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Alexander the Great
From award-winning historian Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great searches through the mass of conflicting evidence and legend to focus on Alexander as a man of his own time.
Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler of passionate ambition who understood the intense adventure of conquest and of the unknown. When he died in 323 BC aged thirty-two, his vast empire comprised more than two million square miles, spanning from Greece to India.
His achievements were unparalleled - he had excelled as leader to his men, founded eighteen new cities and stamped the face of Greek culture on the ancient East. The myth he created is as potent today as it was in the ancient world.
Combining historical scholarship and acute psychological insight, Alexander the Great brings this colossal figure vividly to life.
'So enjoyable and well-written ... Fox's book became my main guide through Alexander's amazing story'
Oliver Stone, director of Alexander
'I do not know which to admire most, his vast erudition or his imaginative grasp of so remote and complicated a period and such a complex personality'
Cyril Connolly, Sunday Times
'An achievement of Alexandrian proportions'
New Statesman
Robin Lane Fox was the main historical advisor to Oliver Stone on his film Alexander, and took part in many of its most dramatic re-enactments. His books include The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome, The Unauthorised Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible, Travelling Heroes: Greeks and their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer and Pagans and Christians in the Mediterranean World from the Second Century AD to the Conversion of Constantine.
Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler of passionate ambition who understood the intense adventure of conquest and of the unknown. When he died in 323 BC aged thirty-two, his vast empire comprised more than two million square miles, spanning from Greece to India.
His achievements were unparalleled - he had excelled as leader to his men, founded eighteen new cities and stamped the face of Greek culture on the ancient East. The myth he created is as potent today as it was in the ancient world.
Combining historical scholarship and acute psychological insight, Alexander the Great brings this colossal figure vividly to life.
'So enjoyable and well-written ... Fox's book became my main guide through Alexander's amazing story'
Oliver Stone, director of Alexander
'I do not know which to admire most, his vast erudition or his imaginative grasp of so remote and complicated a period and such a complex personality'
Cyril Connolly, Sunday Times
'An achievement of Alexandrian proportions'
New Statesman
Robin Lane Fox was the main historical advisor to Oliver Stone on his film Alexander, and took part in many of its most dramatic re-enactments. His books include The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome, The Unauthorised Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible, Travelling Heroes: Greeks and their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer and Pagans and Christians in the Mediterranean World from the Second Century AD to the Conversion of Constantine.
576 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
Robin Lane Fox
38 books206 followersRobin Lane Fox (born 1946) is an English historian, currently a Fellow of New College, Oxford and University of Oxford Reader in Ancient History.
Lane Fox was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford.
Since 1977, he has been a tutor in Greek and Roman history, and since 1990 University Reader in Ancient History. He has also taught Greek and Latin literature and early Islamic history, a subject in which he held an Oxford Research Fellowship, and is also New College's Tutor for Oriental Studies.[1] He is a lecturer in Ancient History at Exeter College, Oxford.
He was historical adviser to the film director Oliver Stone for the epic Alexander. His appearance as an extra, in addition to his work as a historical consultant, was publicized at the time of the film's release.
Lane Fox is also a gardening correspondent for the Financial Times.
He is the father of the internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, the founder of Lastminute.com.
They are not related to, and should not be confused with Robin Fox, anthropologist, and his daughter Kate Fox, social anthropologist.
Lane Fox was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford.
Since 1977, he has been a tutor in Greek and Roman history, and since 1990 University Reader in Ancient History. He has also taught Greek and Latin literature and early Islamic history, a subject in which he held an Oxford Research Fellowship, and is also New College's Tutor for Oriental Studies.[1] He is a lecturer in Ancient History at Exeter College, Oxford.
He was historical adviser to the film director Oliver Stone for the epic Alexander. His appearance as an extra, in addition to his work as a historical consultant, was publicized at the time of the film's release.
Lane Fox is also a gardening correspondent for the Financial Times.
He is the father of the internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, the founder of Lastminute.com.
They are not related to, and should not be confused with Robin Fox, anthropologist, and his daughter Kate Fox, social anthropologist.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
December 8, 2016
This is a classic biography by the incredible Robin Lane Fox (I am trying to get through his latest Augustine now!) about Alexandre the Great. The fruit of years of research, this book dives into mountains of archeological research to portray this young conqueror of the known world who died too young to see his empire survive even a single generation. Any yet, someone who left his hand on the world from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and beyond. A moving tale and incredibly factual, it is the best book I have ever found about this incredible figure in history. That being said, it was published back in 1975 and I ignore whether there are more recent biographies that reveal more details or missing information that has resulted from the last 40 years of archaeological research into Alexandre the Great. I would certainly welcome suggestions of such in the comments to this review.
May 9, 2014
Alexander has always been a fascinating figure to me. Modern society likes to compare him to Hitler and focus on the number of deaths involved in his conquest of the Persian Empire, but you just can't retrospectively judge figures from history with modern morals and ethics. Whatever else he was, Alexander was probably the greatest conqueror, general and explorer in history - to do all he did by the age of 32 is astonishing. One can only imagine what he might have achieved had he lived.
This isn't the easiest book to read - it presumes a certain level of knowledge about the world of the Greek Mediterranean, and Lane Fox's sentences do have a tendency to run on, but for the most part he writes clearly and lucidly. He really succeeds in bringing the world of Alexander to life, but he never veers off into imagination or speculation - he constantly reminds readers of how little there is left, how much is still unknown. I would have preferred less emphasis on the battles and more on the day-to-day life, but that's a small criticism. One gets little sense of the character of Alexander or Hephaistion or other of Alexander's Companions, but with so little documentary evidence and at such a great remove in history it would be dishonest of any historian to pretend to such knowledge.
This isn't the easiest book to read - it presumes a certain level of knowledge about the world of the Greek Mediterranean, and Lane Fox's sentences do have a tendency to run on, but for the most part he writes clearly and lucidly. He really succeeds in bringing the world of Alexander to life, but he never veers off into imagination or speculation - he constantly reminds readers of how little there is left, how much is still unknown. I would have preferred less emphasis on the battles and more on the day-to-day life, but that's a small criticism. One gets little sense of the character of Alexander or Hephaistion or other of Alexander's Companions, but with so little documentary evidence and at such a great remove in history it would be dishonest of any historian to pretend to such knowledge.
