six http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/10558.html#cutid1

Night Seven http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/10989.html#cutid1

A Happy and Holy Easter to you

The book is now available:

Macedonian Legacies: Studies in Ancient Macedonian History and Culture in Honor of Eugene N. Borza

This new volume is a justified addition to library shelves, not only because it celebrates one of the foremost scholars in the field, but also for the strides in new research offered here in Gene Borza’s honor. This volume’s contributors include some of the most distinguished names currently involved in Macedonian scholarship and related areas of ancient history. The range of papers is impressive—in areas, in disciplines, and in foci ...

... are a wealth of other essays that employ recent archaeology, art history, social history, military history, philology, comparative literary analysis, prosopography, political analysis and even interdisciplinary work utilizing the social sciences. What is particularly exciting about these papers is how they often combine academic disciplines in fruitful ways to shine new light on old questions.

Editors: Timothy Howe and Jeanne Reames
Publication Date: 1 May 2009 (note the book is ready to order, and will be released in a month)

Extensive end notes, bibliography, illustrations
310 Pages (PB)

PRICE: $24.95

As noted before, that's quite cheap, as academic books go.

http://www.reginabooks.com/1-930053-56-8.html
http://www.reginabooks.com/ancient&medieval.html (to order)

( Click for a list of the Table of Contents & contributors -- a baker's dozen! )

The most influential account of the career of Alexander the Great was penned by Cleitarchus the son of Deinon, a Greek writing in Alexandria in the decades after Alexander’s death. Most of the surviving ancient texts on Alexander were more or less based upon his work, but every single copy of the original was discarded or destroyed in antiquity. To what extent might it be possible to reconstruct it from the secondary writings? My new book (now available from Internet bookstores: Amazon etc.) argues that a considerable degree of reconstruction is feasible and demonstrates the point by presenting a full reconstruction of Cleitarchus’ version of Alexander’s campaigns in India, the first time that this has been done.

There is a page dedicated to the new book on my website at www.alexanderstomb.com/main/cleitarchus/index.html including a sample chapter as a downloadable pdf, which contains my reconstruction of Book 12 of Cleitarchus.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Has anyone read The Alexander Cipher by Will Adams?  It's a novel about the search for the tomb of Alexander the Great.  I'm wondering if it's a worthwhile read.  Anyone?

This is a head of Alexander from the British Museum.

This is a photo of a Molossian hound from the British Museum. Perhaps Peritas looked like this.

This is my 4th century BC wine cup from Magna Graecia.

I thought the history buffs out there might enjoy some of these photos. This is my genuine 4th cent. BC Alexander coin.

I'm teaching my ATG class again this spring and I've got this comm linked on the course website. It's possible some of my students might drop in here to ask questions or such. Please treat them kindly; they're here with my permission, not sneaking around without my knowledge. ;>

Hello, I have a question about the Royal Pages, specifically Philip's Pages.

Most historians seem to assume that Hephaestion was a year or two older than Alexander, based on the deduction that they met when Aristotle came to teach Alexander and the Pages. It has been worked out that Alexander was then about 13, and it is presumed that Hephaestion would have joined the Pages that year. However, it is assumed that the Pages were aged between 14 and 18.

Does anyone know if there is any proof of this or how this age range was worked out? Given that the sources (Plutach?) say that Alexander and Hephaestion were the same age, why could the Pages not be 13-18? Given the English public school system, 13 would seem a good age at which boys would become too troublesome to keep at home, especially with their fathers away on campaign.

Also, the upper age limit could be higher than 18, given that the older Pages needed to be mature enough to guard the King and hunt with him, being strong enough to take Alexander's kill (a lion?). They would also presumably graduate from the Pages straight into a junior army command.

Any ideas?

Hi,
recently I've bought a French book called "A poil et à plume - Homosexuels et bisexuels célèbres" (1987), by Michel Larivière.
The book is a sort of list of important omosexuals and bisex characters in history, with information about each of them.
In the entry about Alexander a sentence attributed to him is reported, which says "Je fais l'amour avec Ephestion et la volupté avec Bagoas" (I make love with Hephaestion and voluptuosness with Bagoas).
Where this sentence come from? I've never read it in any ancient source and since Mr. Chugg doesn't mention it in his book I think it might be a fake or a forgery...

This is Alexander related only by a very generous stretch of the comm guidelines, but the following question was asked over at maryrenaultfics, and there are more experts here than anywhere else I can think of, so having a go:

Black Gold and Lamp Oil
Very early in chapter 17 ( of The Persian Boy) there is an anecdote about a finding crude oil spring. The seer told Alexander "its generous flow [stood] for victory and wealth."

Bagoas recounts how they substituted it for the normal lamp oil that night but it made a foul smoke so the lamp had to be taken outside.

What did the Macedonians or Persians normally use for lamp oil that didn't smoke? Does anyone know?

Just to let anyone reading know that my Alexander website, which has hundreds of captures etc from the movie is going to be deleted very soon, so if you want to save any of the images do so now.

link to the site is on my LJ info page.

Sal

I just read this in Robinson's "the History of Alexander the Great" Part 2, "The Fragments"
It's from PLUT. Aet. gr. 9 p. 292 D-F.
"Fort the Delphians do not use b for ph (as the Macedonians...)"
So, is it Hebaistion and Bilippos???

Hey there,

I'm new to this community, but have been interested in Alexander and his reign for some time.
So, I actually consider myself an Alexander-fan, as I think he's a fascinating historical person (with his spirits, and his pothos, and his romance and genius, ... )  and had a great effect on the European/Asian world. I'm also studying Ancient Greek in school, and generally love most Greek things (yeah, I know, Alexander was Macedonian), so that's a point too.

However, today I was wondering - why is Alexander considered such an incredibly important person in history, or rather, were the changes he caused any good?
I mean, clearly, it speaks of great strategical abilities to conquer an empire I don't know how many times larger than your own, with an army the accordant size, etc. Then we've got the hellenism, which itself isn't a bad thing, as cultural change is usually positive for both sides, IMO.
But generally, the idea of conquering another empire just for the sake of is, is not something ultimatively positive, at least from nowaday's perspective, is it?

So, my question: What do you think, was Alexander's reason to act like he did, and what (positive and negative) effects did it have on the world?

I know, there've been entire books written about that, but I just wanted to know some of your opinions ...