The Death of Alexander the Great: A Reconstruction of Cleitarchus

Chugg, Andrew

ISBN 10: 0955679028 / ISBN 13: 9780955679025

Published by AMC Publications, 2010

About this Item

Seller Inventory # I-9780955679025

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Death of Alexander the Great: A Reconstruction of Cleitarchus
• Publisher: AMC Publications
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0955679028
• ISBN 13: 9780955679025
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The most influential account of the career of Alexander the Great was penned by Cleitarchus the son of Deinon, a Greek writing in Alexandria in the decades after Alexander's death. Most of the surviving ancient texts on Alexander were more or less based upon his work, but every single copy of the original was discarded or destroyed in antiquity. The question is: how far might it be possible to reconstruct it from the secondary writings? In response, this book presents an extensive reconstruction of Cleitarchus' account of the death of Alexander the Great in the stifling summer heat of Babylon in 323BC. It sweeps through a dramatic series of antecedent episodes culminating in the funeral of Hephaistion. Soon after it climaxes with Alexander's own expiry, then thunders on into the shock and chaos of the aftermath in a text studded with eulogistic orations and scintillating speeches. It is a must for any fascinated by the deep political undercurrents that streamed beneath a pivotal event in our history.