October 22, 2012
If you want to know anything and everything about Alexander the Great, then this book is for you. Robin Lane Fox examines every aspect of the life of Alexander and crafts an extremely detailed and dense history of the man and his conquests. While it can sometimes be dry, the book as a whole is wonderful for students of history like myself. This book is not for the casually interested however.
My only criticism is Fox's description of Alexander's battle strategy, which I found to be a mistake. Alexander utilized the "hammer and anvil" strategy in most of his battles, with the phalanx acting as the anvil, holding the enemy in place, while the cavalry acted as the hammer, swinging around the flanks and smashing into the rear to break the enemy line. Fox wrote that cavalry broke the infantry fist and then the phalanx marched over the disorganized enemy troops. Not a serious problem, as Fox is not a military historian, but cavalry has never been used to break unweakened infantry lines, it would be suicide.
My only criticism is Fox's description of Alexander's battle strategy, which I found to be a mistake. Alexander utilized the "hammer and anvil" strategy in most of his battles, with the phalanx acting as the anvil, holding the enemy in place, while the cavalry acted as the hammer, swinging around the flanks and smashing into the rear to break the enemy line. Fox wrote that cavalry broke the infantry fist and then the phalanx marched over the disorganized enemy troops. Not a serious problem, as Fox is not a military historian, but cavalry has never been used to break unweakened infantry lines, it would be suicide.
September 9, 2021
Recensione per il blog Alessandro III di Macedonia su WordPress
Per chi, come me, è interessato alla storia di Alessandro Magno, questo libro è un must. Il lavoro fatto da Fox è notevole e ripercorre tutta la vita di questa affascinante figura storica che non verrà mai dimenticata.
Recensione completa sul mio blog.
Per chi, come me, è interessato alla storia di Alessandro Magno, questo libro è un must. Il lavoro fatto da Fox è notevole e ripercorre tutta la vita di questa affascinante figura storica che non verrà mai dimenticata.
Recensione completa sul mio blog.
June 9, 2018
I still have this fantastic biography on my shelves at home. It was the first book I read when I first arrived in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, to work for Aramco. We were lucky to have landed in such a place to work for the next 10 years. Their library was as complete as you could hope for in such a place.
I had already become a devoted Hellenophile. Throughout my years in the Middle East--Iran, Arabia, Algeria, and Greece (Near East) I had accumulated a train of experiences that held onto me like the tentacles of a gentle octopus, un-constraining, un-suffocating—just attached and always tugging me away from other horizons such as the Orient, India, South America, at least for living and working in those places.
So, Robin Lane Fox's Alexander underpinned a lot of what I know and feel about the Middle East and Western Civilization. I would say that if you truly want to understand Western Civilization from its first foundations, you have to know the story of Jesus of Nazareth, Alexander the Great and what formed him and the life and death of Julius Caesar—a few of the pivotal individuals from whom we have descended today. (Currently, in America at any rate, our leaders and culture seem to be lost in a deep, dark cave with no reference to, even ignorance of, our ancient past.)
Fox's Alexander is so well written, so well illustrated with maps of battles and so well contextualized that I cannot imagine a better biography being written of Alexander without new discoveries in historical texts and archaeology that would throw fresh light on the exploits of him and his Macedonians. I would like to know, for example, more about his impact on the history of India and China, or more on how his Ptolemaic heirs affected the development of Judaism and Christianity, how his stated intentions to dip down into Arabia Felix with his star admiral, Nearchus, affected the much later development of the Prophet Mohammed’s vision for the spread of Islam.
Having lived in Persia under the last Shah, I felt that Fox depicted well Alexander’s respect for the country and the Persian King Darius and his desire not to destroy the king or the country but to absorb it like a giant snake as he did with most of his conquests. It is very hard to have known the Persians without loving them, which I think he did. His example of understanding the cultures he conquered and turning their existing rulers and traditions into instruments of rule must have also influenced wise leaders from the Apostles to the victors of the Second World War.
I had already become a devoted Hellenophile. Throughout my years in the Middle East--Iran, Arabia, Algeria, and Greece (Near East) I had accumulated a train of experiences that held onto me like the tentacles of a gentle octopus, un-constraining, un-suffocating—just attached and always tugging me away from other horizons such as the Orient, India, South America, at least for living and working in those places.
So, Robin Lane Fox's Alexander underpinned a lot of what I know and feel about the Middle East and Western Civilization. I would say that if you truly want to understand Western Civilization from its first foundations, you have to know the story of Jesus of Nazareth, Alexander the Great and what formed him and the life and death of Julius Caesar—a few of the pivotal individuals from whom we have descended today. (Currently, in America at any rate, our leaders and culture seem to be lost in a deep, dark cave with no reference to, even ignorance of, our ancient past.)
Fox's Alexander is so well written, so well illustrated with maps of battles and so well contextualized that I cannot imagine a better biography being written of Alexander without new discoveries in historical texts and archaeology that would throw fresh light on the exploits of him and his Macedonians. I would like to know, for example, more about his impact on the history of India and China, or more on how his Ptolemaic heirs affected the development of Judaism and Christianity, how his stated intentions to dip down into Arabia Felix with his star admiral, Nearchus, affected the much later development of the Prophet Mohammed’s vision for the spread of Islam.
Having lived in Persia under the last Shah, I felt that Fox depicted well Alexander’s respect for the country and the Persian King Darius and his desire not to destroy the king or the country but to absorb it like a giant snake as he did with most of his conquests. It is very hard to have known the Persians without loving them, which I think he did. His example of understanding the cultures he conquered and turning their existing rulers and traditions into instruments of rule must have also influenced wise leaders from the Apostles to the victors of the Second World War.
