The Campaigns of Alexander

(Paperback)

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Although written over 400 years after Alexander's death, Arrian's "Campaigns of Alexander" is our best source of knowledge of the man and his deeds. Arrian had himself been a military commander, and his record of the exploits of the world's greatest conqueror reveals sympathy for his subject, without the adulation or contempt which so often mar other histories of the time. His unaffected style of writing, with its matter-of-fact tone, offsets the remarkable career and paradoxical nature of Alexander. Arrian's sources were "Alexander's men", but he is a true historian, not a mere compiler; presenting a fair, clear report about a man who was worshipped as a god in his own lifetime.

Author Bio

The details of Arrian's life (c.90AD are uncertain, though the shape of it indicates a man of wide and varied talents. He was governor to the Emperor Hadrian, the author of a number of works of non-fiction and an Athenian citizen. In 145 he rose tobecome a chief magistrate of Athens and thereby part of the governing body of the city. His date of death is not known. De Selincourt was an acclaimed translator of ancient classics.