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A N C I E N
T W R I T I
N G S O N A L E X A N D E R T
H
E G R E A T
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P L U T A R C
H |
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Plutarch (47 -
121
CE) lived
in the first
and second centuries CE. He was a very popular writer in the
ancient
world, and remained so centuries after his death. Plutarch
is most
famous for his Parallel Lives,
comprising a total of 27 books. In
each of
these books, Plutarch would match up some famous Greek with a
famous Roman
counterpart. For example, Alexander the Great - v - Julius
Caesar. He would write a short biography of each man, and
then
compare the two at the end, pointing out their strengths and
weaknesses. Plutarch also wrote a tremendous number of
"essays,"
which range from politics to religion to philosophy to war, and
everywhere
in between. These are categorized as Plutarch's
Moralia. Plutarch doesn't claim to be the most
accurate
writer -- for he couldn't possibly get every detail right when
writing
about so many different subjects -- but he was and remains the
great
"sketch master." |
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Plutarch The
Age Of
Alexander Translated by Ian
Scott-Kilvert |
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This affordable translation of
Plutarch by
Ian Scott-Kilvert contains his life of Alexander, along with eight
other
lives of men who lived in and around Alexander's time -- thus the
title,
The Age of
Alexander. It
contains a helpful Chronological Table, starting with the year 405
BCE and
ending with 272 BCE. The arrangement of the biographies is
not what
Plutarch had in mind, since he always compared a Greek with a
Roman, but
perhaps it gives a better understanding of Alexander, since you
can read
about some of the men around him. |
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Plutarch
Lives Demosthenes and Cicero Alexander and
Caesar Translated by Bernadotte
Perrin |
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This
Loeb Classical
Library book contains Plutarch's life of Alexander the Great,
followed by
his life of Julius Caesar. It is apparent that Plutarch
considered
these two men to be the greatest commanders of the ancient world,
since he
set them up one (a Greek) against the other (a Roman). It is
up to
the reader to decide which one is the best, Plutarch's final
comparison of
these two men being lost, but his sketch of Alexander the Great
remains
the best one to this very day. This book also contains the
lives of
the two greatest orators of the ancient world, the Greek
Demosthenes, and
the Roman Cicero. |
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Plutarch
Moralia Volume 4 Translated by F. C.
Babbitt |
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This book contains one of the
most
influential and controversial essays of the ancient world.
It is
called, On the Fortune or Virtue of
Alexander.
In it, Plutarch claims that Alexander
was a true
philosopher-king, who united men of all races into a great "loving
cup." Here is an exerpt: "But, as he [Alexander]
believed that
he came as a heaven-sent governor to all, and as a mediator for
the whole
world... He bade them all consider as their fatherland the
whole
inhabited earth, as their stronghold and protection his camp, as
akin to
them all good men, and as foreigners only the
wicked..." |
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A R R I A
N
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Arrian (89 - 170
CE) was a
powerful man in
the ancient world. He lived in the second century CE, when
the Roman
Empire was at its height. He was a friend of the great Roman
Emperor
Hadrian; he was the first Greek to hold a consulship in the
Empire; in 134
he led an army against the Alani barbarians, who had invaded the
empire,
and successfully drove them out; in 145, he became head (Archon)
of the
famous city of Athens; the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius held
Arrian in
such high esteem that he always had by his side
The
Discourses of Epictetus, which
was written by
Arrian (Epictetus having been Arrian's teacher). According
to Arrian
himself, one of the most important things in his life was to hand
down to
posterity a decent history of Alexander the Great, which would
clear up
some of the confusion surrounding the great conqueror. He
succeeded. Arrian's is the most excellent history of
Alexander we
have. |
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Alexander the
Great Selections From
Arrian Translated by J. G.
Lloyd |
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This little book is a good
introduction to
Arrian. J. G. Lloyd takes you through a brief overview of
the
history of Alexander's life, sampling about 30 short "selections"
from
Arrian's history. Here is part of one concerning Alexander's
horse
Bucephalus: "This horse had once been lost in Uxia, and
Alexander
had made an announcement that he would kill every Uxian in the
country, if
they did not bring back his horse. On the announcement it
was at
once returned. Such was Alexander's concern for the horse,
and such
was the fear he could inspire in the natives." |
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Arrian The
Campaigns Of
Alexander Translated by Aubrey de
Selincourt |
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This paperback contains a
translation of
Arrian by Aubrey de Selincourt. The translation was done in
1958,
and is, overall, probably the most readable out there. Here
is an
exerpt from his translation of Arrian's preface: "Wherever
Ptolemy
and Aristobolus in their histories of Alexander, the son of
Philip, have
given the same account, I have followed it on the assumption of
its
accuracy; where their facts differ I have chosen what I feel to be
the
most probable and interesting. There are other accounts of
Alexander's life... it seems to me, however, that Ptolemy and
Aristobolus
are the most trustworthy writers on this
subject..." |
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Arrian
Volume
1 Anabasis of Alexander Books I -
IV Translated by P. A.
Brunt |
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This Loeb Classical Library book
is a
must-have for anyone serious about Alexander the Great. This
Volume
1 contains the first four books of Arrian's Anabasis of
Alexander. It
provides Arrian's original Greek on the left page, and an English
translation by P. A. Brunt on the right. The book has 80
pages of
introduction, 100 pages of appendixes, copius scholarly notes, and
a
helpful fold-out map of the CONQUESTS of ALEXANDER. Each
section of
Arrian's work is marked by "chapter and verse" like the Bible, so
that any
particular words of Arrian can be referred to. |
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Arrian
Volume
2 Anabasis of Alexander Books V -
VII
Indica Translated by P. A.
Brunt |
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This volume 2 is the companion to
volume 1
above, containing books 5 - 7 of Arrian's Anabasis of Alexander,
and
Arrian's Indica, which
tells of the
voyage of Alexander's army down the Indus river, into the Indian
Ocean,
then through the Persian Gulf up into the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers. In the Indica,
Arrian
uses as his main source the now lost history of Alexander's
Admiral
Nearchus. The book is full of adventure and peril. At
one
point, Alexander was sure the fleet of Nearchus was totally
lost.
When Nearchus himself arrived before Alexander and proved that it
was not
so, he broke down in tears of disbelief and
joy.
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DIODORUS |
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CURTIUS |
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JUSTIN |
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MORE |
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