February 4, 2017
Alexander is surely the only world-conquering hero who remains an attractive personality even under the close and fair minded scrutiny of a genius like Lane-Fox. The ruthlessness, the purges, murderous fits of drunken temper, the war crimes (by today's standards) - none are glossed over. But the mesmeric power of his personality still exerts a fascination, even at this distance in time. Perhaps it is because one senses Alexander's love for those who served with him (and sometimes even those he conquered) was genuine. Bonaparte never shed tears of remorse for those who died in his cause, and was in every point of comparison a far lesser man than Alexander.
I found this a profoundly moving and fascinating book, but it is not the one to go to first. It presumes a reasonable grounding in the ancient world, and it is certainly not the kind of book you can skim or read quickly: the text reminded me of a fine old vintage Burgundy of the type the author would be accustomed to drink at High Table in New College Oxford - dense, complex, robust, beautifully structured, fragrant - a delightful experience taken in steady appreciative sips, but if taken too quickly in large amounts, causing headaches, amnesia, and eventual unconsciousness.
I found this a profoundly moving and fascinating book, but it is not the one to go to first. It presumes a reasonable grounding in the ancient world, and it is certainly not the kind of book you can skim or read quickly: the text reminded me of a fine old vintage Burgundy of the type the author would be accustomed to drink at High Table in New College Oxford - dense, complex, robust, beautifully structured, fragrant - a delightful experience taken in steady appreciative sips, but if taken too quickly in large amounts, causing headaches, amnesia, and eventual unconsciousness.
November 16, 2016
I took this book not exactly having in mind to know about the great adventures of the Alexander the Great but to understand the way how people used to live and their cultures at such an ancient time and how they follow their King's order. But I am glad that I chose to read a biography of Alexander, Alexander was a great leader, fearless, powerful, optimistic, respecting women and I also found him introvert at times and highly dedicated towards his work.
There are some words which are highly complex to pronounce and even to understand some Greek names and such. But I am happy to have read this book.
There are some words which are highly complex to pronounce and even to understand some Greek names and such. But I am happy to have read this book.
August 26, 2017
Robin Lane Fox's Alexander the Great has inspired me to compile my own suggested list of "Best History Books" because that is the best verdict I can give of this work. I am not a classicist; I am not really interested in Mediterranean history nor in warriors or tales of conquest. I am a sinologist, symbolist, and art historian, and as a result, thought I would quickly page through this tome (568 pages of tiny paperback print) looking for references of the Greek artists and artisans from Alexander's time whose descendants are credited with having influenced early Buddhist (Gandharan) iconography. What I found was a story so rich, so well told, so well researched with the sharpest of eyes and common sense that questioned tradition, that I was hooked from the first chapter.
I would assume that anyone reading this review also loves history and probably already knows the story of Alexander the Great, but if you haven't read this history, you aren't finished. Fox has constructed his life of Alexander from all the known sources, but questions each so thoroughly, asking whether it sounds reasonable or not, could there have been motivating factors that would have caused this interpretation of this event, and who was the author, and then (unlike many others), explaining his personal interpretation based on the context, historical facts, motivational factors, etc. that I finally understood all those discussions from that almost long-forgotten University course I took on the philosophy of history.
This is, as the dust jacket tells us, "a magnificent, compelling epic". The author's "vast erudition...exact scholarship...imaginative grasp of so remote and complicated a period and such a complex personality" is--and I use this word carefully--riveting. I read late into the night for several days almost unable to put this volume down until I needed a break from the sheer depth and weight of the text.
I found my answer in the last chapter, which is the single best essay I have found to date of Alexander's gift to the world--the liveliest political culture in the world: Greek culture, trade, language, art, upbringing, aspirations--"the embers of Hellenism".
I would assume that anyone reading this review also loves history and probably already knows the story of Alexander the Great, but if you haven't read this history, you aren't finished. Fox has constructed his life of Alexander from all the known sources, but questions each so thoroughly, asking whether it sounds reasonable or not, could there have been motivating factors that would have caused this interpretation of this event, and who was the author, and then (unlike many others), explaining his personal interpretation based on the context, historical facts, motivational factors, etc. that I finally understood all those discussions from that almost long-forgotten University course I took on the philosophy of history.
This is, as the dust jacket tells us, "a magnificent, compelling epic". The author's "vast erudition...exact scholarship...imaginative grasp of so remote and complicated a period and such a complex personality" is--and I use this word carefully--riveting. I read late into the night for several days almost unable to put this volume down until I needed a break from the sheer depth and weight of the text.
I found my answer in the last chapter, which is the single best essay I have found to date of Alexander's gift to the world--the liveliest political culture in the world: Greek culture, trade, language, art, upbringing, aspirations--"the embers of Hellenism".
August 9, 2015
Not your average biography. It's easy to get lost in the multitude of names, ancient places, and the digressions of the author. Nonetheless, it's worth the google searches and close reading to stick with this book. The author largely sticks to what is known of Alexander, and when there are competing sources, gives a detailed analysis and conclusion of what the most likely outcome was.
Helpfully, the author details Alexander's fighting style, weapons, and army companies near the start. This background allowed a greater understanding of the brilliance behind Alexander's strategy.
I doubt there's a more detailed book on Alexander out there. If you can keep the names and places straight, and not get lost in the digressions, this is the authoritative book on Alexander the Great. Although I had to slog through some portions, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in classical history, or curious about the man behind the legend.
Helpfully, the author details Alexander's fighting style, weapons, and army companies near the start. This background allowed a greater understanding of the brilliance behind Alexander's strategy.
I doubt there's a more detailed book on Alexander out there. If you can keep the names and places straight, and not get lost in the digressions, this is the authoritative book on Alexander the Great. Although I had to slog through some portions, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in classical history, or curious about the man behind the legend.
November 25, 2020
DNF for now
August 13, 2016
An excellent biography of Alexander’s epic life. Fox does an excellent job bringing Alexander and his world to life. He also does a great job providing the reader with how daunting Alexander’s obstacles were at times, especially the geography and climate: it was Alexander against the world, literally, but Alexander was never one to believe in impossibilities. Unfortunately, the maps are next to useless.
