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9 books match the query 'Alexander, the Great'
Alexander The Great
A NovelNikos Kazantzakis
Ohio University Press, 1982
Nikos Kazantzakis is no stranger to the heroes of Greek antiquity. In this historical novel based on the life of Alexander the Great, Kazantzakis has drawn on both the rich tradition of Greek legend and the documented manuscripts from the archives of history to recreate an Alexander in all his many-faceted images—Alexander the god; Alexander the descendant of Heracles performing the twelve labors; Alexander the mystic, the daring visionary destined to carry out a divine mission; Alexander the flesh-and-blood mortal who, on occasion, is not above the common soldier’s brawling and drinking.
The novel, which resists the temptation to portray Alexander in the mantle of purely romantic legend, covers his life from age fifteen to his death at age thirty-two. It opens with Alexander’s first exploit, the taming of the horse, Bucephalas, and is seen in great part through the eyes of his young neighbor who eventually becomes an officer in his army and follows him on his campaign to conquer the world.
The book, which was written primarily as an educational adjunct for young readers, is intended for the adult mind as well, and like the legends of old, is entertaining as well as instructive for readers of all ages. It was originally published in Greece in serial form in 1940, and was republished in a complete volume in 1979.
Alexander the Great
A NovelNikos Kazantzakis
Ohio University Press, 2025
Newly translated, this classic novel is sure to delight readers of all ages as it explores the legendary conqueror’s life, ambitions, and humanity.
Nikos Kazantzakis’s Alexander the Great is a biographical novel about one of antiquity’s greatest political and military leaders. In Kazantzakis’s story, Alexander of Macedonia does not conquer for conquest’s sake; instead, he seeks to spread the light of Hellenism to the known world, unite humanity through Greek ideals and culture, and bring together East and West.
The story begins in Pella, the lavish capital of Macedonia, in the fourth century BCE. A teenager named Stefanos rushes to the royal stadium for a remarkable event that has drawn every male citizen of this capital city: the taming of a wild and uniquely powerful horse named Bucephalus. Relying on raw strength and force, even seasoned generals fail to subdue Bucephalus; but through skill, kindness, and insight, the fifteen-year-old Alexander is able to befriend the beast. Alexander’s symbolic taming of chaos foretells his rise to power and demonstrates the qualities he will carry with him throughout his lifelong campaign of conquest.
Through the eyes of Stefanos, who becomes Alexander’s personal attendant and most trusted companion, Kazantzakis follows the Macedonian army through triumphant campaigns across Persia, Egypt, and India, greatly expanding the boundaries of the ancient Hellenic world. Kazantzakis presents Alexander not only as an ingenious military strategist but also as a reflective human being. Alexander oscillates between the human and the divine but will ultimately be betrayed by the former. Kazantzakis narrates Alexander’s struggles and conquests all the way to Babylon, where he meets his untimely death at just thirty-three years of age.
This iconic novel also explores Alexander’s profound relationship with his mentor, Aristotle, who instills in him a lifelong thirst for knowledge. Alexander the Great offers a compelling blend of history, myth, and philosophy and will appeal to readers fascinated by ancient Greece, epic heroes, and humanity’s timeless quest for the meaning of life.
Alexander the Great
The Unique History of Quintus CurtiusElizabeth Baynham
University of Michigan Press, 2004
The reign and personality of Alexander the Great---one of the most romantic and powerful kings in history---have remained a source of fascination from antiquity to the present. But because the ancient information surrounding the conqueror is rich, contradictory, and complex, every historian of this near-mythical ruler-whether ancient or modern-invariably creates his or her own Alexander.
The unique work of one such ancient historian, Quintus Curtius, is the subject of Elizabeth Baynham's book. She mines Curtius' study of power for his contemporary perspective, historical methodology, and his portrait of the famous king and presents us with a brilliant, multifaceted study of this unique account regarding one of the most fascinating rulers in history.
Alexander’s Veterans and the Early Wars of the Successors
By Joseph Roisman
University of Texas Press, 2012
This first focused analysis of veterans’ experiences in ancient Greece offers a fresh, “bottom-up” perspective on important military and political aspects of early Hellenistic history.
Runner-up, PROSE Award, Classics and Ancient History, 2013
From antiquity until now, most writers who have chronicled the events following the death of Alexander the Great have viewed this history through the careers, ambitions, and perspectives of Alexander’s elite successors. Few historians have probed the experiences and attitudes of the ordinary soldiers who followed Alexander on his campaigns and who were divided among his successors as they fought for control of his empire after his death. Yet the veterans played an important role in helping to shape the character and contours of the Hellenistic world.
This pathfinding book offers the first in-depth investigation of the Macedonian veterans’ experience during a crucial turning point in Greek history (323–316 BCE). Joseph Roisman discusses the military, social, and political circumstances that shaped the history of Alexander’s veterans, giving special attention to issues such as the soldiers’ conduct on and off the battlefield, the army assemblies, the volatile relationship between the troops and their generals, and other related themes, all from the perspective of the rank-and-file. Roisman also reexamines the biases of the ancient sources and how they affected ancient and modern depictions of Alexander’s veterans, as well as Alexander’s conflicts with his army, the veterans’ motives and goals, and their political contributions to Hellenistic history. He pays special attention to the Silver Shields, a group of Macedonian veterans famous for their invincibility and martial prowess, and assesses whether or not they deserved their formidable reputation.
