Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend - Softcover

Stoneman, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300164017 ISBN 13: 9780300164015

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2010

Synopsis

In his brief life, Alexander the Great gained fame as the military genius who conquered the known world. After death, his legend only increased.

Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) precipitated immense historical change in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. But the resonance his legend achieved over the next two millennia stretched even farther—across foreign cultures, religious traditions, and distant nations.

This engaging and handsomely illustrated book for the first time gathers together hundreds of the colorful Alexander legends that have been told and retold around the globe. Richard Stoneman, a foremost expert on the Alexander myths, introduces us first to the historical Alexander and then to the Alexander of legend, an unparalleled mythic icon who came to represent the heroic ideal in cultures from Egypt to Iceland, from Britain to Malaya.

Alexander came to embody the concerns of Hellenistic man; he fueled Roman ideas on tyranny and kingship; he was a talisman for fourth-century pagans and a hero of chivalry in the early Middle Ages. He appears in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic writings, frequently as a prophet of God. Whether battling winged foxes or meeting with the Amazons, descending to the underworld or inventing the world’s first diving bell, Alexander inspired as a hero, even a god. Stoneman traces Alexander’s influence in ancient literature and folklore and in later literatures of east and west. His book provides the definitive account of the legends of Alexander the Great—a powerful leader in life and an even more powerful figure in the history of literature and ideas.

About this title

Book Description:

This engaging book is the first to gather together the hundreds of colorful legends told in cultures across the globe about Alexander the Great, conqueror of the ancient world. Richard Stoneman shows how the mythical exploits of Alexander have resonated for Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and in eastern and western cultures, for more than 2000 years.

About the Author:

Richard Stoneman is Honorary Fellow of the University of Exeter and widely acknowledged as the foremost expert globally on the myths of Alexander.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0300164017
• ISBN 13: 9780300164015
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336