Although Fox talks in circles sometimes, retelling events over and over, but I suppose this is necessary when so many versions of the same event appear in the sources or in legend. Still, Fox does a great job weaving together the anecdotes and interpretations of Alexander’s life into such an epic, readable narrative. The author is very good at identifying all the various nuances, inconsistencies, and improbabilities of the various ancient sources, of which, unfortunately for the historian, few original or truly reliable ones exist. “This book is a search, not a story, and any reader who takes it as a full picture of Alexander’s life has begun with the wrong suppositions.”
Fox’s writing is for the most part very good and he does a good job putting everything into the context of the time period, although this seems a little excessive at times; at one point, Fox writes “But as the Greeks, correctly, saw neither danger nor distaste in a liaison with a niece…” Correctly? The reprint edition I had was also littered with typos and even underscores. But in all, a superb study of Alexander and his time.
Although Fox talks in circles sometimes, retelling events over and over, but I suppose this is necessary when so many versions of the same event appear in the sources or in legend. Still, Fox does a great job weaving together the anecdotes and interpretations of Alexander’s life into such an epic, readable narrative. The author is very good at identifying all the various nuances, inconsistencies, and improbabilities of the various ancient sources, of which, unfortunately for the historian, few original or truly reliable ones exist. “This book is a search, not a story, and any reader who takes it as a full picture of Alexander’s life has begun with the wrong suppositions.”
Fox’s writing is for the most part very good and he does a good job putting everything into the context of the time period, although this seems a little excessive at times; at one point, Fox writes “But as the Greeks, correctly, saw neither danger nor distaste in a liaison with a niece…” Correctly? The reprint edition I had was also littered with typos and even underscores. But in all, a superb study of Alexander and his time.
May 10, 2020
Este libro es espectacular, la historia completisima, con muchos datos, contrastación de los datos y tremendamente documentando. Tiene tanta información que se hace pesado en varios tramos y es difícil poder retener todo, sin embargo la subdivisión de capítulos me parece adecuada por lo que es fácil ir retomando la lectura. Me tomó varios meses terminarlo, pero me parece que es un libro que invita a segundas lecturas y varios de sus capítulos puede ser fácilmente re leído por separado.
El personaje realmente merece la fama que tiene, dentro de muchas características destacables un par que me ha llamado la atención es el liderazgo de Alejandro, indispensable para haber podido dirigir miles de hombres de orígenes diversos, durante varios años, en campañas de incierto final y su respeto por las culturas extranjeras, los conquistadores (al menos hasta el siglo IV A.C.) normalmente desdeñan a los conquistados e intentan aplastarlos con su propia cultura, sin embargo Alejandro fue un integrador que lamentablemente murió tempranamente, dejando su imperio en manos de personas que no supieron, o no quisieron, prolongar su visión. A pesar de su muerte y de su corta vida logró sembrar la semilla de la cultura griega en parte importante de asia y europa.
La cultura occidental actual se dice que tiene sus bases en la grecia del siglo V A.C., este libro me ha hecho ver que el primer gran distribuidor de dicha cultura fue Alejandro.
El personaje realmente merece la fama que tiene, dentro de muchas características destacables un par que me ha llamado la atención es el liderazgo de Alejandro, indispensable para haber podido dirigir miles de hombres de orígenes diversos, durante varios años, en campañas de incierto final y su respeto por las culturas extranjeras, los conquistadores (al menos hasta el siglo IV A.C.) normalmente desdeñan a los conquistados e intentan aplastarlos con su propia cultura, sin embargo Alejandro fue un integrador que lamentablemente murió tempranamente, dejando su imperio en manos de personas que no supieron, o no quisieron, prolongar su visión. A pesar de su muerte y de su corta vida logró sembrar la semilla de la cultura griega en parte importante de asia y europa.
La cultura occidental actual se dice que tiene sus bases en la grecia del siglo V A.C., este libro me ha hecho ver que el primer gran distribuidor de dicha cultura fue Alejandro.
July 15, 2019
I honestly LOVED reading this book. Alexander the Great has always been a point of interest for me, and this book only made that interest grow. Robin Lane Fox did a fantastic job in writing this book and working through the mountain of information - legend and otherwise - that surrounds Alexander the Great. I didn’t feel like I could really give this 5/5 stars, though, due to the fact that my copy is the 1997 Folio Society edition. Don’t get me wrong: I love older books - the smell, seeing the author work through what information they have, and so forth. However, I feel like I would need to read an updated version to see if I’d give this book a 5/5 stars.
August 30, 2023
Un personaje y un libro totalmente apasionantes
January 21, 2018
Robin Lane Fox has the very rare talent of epic storyteller, yet combined with a lifetime of dedication to historical studies. In the case of the subject of this book, Alexander the Great happens to be his most studied and focused area.
The descriptions of Alexander's early life, the political intrigues of the Macedonian court, his tutoring by Aristotle, and his fascination with Achilles and the stories of Homer all shine through.
When we get into the 'revenge' that Macedons and Greeks need to pay the Persians, the story is fast running and vivid. We can almost feel we are there on those dusty plains with Alexander charging on his famous horse Bucephalus, the steady march of the infantry with their porcupine formations, and the utter disbelief of the the Persian king Darius as he needs to turn his golden chariot around and flee the battlefield.
Constantly the authors breath and depth of knowledge shines through and his strong intention to be impartial to the opposing sides bearing in mind only Greek derived sources exist. Alexander the warrior, Alexander the politician, Alexander the God, just about every aspect of his life is covered.
Oh, but the maps at least in the paperback are terrible! It hardly matters in the modern day of the internet though and I found I wanted to constantly look up and find other sources amid the mountain of new facts I was discovering!
The descriptions of Alexander's early life, the political intrigues of the Macedonian court, his tutoring by Aristotle, and his fascination with Achilles and the stories of Homer all shine through.
When we get into the 'revenge' that Macedons and Greeks need to pay the Persians, the story is fast running and vivid. We can almost feel we are there on those dusty plains with Alexander charging on his famous horse Bucephalus, the steady march of the infantry with their porcupine formations, and the utter disbelief of the the Persian king Darius as he needs to turn his golden chariot around and flee the battlefield.
