Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C.

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Description

Until recently, popular biographers and most scholars viewed Alexander the Great as a genius with a plan, a romantic figure pursuing his vision of a united world. His dream used to be from time to time characterized as a benevolent interest in the brotherhood of man, now and again as a brute interest in the exercise of power. Green, a Cambridge-trained classicist who could also be a novelist, portrays Alexander as both a complex personality and a single-minded general, a man capable of such diverse expediencies as patricide or the massacre of civilians. Green describes his Alexander as “not only the most brilliant (and ambitious) field commander in history, but also supremely indifferent to all those administrative excellences and idealistic yearnings foisted upon him by later generations, especially those who found the conqueror, tout court, a little hard upon their liberal sensibilities.”

This biography begins not with one of the crucial universally known incidents of Alexander’s life, but with an account of his father, Philip of Macedonia, whose many-territoried empire used to be the first on the continent of Europe to have an effectively centralized government and military. What Philip and Macedonia had to offer, Alexander made his own, but Philip and Macedonia also made Alexander form a very powerful context for understanding Alexander himself. Yet his origins and training do not fully give an explanation for the man. After he used to be named hegemon of the Hellenic League, many philosophers came to congratulate Alexander, but one used to be conspicuous by his absence: Diogenes the Cynic, an ascetic who lived in a clay tub. Piqued and curious, Alexander himself visited the philosopher, who, when asked if there used to be anything Alexander could do for him, made the famous reply, “Don’t stand between me and the sun.” Alexander’s courtiers jeered, but Alexander silenced them: “If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.” This commentary used to be as unexpected in Alexander as it would be in a brand new leader.

For the general reader, the book, redolent with gritty details and fully acutely aware of Alexander’s darker side, offers a gripping tale of Alexander’s career. Full backnotes, fourteen maps, and chronological and genealogical tables serve readers with more specialized interests.

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