This book presents for the first time in English a detailed study of the closest friends and most trusted commanders of Alexander the Great - their career-progress, their rivalry with one another, and their influence on Alexander. The Marshals of Alexander's Empire is a blend of biography and prosopography that sheds light on some of the most dynamic individuals of the age of Alexander.

This substantially revised and updated second edition of The Marshals of Alexander’s Empire (1992) examines Alexander’s most important officers, who commanded army units and were involved in military and political deliberations. Chapters on these men have been expanded, giving greater attention to personalities, bias in the sources, and the social as well as military setting, including more on familial connections and regional origins in an attempt to create a better understanding of factions. The major confrontations, military and political, are treated in greater detail within the biographies, and a discussion of the organization and command structure of the Makedonian army has been added.

This exciting new edition includes a selection of the most significant and representative published articles and chapters about Alexander and covers all the main areas of debate and discussion in Alexander scholarship.

For nearly two and a half millennia, Alexander the Great has loomed over history as a legend–and an enigma. Wounded repeatedly but always triumphant in battle, he conquered most of the known world, only to die mysteriously at the age of thirty-two. In his day he was revered as a god; in our day he has been reviled as a mass murderer, a tyrant as brutal as Stalin or Hitler. Who was the man behind the mask of power? Why did Alexander embark on an unprecedented program of global domination? What accounted for his astonishing success on the battlefield? In this luminous new biography, the esteemed classical scholar and historian Guy MacLean Rogers sifts through thousands of years of history and myth to uncover the truth about this complex, ambiguous genius. Ascending to the throne of Macedonia after the assassination of his father, King Philip II, Alexander discovered while barely out of his teens that he had an extraordinary talent and a boundless appetite for military conquest. A virtuoso of violence, he was gifted with an uncanny ability to visualize how a battle would unfold, coupled with devastating decisiveness in the field. Granicus, Issos, Gaugamela, Hydaspes–as the victories mounted, Alexander’s passion for conquest expanded from cities to countries to continents. When Persia, the greatest empire of his day, fell before him, he marched at once on India, intending to add it to his holdings. As Rogers shows, Alexander’s military prowess only heightened his exuberant sexuality. Though his taste for multiple partners, both male and female, was tolerated, Alexander’s relatively enlightened treatment of women was nothing short of revolutionary. He outlawed rape, he placed intelligent women in positions of authority, and he chose his wives from among the peoples he conquered. Indeed, as Rogers argues, Alexander’s fascination with Persian culture, customs, and sexual practices may have led to his downfall, perhaps even to his death. Alexander emerges as a charismatic and surprisingly modern figure–neither a messiah nor a genocidal butcher but one of the most imaginative and daring military tacticians of all time. Balanced and authoritative, this brilliant portrait brings Alexander to life as a man, without diminishing the power of the legend.

War, the most profitable economic activity in the ancient world, transferred wealth from the vanquished to the victor. Invasions, sieges, massacres, annexations, and mass deportations all redistributed property with dramatic consequences for kings and commoners alike. No conqueror ever captured more people or property in so short a lifetime than Alexander the Great in the late fourth century BC. For all its savagery, the creation of Alexander's empire has generally been hailed as a positive economic event for all concerned. Even those harshly critical of Alexander today tend to praise his plundering of Persia as a means of liberating the moribund resources of the East. To test this popular interpretation, The Treasures of Alexander the Great investigates the kinds and quantities of treasure seized by the Macedonian king, from gold and silver to land and slaves. It reveals what became of the king's wealth and what Alexander's redistribution of these vast resources can tell us about his much-disputed policies and personality. Though Alexander owed his vast fortune to war, battle also distracted him from competently managing his spoils and much was wasted, embezzled, deliberately destroyed, or idled unprofitably. The Treasures of Alexander the Great provides a long-overdue and accessible account of Alexander's wealth and its enormous impact on the ancient world.

A lucid introduction to the life and career of one of the most significant figures in world history. A geographically articulated biography is followed by studies of the key themes of his campaign and analyses of ways in which the king's image was presented and manipulated in antiquity itself.

At eighteen Alexander had conquered mainland Greece, was crowned King of Macedonia at twenty and by twenty-six he had made himself master of the once mighty Persian Empire. By the time of his death, aged only thirty-three, in 323BCE he was ruler of the known world and was being worshipped as a god by the Greeks, both at Babylon, where he died, and further west, among the Greek cities of the Asiatic seaboard. The fruit of a lifetime’s scholarship and meticulous research, this is an outstanding biography of one of the most remarkable rulers in history. 'A hugely impressive portrait of a towering but enigmatic figure' Saul David, Sunday Telegraph 'A revealing, often enthralling search . . . [a] restless, exhilarating book' Observer 'Fascinating . . . blends all the pleasures of Hollywood epic with those of a subtle and deeply intriguing detective tale' Tom Holland, author of Rubicon 'Alexander the Great provides an endless fount both of amazement and of speculation. This gripping book examines the legends as well as the life. Most interestingly, it invites the reader to participate in the difficult task of separating the fact from the fiction' Norman Davies At eighteen Alexander had conquered mainland Greece, was crowned King of Macedonia at twenty and by twenty-six he had made himself master of the once mighty Persian Empire. By the time of his death, aged only thirty-three, in 323BCE he was ruler of the known world and was being worshipped as a god by the Greeks, both at Babylon, where he died, and further west, among the Greek cities of the Asiatic seaboard. The fruit of a lifetime’s scholarship and meticulous research, this is an outstanding biography of one of the most remarkable rulers in history. 'A hugely impressive portrait of a towering but enigmatic figure' Saul David, Sunday Telegraph 'A revealing, often enthralling search . . . [a] restless, exhilarating book' Observer 'Fascinating . . . blends all the pleasures of Hollywood epic with those of a subtle and deeply intriguing detective tale' Tom Holland, author of Rubicon 'Alexander the Great provides an endless fount both of amazement and of speculation. This gripping book examines the legends as well as the life. Most interestingly, it invites the reader to participate in the difficult task of separating the fact from the fiction' Norman Davies

Rolf Strootman brings together various aspects of court culture in the Macedonian empires of the post-Achaemenid Near East.

The most comprehensive and up-to-date work available on ancient Macedonian history and material culture, A Companion to Ancient Macedonia is an invaluable reference for students and scholars alike. Features new, specially commissioned essays by leading and up-and-coming scholars in the field Examines the political, military, social, economic, and cultural history of ancient Macedonia from the Archaic period to the end of Roman period and beyond Discusses the importance of art, archaeology and architecture All ancient sources are translated in English Each chapter includes bibliographical essays for further reading