Constantly the authors breath and depth of knowledge shines through and his strong intention to be impartial to the opposing sides bearing in mind only Greek derived sources exist. Alexander the warrior, Alexander the politician, Alexander the God, just about every aspect of his life is covered.
Oh, but the maps at least in the paperback are terrible! It hardly matters in the modern day of the internet though and I found I wanted to constantly look up and find other sources amid the mountain of new facts I was discovering!
July 3, 2021
Per me, la miglior biografia su Alessandro Magno letta finora. Completa (molto più che completa), avvincente, con un tocco personale ma basato sulla realtà (ogni riferimento ad altre opere è puramente CAUSALE, cara Mary Renault); confronta tutte le fonti antiche, tirando le sue somme ma lasciando anche al lettore la possibilità di decidere. Bellissime le descrizioni delle battaglie e degli assedi (Tiro e Gaugamela su tutti), accuratissima la campagna indiana (e tutto il disastro che è successo dopo) che di solito è trattata di striscio, struggenti i capitoli di Clito, Efestione e il penultimo. L'ultimo è una breve panoramica sui cinque anni successivi alla sua morte. Le ultime tre pagine sono STUPENDE (sulla falsariga di Arriano) ♡
Libro top, consigliato a chi già conosce un po' la sua storia.
Libro top, consigliato a chi già conosce un po' la sua storia.
February 20, 2017
Early on in this EXCELLENT book, the author makes it clear that no contemporary accounts of Alexander's life exist. All that the historian can rely on is material written long after Alexander's death, and much of it biased. Despite this, Lane Fox does his best to try to separate the wheat from the chaff in order to produce a plausible biography of one of the world's military and political geniuses.
This wonderfully written book traces Alexander's life from Macedonia to India and back to Babylon. It is highly readable, and a great achievement.
Now, I shall tackle Napoleon Bonaparte's life!
This wonderfully written book traces Alexander's life from Macedonia to India and back to Babylon. It is highly readable, and a great achievement.
Now, I shall tackle Napoleon Bonaparte's life!
April 22, 2018
Ya'll. I wanted to like this book. I wanted to read some awesome history. I pushed myself through 285 pages of run-on sentences and jumps in logic.
I couldn't do it.
This book reads like a text book. There's no narrative, no real attempt to draw the reader into a story. It lays out, line by line, Alexander's life. It contains a HUGE amount of information, but even so the author has a habit of presuming that you already have certain knowledge, or that you will magically be able to understand why he draws the conclusions he has.
I don't recommend if you're simply looking for an interesting, educational read.
I couldn't do it.
This book reads like a text book. There's no narrative, no real attempt to draw the reader into a story. It lays out, line by line, Alexander's life. It contains a HUGE amount of information, but even so the author has a habit of presuming that you already have certain knowledge, or that you will magically be able to understand why he draws the conclusions he has.
I don't recommend if you're simply looking for an interesting, educational read.
April 3, 2019
"Alejandro Magno; un guerrero, un hombre al que le gustaba combatir, que gozaba con la guerra...
Alejandro, maestro de la psicología de masas"
Muy informativo, he disfrutado mi lectura aunque por momentos resulta pesada ya que la narración va en formato de enciclopedia, como amante de la cultura Romana he alucinado con cada suceso presentado y de como el hombre obsesionado con la Ilíada llego a ser tal conquistador.
Muy informativo, he disfrutado mi lectura aunque por momentos resulta pesada ya que la narración va en formato de enciclopedia, como amante de la cultura Romana he alucinado con cada suceso presentado y de como el hombre obsesionado con la Ilíada llego a ser tal conquistador.
November 10, 2020
Grandiosa biografía de Alejandro Magno, extraordinariamente bien documentada. Hace una completa radiografía de la personalidad de Alejandro y una cronología muy extensa de su vida.
Lo peor: algunos pasajes son algo confusos, como la narración de las batallas; y algunos fragmentos profundizan en exceso sobre algún aspecto, como la divinidad o las fuentes bibliográficas, y puede llegar a ser algo tedioso.
Lo peor: algunos pasajes son algo confusos, como la narración de las batallas; y algunos fragmentos profundizan en exceso sobre algún aspecto, como la divinidad o las fuentes bibliográficas, y puede llegar a ser algo tedioso.
January 8, 2011
Lane Fox è universalmente riconosciuto come il maggior esperto di Alessandro Magno vivente, la sua passione per questo personaggio e la sua preparazione storica sono evidenti in ogni singola pagina di questa biografia.
Un saggio equilibrato e ben fondato, scritto in maniera vivace e accattivante. Consigliatissimo.
Un saggio equilibrato e ben fondato, scritto in maniera vivace e accattivante. Consigliatissimo.
March 17, 2018
Such a bore I could not finish it. I thought I would let it rest for a while but after picking it up again I realized my time here is limited and I do not intend on wasting it in boredom. However it is very informative and thorough so if you are an historian or a fan of Alexander I guess this book may be of value to you.
December 8, 2016
a book written by a scholar for learned people who like thorough history - I liked it but it took me ages to read it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2022
I first read Robin Lane Fox's biography of Alexander about 12–14 years ago and I remembered it as being quite good. That opinion is vindicated after a re-read. As biographies of ancient generals and leaders go, this book stands with Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar as my two favorites. It is written with the arrogance of youth, which the author admits in the preface, and you can read in the text where he goes too far in asserting the truth, but I think that makes the book even more enjoyable.
I enjoyed Xenophon's The Persian Expedition, I think, for a very similar reason that I enjoyed this one. Xenophon and the 10,000 Greek mercenaries marched with the pretender Cyrus against his brother, King Artaxerxes III, traveling from Asia Minor to a battlefield near Babylon, and then escaping northwards through the Armenian mountains until reaching the northern coast of Asia Minor. It's a real-life adventure story. Alexander's campaign is like that of the 10,000 but on steroids.
