Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend

by Richard Stoneman

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Greece, Mythology, Biography, Academic, Criticism

336 pages, Hardcover

First published April 9, 2008

About the author

"I was born just a few miles from Exeter and have been an Honorary Fellow in the department since 1996. I spent thirty years as a classics editor, most of those years for Routledge; since retiring from that role in 2006, and returning from London to live in Devon, I have been taking an active part in university affairs, including teaching, research and a planned conference.

The core of my research interests has been the continuity of the Greek world and Greek tradition up to the present day. I have written anthologies and travel guides reflecting this interest. Since the early 1980s the main focus of my research has been Alexander the Great, especially in later legend. I have recently participated in several international conferences on the Ancient Novel and on Philip and Alexander. I am currently writing a biography of Xerxes and a study of Megasthenes.

Besides Latin and Greek, my languages include fluent German and adequate French, Italian and Modern Greek. I am taking classes in Turkish and Persian.

I am also Chairman of Westminster Classic Tours (www.westminsterclassictours.com), a company which runs gület tours to classical sites around the Turkish coast and Greek Islands.

In 2009 I was appointed Consulting Editor in Classics to I.B. Tauris Publishers in London, and am actively seeking new authors for their classics programme, and for the series I edit, 'Understanding Classics'.

In 2010 I organised a conference at Exeter University, in conjunction with the Institute of Arab and islamic Studies, on 'The Alexander Romance in Persia and the East'. There were delegates from every continent."

Reviews

[Rex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stoneman here offers a summary of the major episodes and themes of the Alexander mythology from ancient times to the present, exemplified most notably in the Alexander Romance, one of the most translated books of the Middle Ages. His project inhabits the middle-ground between popular and scholarly; it has extensive reference notes but often takes a popular tone. I often wished he would explore his material more deeply. Nevertheless, as a sweeping but concise overview and introduction, Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend has much to recommend itself.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a massive fan of Alexander the Great, as anyone who knows me would know; I think he's one of the most fascinating figures in history. I'll happily read anything about him, and this is no exception. I came across it by chance; I was looking for the Alexander Romance, which I didn't find, but I saw this instead and figured it'd be a good read. I'm glad I got it, because it was incredibly interesting. I genuinely feel like this is a branch of scholarship I want to pursue in the future. It did a really good job of introducing me to the various legends and romances about Alexander, their depictions of him and the iconic stories they feature. Sometimes the more technical lingo and all the different recensions got confusing, but it was easy enough to make sense of it that I could still follow along. One thing I really liked about it was that it didn't attempt to address everything or provide a really exhaustive account of all the scholarship, and it raised a lot of questions (for me) that helped keep me interested, and have fostered my curiosity. I took so many notes as I read this, and I still feel like I need to buy another copy just to thoroughly annotate it. Highly recommened, it's so insightful and fascinating.

[Dylan Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

For what this book is, wow, superbly researched. Very impressed with the amount of detail, knowledge and clearly, love that went into this. It's just a shame it's not very interesting or fun to read. Mistakenly I did believe this would be more of a retelling of the legends and the history rather than a deep dive into every version of the legends. The pacing is thus very slow and reads more like a school text book, which is fine as I do actually enjoy reading books like that. Unfortunetly here it is combined with a scholarly uninterest into (for me) the exciting parts of the legends, and details far more about the sources and writers of the legends. Still a very worthwile read though.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me a very long time to finish because it is dense, slow, and scholarly. That being said, I found it fascinating. Stoneman lays out how Alexander the Great developed a legend meant to show the desires in everyone to go outside their natural bounds but the impossibility of doing so. I'd recommend this to someone who really wants to get stuck into scholarship but not so much for a light (fun) read.

[Dreams At Dusk · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC

[Aris Karadimos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Δεν βαριέμαι να το διαβάζω.
5 αστέρια από έναν Έλληνα λάτρη της ιστορίας.

Άρης Καραδήμος

[Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

this shares many 'legends' of alex that hover around his accomplishments. color and b/w images.

[Achmad Soefandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexader agung salah satu pemimpin dunia yang terkenal sebagai salah satu pemimpin yang menguasai Yunani sampai India. Sepak terjang sang pemimpin digambarkan dalam buku ini cukup bagus (meskipun ada sediki bumbu fiktif). Alexander agung lahir dari seorang ibu bernama Olympia dan ayahnya sang raja Phillips. Alexander sejak kecil sudah terlihat bakat kepemimpinanya, yang dalam buku ini digambarkan Alexander sebagai sosok kecil yang cekatan dan sudah menguasai ilmu pedang sejak usia dini.

Dalam buku ini juga di kisahkan bagaimana hubungan alexander dengan sang Ayah yang sempat mengalami krisis, hal ini disebabkan karena sang Ayah ingin menikah lagi dengan putri Kleopatra. beberapa bumbu fiksi dalam cerita ini digambarkan salah satunya ketika Alexander bertemu dengan beberapa mahluk aneh sewaktu melakukan perjalanan dalam penaklukan kerajaan lain.

Dalam buku ini kita juga diajak melihat gaya kepemimpinan Alexander yang cerdas, hal ini digambarkan ketika Alexander ingin mencari sosok pembunuh musuh bebuyutanya, yang ternyata pembunuh tersebut tidak lain adalah anak buah dari musuh bebuyutanya.

Dari buku ini kita akan mempelajari banyak hal dari Alexander agung mulai dari segi pemikiran, hubunganya dengan sesama manusia dan gaya kepemimpinan dari Alexander