Contested Pasts
A Determinist History of Alexander the Great in the Roman EmpireJennifer Finn
University of Michigan Press, 2022
Death in Babylon
Alexander the Great and Iberian Empire in the Muslim OrientVincent Barletta
University of Chicago Press, 2010
Though Alexander the Great lived more than seventeen centuries before the onset of Iberian expansion into Muslim Africa and Asia, he loomed large in the literature of late medieval and early modern Portugal and Spain. Exploring little-studied chronicles, chivalric romances, novels, travelogues, and crypto-Muslim texts, Vincent Barletta shows that the story of Alexander not only sowed the seeds of Iberian empire but foreshadowed the decline of Portuguese and Spanish influence in the centuries to come.
Death in Babylon depicts Alexander as a complex symbol of Western domination, immortality, dissolution, heroism, villainy, and death. But Barletta also shows that texts ostensibly celebrating the conqueror were haunted by failure. Examining literary and historical works in Aljamiado, Castilian, Catalan, Greek, Latin, and Portuguese, Death in Babylon develops a view of empire and modernity informed by the ethical metaphysics of French phenomenologist Emmanuel Levinas. A novel contribution to the literature of empire building, Death in Babylon provides a frame for the deep mortal anxiety that has infused and given shape to the spread of imperial Europe from its very beginning.
Responses to Oliver Stone’s Alexander
Film, History, and Cultural StudiesEdited by Paul Cartledge and Fiona Rose Greenland; Afterword by Oliver Stone
University of Wisconsin Press, 2009
This volume brings together an intriguing mix of leading scholars in Macedonian and Greek history, Persian culture, film studies, classical literature, and archaeology—including some who were advisors for the film—and includes an afterword by Oliver Stone discussing the challenges he faced in putting Alexander’s life on the big screen. The contributors scrutinize Stone’s project from its inception and design to its production and reception, considering such questions as: Can a film about Alexander (and similar figures from history) be both entertaining and historically sound? How do the goals of screenwriters and directors differ from those of historians? How do Alexander’s personal relationships—with his mother Olympias, his wife Roxane, his lover Hephaistion, and others—affect modern perceptions of Alexander? Several of the contributors also explore reasons behind the film’s tepid response at the box office and subsequent controversies.
The Complex Friendships of Alexander the Great
Loyalty, Love, Advantage, and IntrigueJoseph Roisman
University of Texas Press, 2026
A first-of-its-kind study of Alexander the Great that examines the diverse manifestations and pivotal role of friendship in his campaigns, decisions, and enduring legacy.
Modern scholarship has illuminated nearly every aspect of Alexander the Great’s life and campaigns––but Joseph Roisman turns to a dimension of Alexander’s world that has yet to receive sustained analysis: the structure and function of friendship in the king’s regime. In this first-of-its-kind study, The Complex Friendships of Alexander the Great explores the central role friendship played in Alexander’s social, political, and cultural world. Moving beyond utilitarian perspectives, Roisman shows that friendship with the king involved affective, noninstrumental bonds that shaped his decisions, successes, and failures.
Using Aristotle’s philosophy of friendship as a starting point, Roisman examines the making, breaking, and remaking of bonds with Macedonian companions, including his closest allies, as well as with foreigners encountered during his campaigns. The book concludes with the first comprehensive list of Alexander’s friends drawn from ancient sources. Combining meticulous scholarship with new interpretive insight, this study reevaluates how we understand Alexander the Great’s leadership, social networks, and legacy.
The Lost Book of Alexander the Great
Andrew Young
Westholme Publishing, 2022
Alexander the Great is well known as one of the first great empire builders of the ancient world. Among those fellow Macedonian officers who accompanied Alexander in his epic conquests from Greece to India was Ptolemy Lagides. Ptolemy served alongside Alexander from the Persian defeat at the Battle of Issus in modern-day Turkey and the journey to find the oracle that proclaimed Alexander to be Zeus incarnate, to the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BC that opened India to the West. Following Alexander’s death, Ptolemy gained control of Egypt where he founded the dynasty in his name, created the great library of Alexandria, and was patron of the mathematician Euclid. Sometime during his rule in Egypt, Ptolemy wrote a history of Alexander’s conquests. Although it is probable that Ptolemy enhanced his own importance, sources indicate that it was regarded as an accurate and even-handed account of the campaigns of Alexander. However, Ptolemy’s book was lost—perhaps with the destruction of the library he founded—and not even an original fragment has survived. His book, however, was acknowledged as a primary source of information for later Roman historians.
In The Lost Book of Alexander the Great, Andrew Young explores the world of ancient writings about the Macedonian leader in order to determine whether any of Ptolemy’s writings can be recovered. Inspired by Stephen Greenblatt’s distinguished biography of Shakespeare, Will in the World, and written for the general reader, the author uses literary forensics to suggest which parts of later books about Alexander the Great, most notably the account by Arrian of Nicomedia, might be the words of Ptolemy. In addition to separating later Roman sensibilities from the original Greek of Ptolemy, the author re-creates the famous library of Alexandria, and takes the reader along on Alexander’s conquests as closely as we can to how Ptolemy may have recounted them.