Synopses & Reviews
He conquered most of the known world and thought himself a god. But he died a paranoid alcoholic wreck at 33. Just how great was Alexander?
- A new portrait of Alexander the Great, the most important figure of the ancient world
- An illustrated, fascinating, warts and all account of a colorful, if ultimately destructive, life
- Brings alive the age as well as the man
Of all the kings and conquerors of antiquity Alexander the Great is the most famous. Alexander the Great: the Perversion of Power is a personal history which will focus on his private triumphs and tragedies as much as his public victories. It will get under the skin of Alexander and show him, warts and all.Alexander fought many battles, conquered territories on a superhuman scale, established an empire that stretched from Greece to India, spread Greek culture and education in his empire, and was worshipped as a god by many of his subjects. All before his early death at thirty-three. It is therefore easy to see why he would be dubbed Great by posterity.But when this biography portrays Alexander as a combination of king, commander, and statesman a different picture emerges. Ian Worthington writes about all sides of Alexander and will present a king whose own army twice mutinied, who became corrupted by the great power he acquired and who, for his own personal ends, sacrificed the empire which his father had fought to establish. His violent temper on occasion led him to murder his friends and toward the end of his life he was an alcoholic, paranoid, megalomaniac, believing in his own divinity at all costs. Far less than Great by many standards.
Ian Worthington is Professor ofHistory, University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the author of many books on ancient Greek history including Persuasion: Greek Rhetoric in Action and DemosthenesRoutledge
Synopsis
Ian Worthington¿s fascinating account of Alexander the Great¿s colourful, but ultimately destructive, life is a welcome addition to the legend surrounding the most famous figure in ancient history.
He delves underneath the tales of epic success and heroism into the darker side of Alexander¿s personality; the drinking, murderous rages and paranoia to question whether he really deserves to be called ¿Great¿.
Endorsements:
Professor Worthington's Alexander is a bit of a chameleon. He was at once an eminently practical and incomparably successful general and yet a dreamer who saw himself as literally a son of Zeus.
His character, personality and temper were not improved by his binge-drinking and he ended by being more of an oriental potentate than a Macedonian warrior king. His most fatal flaw was to allow himself to be haunted by the ghost of his father Philip, with whom he waged a battle of emulation to the premature end of his own life.
Ian Worthington's book has many virtues, including a clear narrative that shows intimate familiarity with the primary sources and secondary literature. It is accessibly written in an unemotional style for a wide general readership.
Professor Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek History, Clare College, Cambridge
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Ian Worthington brings an immediacy to ancient history that is exciting and compelling. The characters live and breathe and there are many vivid moments of drama, such as Philip of Macedon acknowledging the cheering crowds as his assassin plunges in the dagger, that stay in the mind long after you have put the book down. A ripping read.
Terry Jones
Synopsis
He conquered most of the known world and thought himself a god. However, he also died a paranoid, alocholic wreck at the age of 33...after which his entire empire collapsed. So, just how great was Alexander?
- Hardback was - very - successful. Paperback to be released same time as new Colin Farrell film
- New material in the paperback on the army and Alexander's treatment of exiles
- Huge interest in ancient world at the moment driven by Gladiator, Troy and multifarious TV programmes and of course specific films and TV on Alexander the Great. There are two new Hollywood films of his life in production.
- Accessibly written for general reader, not scholar
- New portrait of the single most important figure of the ancient world - reveals the real Alexander, waste and all.
- Fascinating account of a massively colourful if ultimately destructive life
- Provides new interpretations of the question of Alexander's corruption and paranoia
- Fully illustrated - brings alive the age as well as the man
About the Author
Ian Worthington is Professor of History, University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the author of many books on ancient Greek history including Persuasion: Greek Rhetoric in Action and Demosthenes (Routledge).
Table of Contents
List of Plates
List of Figures
List of Maps
Preface
Acknowledgements
Alexander¿s Reign ¿ The Main Events
Map of Macedonia and Greece
Map of Alexander¿s Empire
1. Introduction: Uncovering the Legend
2. Alexander¿s Inheritance
3. Alexander¿s Boyhood
4. King at Last
5. The Very Gates of Asia
6. A Bridge of Corpses
7. Son of Ra, Son of Zeus
8. Lord of Asia
9. Conquest and Conspiracy
10. Bactria and Songdiana
11. India
12. ¿We¿ll say goodbye in Babylon¿
13. Death and Disorder
14. Man and God
15. Alexander: The Great
16. Philip¿s ghost
Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index