Put yourself in the shoes of a Macedonian soldier following a man who you consider to be blessed by the gods, a son of Zeus, or perhaps even a god himself. This man has won three battles against the Persians, including two battles against Persian armies that should have overwhelmed his own. If you are a Macedonian foot soldier, you probably suffered quite a bit during these battles. The battle terrain was typically broken, your phalanx disorganized as a result, and Persian infantrymen were particularly effective as they exploit the cracks in your disorganized formation. But just as things seem to be going poorly, your general charges out from the dust with his cavalry and pierces through the Persian lines directly at their king, who flees at his sight. All the while, you've already fought more sieges than most single armies in history, including a grueling and challenging siege of Tyre. Alexander develops an aura of invincibility. And so you follow him through the deserts of Iran, the arid steppes of southern Uzbekistan, the mountains of the Hindu Kush, and into the exotic river-crossed plains of the Indus Valley and beyond. All the while, you are climbing towering mountains like a mountaineer, taking impregnable fortresses with cliff faces on every side through what reads like a modern special forces operation, chasing down nomads in the steppes of Central Asia, besieging and sacking countless cities along the Indus River, and fighting armies sporting hundreds of war elephants. If you survive the march back to Persia through the water-parched Gedrosian desert, you've lived quite the life!
As an aside, can you blame his generals for assassinating him? Back in Babylon, he is already planning an expedition into the Arabian desert, with the intention of at least conquering the cities that exist along the rim of the Persian Gulf. His intention is to own the trade routes between the Indus River and the Persian Gulf. There are rumors of a future campaign against Carthage and/or Italy. And you know that Alexander is relentless and sees no challenge as too mighty for him. I can easily imagine myself being quite...exhausted.
Robin Lane Fox not only tells this story masterfully, but the book is full of insight that really goes beyond Alexander. The treatment of the Persian preparations for the battles of Issus and Gaugamela is especially good. There aren't any surviving written histories that tell the story of Persia's defense against Alexander from the Persian point of view, so the author fills the gap using excavated clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia. We learn of a Jewish landowner who lived in Uruk during the reign of Artaxerxes in 422, and who had trouble fulfilling his martial responsibilities. Land grants were issued in three types: horse, bow, or chariot. Landowners were also expected to pay an annual tax in unminted silver. These land grants could not be sold. To circumvent this regulation, the father of said Jewish landowner leased half of his land to the Bank of Murasu, which paid the annual tax and pocketed the profits of their production. In 422, the Jewish landowner, the son, and his brothers are presented with a demand to send an equipped soldier to the army of Artaxerxes. He struck a bargain with the bank leasing half of the land to supply the equipment, including a horse, helmet, breastplate, bucker, arrows, spears, and an amount of silver, while the family of heirs supplied the manpower. Beyond the details of military service, this story was fascinating just as a window into Persian society: how its government ruled and commanded public resources, and the everyday arrangements that landowners, banks, and other capitalists entered into based on their financial and entrepreneurial needs.
The discussions on Alexander's religiosity, whether he believed himself to be divine, and how he leveraged these beliefs among others to his advantage, are all fantastic. Here I think the author does miss some of the purposes that may have had to do with the local legitimacy of his rule, which are the same reasons Alexander shows up in temple reliefs offering dedications to local gods, as do later Ptolemaic pharaohs and Roman emperors. But, it's also true that Alexander was a true believer in, for example, Ammon — whose oracle he visits in Siwa, just east of Egypt — and routinely offered sacrifices and dedications to Zeus, Ammon (equated with Zeus), and the other gods in his pantheon. The chapter on Siwa also sets a tone for future developments in Alexander's personality, as he becomes, I suppose you can say, more eccentric, more of an "eastern king" than a Macedonian — such as adopting the Persian custom of having his generals and aristocrats kiss him, the king, as a symbol of subordination. One wonders whether his success was getting to Alexander's head.
All in all, a page-turner one-volume history of Alexander, the most famous general of antiquity and a model for all future generals and rulers.
I enjoyed Xenophon's The Persian Expedition, I think, for a very similar reason that I enjoyed this one. Xenophon and the 10,000 Greek mercenaries marched with the pretender Cyrus against his brother, King Artaxerxes III, traveling from Asia Minor to a battlefield near Babylon, and then escaping northwards through the Armenian mountains until reaching the northern coast of Asia Minor. It's a real-life adventure story. Alexander's campaign is like that of the 10,000 but on steroids.
Put yourself in the shoes of a Macedonian soldier following a man who you consider to be blessed by the gods, a son of Zeus, or perhaps even a god himself. This man has won three battles against the Persians, including two battles against Persian armies that should have overwhelmed his own. If you are a Macedonian foot soldier, you probably suffered quite a bit during these battles. The battle terrain was typically broken, your phalanx disorganized as a result, and Persian infantrymen were particularly effective as they exploit the cracks in your disorganized formation. But just as things seem to be going poorly, your general charges out from the dust with his cavalry and pierces through the Persian lines directly at their king, who flees at his sight. All the while, you've already fought more sieges than most single armies in history, including a grueling and challenging siege of Tyre. Alexander develops an aura of invincibility. And so you follow him through the deserts of Iran, the arid steppes of southern Uzbekistan, the mountains of the Hindu Kush, and into the exotic river-crossed plains of the Indus Valley and beyond. All the while, you are climbing towering mountains like a mountaineer, taking impregnable fortresses with cliff faces on every side through what reads like a modern special forces operation, chasing down nomads in the steppes of Central Asia, besieging and sacking countless cities along the Indus River, and fighting armies sporting hundreds of war elephants. If you survive the march back to Persia through the water-parched Gedrosian desert, you've lived quite the life!
As an aside, can you blame his generals for assassinating him? Back in Babylon, he is already planning an expedition into the Arabian desert, with the intention of at least conquering the cities that exist along the rim of the Persian Gulf. His intention is to own the trade routes between the Indus River and the Persian Gulf. There are rumors of a future campaign against Carthage and/or Italy. And you know that Alexander is relentless and sees no challenge as too mighty for him. I can easily imagine myself being quite...exhausted.
