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I found an interesting article on an upcoming paper about Alexander the Great and the possible cause for his erratic behavior: CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), the same problem many American football players experience after multiple concussions. [Note: link has been updated to go to the published Athens Journal of History article.] A quote from the […]
Alexander’s Lost World is a 6 x 60” series coproduced with David Adams Films and Sky Vision. Following the course of the River Oxus (Amu Darya) for the first time, Adams takes viewers on an extraordinary 1,500-mile (2400 km) journey through war-torn Afghanistan and Central Asia. The Ancient Greeks have long been credited for bringing […]
I participated in the Reading Odyssey‘s reading of Arrian’s The Campaigns of Alexander this year and wanted to gather all the conference calls in one place. Reading Odyssey “is a partnership between scholars and readers” aiming “to reignite curiosity and lifelong learning.” I enjoyed participating in this program and highly recommend future programs. The listed […]
The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander Edited by James Romm, Series Editor Robert B. Strassler, Translation by Pamela Mensch, Introduction by Paul CartledgeIf you haven’t noticed by now, I am a huge fan of the Landmark series, created by Robert B. Strassler. If you haven’t picked up a volume in the series, check out […]
Though I have myself had occasion to find fault with some of Alexander’s deeds in the course of my history of them, I am not ashamed to admire Alexander himself. If I have condemned certain acts of his, I did so out of my own regard for truth and also for the benefit of mankind. […]
Anyone who reproaches Alexander should not simply cite those deeds that deserve to be reproached. Instead, after collecting in one place all of Alexander’s qualities, let his critic then consider who he is and what sort of fortune he has had that he reproaches Alexander, a man who became so great and attained such a […]
”I was now going to send back those of you who are unfit for war, to be envied by those at home. But since you all wish to go, be gone, all of you, and report, when you get home, that Alexander, your king, who conquered the Persians, Medes, Bactrians, and Sacae, who subjugated the […]
Alexander’s return from IndiaIn an attempt to get back on track with Arrian and the Reading Odyssey book group I’ll do a post for Book Six on Arrian’s The Campaigns of Alexander. With so much material, one post obviously won’t cover everything but I’ll highlight a few things I found interesting. The first topic occurs […]
Thus, even wholly trustworthy writers who kept company with Alexander at the time do not agree in their writings about events that were public and known to them personally. – From 4.14.3, all quotes from The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander, translation by Pamela Mensch Arrian seems to give the game away on his […]
Alexander and Porus, Charles Le Brun (1673) Picture sourceI wanted to highlight a few of the good, bad and really bad things that happen in these pages. If pointing out Alexander’s dark side makes me “mean, obscure and dull”, so be it. The Good Alexander solidifies his reputation for military genius in many different and […]
We had a lively conference call on Arrian’s The Campaigns of Alexander Monday evening and once again I will recommend participating in the Reading Odyssey programs, even if it is only to listen to the conference calls (which you can do with the latest one at this link). In this call we had an interesting […]
Bust of Alexander the Great Picture source Robert Lowell, in “Death of Alexander” from History (1973): No one was like him. Terrible were his crimes— but if you wish to blackguard the Great King, think how mean, obscure and dull you are, your labors lowly and your merits less…
I tried to keep both prefaces in mind when reading Arrian’s book because they frame everything that follows. Arrian defends his reliance on Ptolemy and Aristoboulos in the opening preface but the disagreement between their reports as well as discrepancies with additional sources stand out in this section. Arrian highlights these differences, lays out several […]
I wanted to pass on a couple of links I found through Rogueclassicism recently. The first is a paper on the death of Philip, linked through History of the Ancient World. It’s an intriguing read by Amalia Skilton, written a few years ago when she was a student at Tempe Preparatory Academy. This paper will […]
It will be a few days before I have time to read anything so I’ll take an opportunity to post a few things I’ve been meaning to mention about Arrian and Alexander. (On a side note, I’m listening to a few lectures on Arrian’s teacher Epictetus…funny how things tie together at times.) Reading Odyssey‘s next […]
All quotes and references are from The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander (translation by Pamela Mensch) unless noted. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the paradoxical figure of Alexander continues to emerge in Book Three. I wanted to look a little at Alexander’s relationship with the Greeks, leading to the dismissal of Greek […]
“Alexander deserves the glory which he has enjoyed for so many centuries and among all nations; but what if he had been beaten at Arbela [Gaugamela] having the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the deserts in his rear, without any strong places of refuge, nine hundred leagues from Macedonia?” Napoleon, from The Fifteen Decisive Battles of […]
Book Three sees several changes in Alexander’s administrative choices and style. To date, most of the officers installed by Alexander as he marched through Ionia and the Levant have been Macedonians friends or trustees. The exceptions in the first two books, such as Queen Ada who had surrendered Alinda and “adopted” Alexander (1.23.7-8), stand out […]
Chapters 3 and 4 of Book Three cover Alexander’s visit to the shrine of Ammon, but questions raised by this trip linger long after the close of these chapters. Even though Arrian provides detail about the journey, full of marvels and supernatural events, his list of Alexander’s motivations and the uncertainty of the trip’s results […]
All quotes are from The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander, translation by Pamela Mensch. Many signs and divinations appear throughout Arrian’s account of Alexander’s campaigns. The seer Aristrandros interprets the omens extremely well, at least according to Arrian. Factor in Alexander’s insistence on propitiating the gods, before and after an action, and you have […]