PDF Download Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B. C. A
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ALEXANDER OF MACEDON, 356-323 B. C. A HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Peter Green | 9780520275867 | | | | | Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B. C. A Historical Biography 1st edition PDF Book More importantly, Green's Alexander Green's biography of Alexander is erudite and skeptical, with a decidely old-fashioned sensibility. The prose is crisp and clear, and within a few pages readers become absorbed in the world that made Alexander, and then the story of how Alexander remade it. Poor Philip. Perhaps he recalled the cautionary tale of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, who received a letter from the Egyptian Pharaoh Amasis expressing anxiety at his excessive good fortune. So really, it satisfies no one. What separates Peter Green from other historians is his capability of narrating events in a captivating way see for example his Greco-Persian Wars. The sovereigns of Lower Macedonia were equally determined to annex these 'out-kingdoms', whether by conquest, political persuasion, or dynastic inter-marriage. If you are like me, you need to know where you've been before you know where you are going. A very ruthless and bloody conqueror, but one who never ran from a challenge and overcame them against remarkable odds. Intimations of Immortality. Alexander was not a lustful, greedy ruler like the Roman Emperors. What, Athenian democrats must have said, could you do with a man like that? You may also like. Whether just to pick a fight with another ruler or in search of gold and silver, Philip exerted his muscles over more and more territory. Genius Alexander had, and in full measure; yet even genius remains to a surprising extent the product of its environment. Most of us have not had the benefit of that, and are shamefully unschooled in the European classics. My feeling is that the author is unaware that he is assuming too much. He began to strike coins in his own name, the first Macedonian monarch to do so. I emailed a couple of Professor of Greek History and asked them the following: 'In the Quran Alexander the Great is according to some commentators referenced by the title Lord of the two Horns. His gift for speed, improvisation, variety of strategy; his cool- headedness in a crisis; his ability to extract himself from the most impossible situations; his mastery of terrain; his psychological ability to penetrate the enemy's intentions--all these qualities place him at the very head of the Great Captains of history. But things were more or less set up for Alexander to just take up the reins on Phillip's death and launch into the invasion of Asia. Oct 29, Sean rated it it was amazing Shelves: history , biography , ancient , non-fiction , war , greece , alexander , own-softcover. Perhaps he felt, too, that his position, especially in the faction-torn feudal court of Pella, was better not too closely defined. Alexander of Macedon, B. Green's writing is quite enjoyable - for a work that scholarly - and I had a hard time putting down that biography. Related Articles. Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B. C. A Historical Biography 1st edition Writer At his death his empire crumbled, and the Successors and their successors fought each other for centuries, those using Rome winning until finally Rome started doing the using and took over everything. Green has written almost a "Boys Own" story about Alexander and I found it irresistible. About this product. Alexander was a military genius, a practitioner of regicide which was common in the B. Nov 03, Matthew rated it really liked it Shelves: middle-east , ancient-civilization. It was surely Perdiccas' example that Philip had in mind when he said: 'Cheat boys with knucklebones, but men with oaths. Rating details. They regarded Macedonians in general as semi-savages, uncouth of speech and dialect, retrograde in their political institutions, negligible as fighters, and habitual oath-breakers, who dressed in bear-pelts and were much given to deep and swinish potations, tempered with regular bouts of assassination and incest. My interest is piqued now! Alexander won his battles partly due to his physical presence on the field of battle, and was wounded many times. For the general reader, the book, redolent with gritty details and fully aware of Alexander's darker side, offers a gripping tale of Alexander's career. View all 4 comments. Oct 14, Alex added it. This can be easily explained as a political tool. But the highlanders were much addicted to Thracian deities, Sabazius, the Clodones and Mimallones, whose wild orgiastic cult- practices closely resembled those portrayed by Euripides in the Bacchae. After he got that all off his chest, he really settled down into a great, readable story about Alexander's conquests. Table of Dates. What Philip and Macedonia had to offer, Alexander made his own, but Philip and Macedonia also made Alexander form an important context for understanding Alexander himself. And the authenticity of the Book of Daneil is very dubious. Piqued and curious, Alexander himself visited the philosopher, who, when asked if there was anything Alexander could do for him, made the famous reply, "Don't stand between me and the sun. When Alexander, king of Macedonia, hegemon of Greece, left the Balkans in BC to conquer the Persian Empire, he undertook what was arguably the greatest physical adventure in human history He laid out the elements of subjugation and control bu allocating Satrapies as he went I liked it and learned quite a bit so I am going to give it 3 stars. Efforts to preserve that independence — or to reassert it — naturally drove them into alliances with the Epirots, Paeonians or Illyrians. I am all for learning about new things when I read a book, afterall, that is why I read so many books about history, but when I have to sit there with paper in hand to write down each person or event the author mentions so I can look them up later, the author is not doing a very good job of writing. Oct 29, Sean rated it it was amazing Shelves: history , biography , ancient , non-fiction , war , greece , alexander , own-softcover. Not to mention the unspeakable Archelaus, Perdiccas' illegitimate son, who reached the throne by murdering his uncle, cousin and half-brother, proceeded to marry his father's widow, and was finally murdered himself as a result of his lurid homosexual intrigues. About the Book. Yet his origins and training do not fully explain the man. Great to get knowledge on such a vastly influential figure. One of Alexander's most distinguished Macedonian veterans, Corragus, challenged the famous Athenian boxer Dioxippus to single combat. Dec 23, Jade rated it it was amazing Shelves: 5-stars , history , biographies- memoirs. But beyond that there is much dispute and controversy. Exciting cover to cover no dry as dust history here.. Eugene N. From a View to a Death. Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B. C. A Historical Biography 1st edition Reviews Peter Green. Some beautiful and poignant passages about how Alexander took his men to the ends of the earth, to uncharted territory. Stock photo. During this process of expansion they also captured the picturesque fortress town of Edessa, on the north-west frontier. In the end the wretched athlete committed suicide rather than endure further prosecution. His dream was at times characterized as a benevolent interest in the brotherhood of man, sometimes as a brute interest in the exercise of power. Alexander himself is to be thanked in this regard, considering he had the foresight at least on his Asian campaign to take not just soldiers, but historians, zoologists, botanists, and a wealth of other individuals with a mind to catalog everything they witnessed. Green, a Cambridge-trained classicist who is also 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. He headed south- east, across the plain, past Lake Yanitza known then as Borboros, or Mud, a godsend for superior Greek punsters: borboros-barbaros, uncouth primitivism in a nutshell , with Ossa and Olympus gleaming white on the far horizon, as Xerxes had seen them when he camped by Homer's 'wide- flowing Axius' at the head of his invading host. For another, the author assumes the reader knows more about every subject that he even briefly mentions, which makes for a very confusing read. He never lost a battle and at the time of his untimely death ruled more land than anyone ever had previously, or would again until Genghis Khan if I'm not mistaken. His successors presented an even shadier picture. Some commentators have identified Zulqurnain as Cyrus the Great. Other Editions 9. View 1 comment. Peter Green's thesis I'm p. Combine this with a healthy does of justifiable paranoia It is hard to see what else Perdiccas could have done; Macedonia during his reign was still so weak and disunited that effective resistance, let alone any kind of expansion, was out of the question. He affected no royal insignia of any sort, was addressed by his name, without honorifics, and indeed never described himself as 'king' on any official document. Knowing very little about Alexander before reading this biography, I found it compelling, fascinating stuff. Exciting cover to cover no dry as dust history here.. Some might criticize Green as being a storyteller instead of a historian, but if the history is incredibly boring then no one is going to read it. At least for a time. The case of Scotland provides close and illuminating parallels.