Robin Lane Fox not only tells this story masterfully, but the book is full of insight that really goes beyond Alexander. The treatment of the Persian preparations for the battles of Issus and Gaugamela is especially good. There aren't any surviving written histories that tell the story of Persia's defense against Alexander from the Persian point of view, so the author fills the gap using excavated clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia. We learn of a Jewish landowner who lived in Uruk during the reign of Artaxerxes in 422, and who had trouble fulfilling his martial responsibilities. Land grants were issued in three types: horse, bow, or chariot. Landowners were also expected to pay an annual tax in unminted silver. These land grants could not be sold. To circumvent this regulation, the father of said Jewish landowner leased half of his land to the Bank of Murasu, which paid the annual tax and pocketed the profits of their production. In 422, the Jewish landowner, the son, and his brothers are presented with a demand to send an equipped soldier to the army of Artaxerxes. He struck a bargain with the bank leasing half of the land to supply the equipment, including a horse, helmet, breastplate, bucker, arrows, spears, and an amount of silver, while the family of heirs supplied the manpower. Beyond the details of military service, this story was fascinating just as a window into Persian society: how its government ruled and commanded public resources, and the everyday arrangements that landowners, banks, and other capitalists entered into based on their financial and entrepreneurial needs.
The discussions on Alexander's religiosity, whether he believed himself to be divine, and how he leveraged these beliefs among others to his advantage, are all fantastic. Here I think the author does miss some of the purposes that may have had to do with the local legitimacy of his rule, which are the same reasons Alexander shows up in temple reliefs offering dedications to local gods, as do later Ptolemaic pharaohs and Roman emperors. But, it's also true that Alexander was a true believer in, for example, Ammon — whose oracle he visits in Siwa, just east of Egypt — and routinely offered sacrifices and dedications to Zeus, Ammon (equated with Zeus), and the other gods in his pantheon. The chapter on Siwa also sets a tone for future developments in Alexander's personality, as he becomes, I suppose you can say, more eccentric, more of an "eastern king" than a Macedonian — such as adopting the Persian custom of having his generals and aristocrats kiss him, the king, as a symbol of subordination. One wonders whether his success was getting to Alexander's head.
All in all, a page-turner one-volume history of Alexander, the most famous general of antiquity and a model for all future generals and rulers.
July 29, 2016
The greatest conqueror of the Ancient World
31 March 2012
My sister bought me this book for Christmas once since she discovered that I liked the Ancient Greek world, though I must admit that this period is a little later than what I generally am interested in. However my sister is an accountant so she is not to know detailed specifics of my interests in the Ancient Greek world and that my interest generally begins to wane after the death of Socrates. This is not an absolute truth though as during this intervening period we see the rise and decline of the Hellenistic society.
Alexander the Great is a very important person in the development of the Western World. He is one of the very few people that have earned the moniker 'the Great' though one should not be too proud of such a moniker. Granted there was Frederick the Great of Prussia, who began the road that led Germany to become a superpower at the turn of the 20th Century, but there is also Herod the Great. I once asked somebody why he was earned the moniker 'The Great' when the most famous thing that he did was slaughter all of the children under the age of 2 in the region of Bethlehem. There were a few reasons, but as far as I am concerned they really do not cover up the fact that this man killed babies.
However, we are looking at Alexander and not Herod. Alexander's claim to fame, as I hope all of you are aware of, is that he pretty much conquered the Middle East in a very short space of time. Okay Hitler did the same with Europe, but the difference was that Hitler had tanks and planes, whereas Alexander was limited to horses and chariots. There was no real advanced technology with Alexander, but what there was was a change in the nature of military forces and the tactics that he used.
One of the differences was that Alexander had developed a standing army. This was rather new in this period. While other powers, such as Persia, could raise a large army, they were not professional soldiers. Many of them were conscripts that were taken from their lands, given weapons, and told to fight. The same concept existed in Greece, and even with the city of Sparta the nature of the army was the same: their army was not a standing army but rather a city of citizens that are trained as warriors from a very young age. However Alexander's revolution (actually, it was his father Phillip's) was to create the professional soldier. In by creating the professional soldier he could be assured not only that his army would be properly trained but he did not have to worry about soldiers deserting come spring time to return home to plant their crops.
Fox is quite a good author, and after reading this book, when I found another book he had written (The Classical World) I immediately bought it and moved it to the top of my reading list. I have tried a number of books that novelise ancient events, and in many cases have not been too thrilled with them. There was one I read about the Persian Wars and another about the Tyrant of Syracuse. A third one I read was about the first Punic War. However while the history was interesting, I could not find myself getting immersed in the story. However Fox writes as an academic, outlining the historical beliefs of the period, and drawing together a story that way. In many ways it is a story outlining the conquests of Alexander and exploring many of the themes behind it and exploring the character of the conqueror.
Alexander had very big ambitions, but his conquests in many ways were little more than a continuation of the Persian Wars that began with the Ionian Revolt (thought it is funny that Anatolia is referred to as Ionia when in reality Ionia is on the other side of Greece near the Adriatic Sea – at least according to the Lonely Planet guide). While there was quite a long interlude between the defeat at Platea and the conquest of Alexander, there was always a tension between the two powers. Greece had stood up to and defeated the Persians, and while the Persians had backed off somewhat, there was always that ongoing influence in Greek affairs. In a way that threat had to be put out of the way for good and thus instead of simply defending the Greek civilisation from Persian incursions, Alexander went out to put an end to the threat for good. However, one could also consider that it was a lust for conquest. Phillip of Macedon, Alexander's father, had united Greece, but was assassinated. Alexander took the throne, consolidated his kingdom, and then went out as a conqueror to conquer. However he went east, not west (but then I have already explained the reason behind that). Sometimes there is speculation as to what would have come about if he went west, but he didn't, so we do not need to worry (and anyway that was never going to happen because Alexander did not have a problem with Rome).
What Alexander's conquests did was to spread the Greek culture across the Middle East, and this also opened up Europe to the exotic realms beyond the desert, such as India. Even today Alexander is held in high regard among the people of Afghanistan. India became a part of the known world and the Greek language became the universal language. In another way Alexander laid the foundations for another conqueror, Rome, to come and take over, which in turn laid the foundations for the spread of Christianity. However, for a long time, the Middle East was purely Greek, had Greek culture, and spoke Greek. In doing so, Greek became the lingua franca of the region, and resulted in the New Testament being written in the language.
31 March 2012
My sister bought me this book for Christmas once since she discovered that I liked the Ancient Greek world, though I must admit that this period is a little later than what I generally am interested in. However my sister is an accountant so she is not to know detailed specifics of my interests in the Ancient Greek world and that my interest generally begins to wane after the death of Socrates. This is not an absolute truth though as during this intervening period we see the rise and decline of the Hellenistic society.
Alexander the Great is a very important person in the development of the Western World. He is one of the very few people that have earned the moniker 'the Great' though one should not be too proud of such a moniker. Granted there was Frederick the Great of Prussia, who began the road that led Germany to become a superpower at the turn of the 20th Century, but there is also Herod the Great. I once asked somebody why he was earned the moniker 'The Great' when the most famous thing that he did was slaughter all of the children under the age of 2 in the region of Bethlehem. There were a few reasons, but as far as I am concerned they really do not cover up the fact that this man killed babies.
However, we are looking at Alexander and not Herod. Alexander's claim to fame, as I hope all of you are aware of, is that he pretty much conquered the Middle East in a very short space of time. Okay Hitler did the same with Europe, but the difference was that Hitler had tanks and planes, whereas Alexander was limited to horses and chariots. There was no real advanced technology with Alexander, but what there was was a change in the nature of military forces and the tactics that he used.
One of the differences was that Alexander had developed a standing army. This was rather new in this period. While other powers, such as Persia, could raise a large army, they were not professional soldiers. Many of them were conscripts that were taken from their lands, given weapons, and told to fight. The same concept existed in Greece, and even with the city of Sparta the nature of the army was the same: their army was not a standing army but rather a city of citizens that are trained as warriors from a very young age. However Alexander's revolution (actually, it was his father Phillip's) was to create the professional soldier. In by creating the professional soldier he could be assured not only that his army would be properly trained but he did not have to worry about soldiers deserting come spring time to return home to plant their crops.
Fox is quite a good author, and after reading this book, when I found another book he had written (The Classical World) I immediately bought it and moved it to the top of my reading list. I have tried a number of books that novelise ancient events, and in many cases have not been too thrilled with them. There was one I read about the Persian Wars and another about the Tyrant of Syracuse. A third one I read was about the first Punic War. However while the history was interesting, I could not find myself getting immersed in the story. However Fox writes as an academic, outlining the historical beliefs of the period, and drawing together a story that way. In many ways it is a story outlining the conquests of Alexander and exploring many of the themes behind it and exploring the character of the conqueror.
Alexander had very big ambitions, but his conquests in many ways were little more than a continuation of the Persian Wars that began with the Ionian Revolt (thought it is funny that Anatolia is referred to as Ionia when in reality Ionia is on the other side of Greece near the Adriatic Sea – at least according to the Lonely Planet guide). While there was quite a long interlude between the defeat at Platea and the conquest of Alexander, there was always a tension between the two powers. Greece had stood up to and defeated the Persians, and while the Persians had backed off somewhat, there was always that ongoing influence in Greek affairs. In a way that threat had to be put out of the way for good and thus instead of simply defending the Greek civilisation from Persian incursions, Alexander went out to put an end to the threat for good. However, one could also consider that it was a lust for conquest. Phillip of Macedon, Alexander's father, had united Greece, but was assassinated. Alexander took the throne, consolidated his kingdom, and then went out as a conqueror to conquer. However he went east, not west (but then I have already explained the reason behind that). Sometimes there is speculation as to what would have come about if he went west, but he didn't, so we do not need to worry (and anyway that was never going to happen because Alexander did not have a problem with Rome).
What Alexander's conquests did was to spread the Greek culture across the Middle East, and this also opened up Europe to the exotic realms beyond the desert, such as India. Even today Alexander is held in high regard among the people of Afghanistan. India became a part of the known world and the Greek language became the universal language. In another way Alexander laid the foundations for another conqueror, Rome, to come and take over, which in turn laid the foundations for the spread of Christianity. However, for a long time, the Middle East was purely Greek, had Greek culture, and spoke Greek. In doing so, Greek became the lingua franca of the region, and resulted in the New Testament being written in the language.
April 2, 2021
Was Alexander the Great a:
- Greek liberator
- Meglomaniac (with some serious daddy issues be it with King Philip or the god Zeus/Ammon)
- Naïve explorer who sought greek unification regardless of natives' colour, race or religion
- Homer romantic who strove to surpass the feats of Achilles
- All of the above
They say don’t meet your heroes, well you probably shouldn’t read a critical biography of them by R L Fox either.
His is a great narrative but almost made inaccessible by the incessant attention to the minutiae that Fox has. I would not recommend this to the casual reader.
- Greek liberator
- Meglomaniac (with some serious daddy issues be it with King Philip or the god Zeus/Ammon)
- Naïve explorer who sought greek unification regardless of natives' colour, race or religion
- Homer romantic who strove to surpass the feats of Achilles
- All of the above
They say don’t meet your heroes, well you probably shouldn’t read a critical biography of them by R L Fox either.
His is a great narrative but almost made inaccessible by the incessant attention to the minutiae that Fox has. I would not recommend this to the casual reader.
May 4, 2020
For some reason I was reluctant to continue reading, but thankfully I persevered. A beautiful, eloquent biography of Alexander's life with meticulous insight into his personality, beliefs, tactics in war, political strategy et cetera. The book features a myriad of different sources, while showing why some should be disregarded as improbable. Definitely a must-read for anyone who wants to build something great in their lifetime.
March 4, 2021
Probably the most researched and comprehensive "biography" of Alexander the Great. Not too much is left in writing about his life, but Robin Lane Fox did an excellent job in piecing together the blanks. What I didn't know about Alexander was that he had several wives and that he never once lost a battle! Now that is amazing in itself.
3.5 stars.
3.5 stars.
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