Ebook: Alexander the Great

There is no shortage of biographies on Alexander the Great. This one from Robin Lane Fox, now over three decades in print, may be the best.

Fox seeks to retrieve, from the murky depths of the ancient past, Alexander the man, chipping away at the myth and libel that have become part of his towering historical identity to reveal the fundamental character and motivations that drove the greatest conqueror in military annals. This is a biography that dwells more on Alexander's relationship with his mother and father, his early education and fascination with Homer, his lifelong interrelations with childhood friends, and his religious convictions, particularly his personal relationship with Zeus than it does on his conduct and strategy in his epic battles at Issus and Guagamela. A reader looking for the military history of Alexander the Great should be advised to consult JFC Fuller's classic account instead.

The author makes much of Alexander's trip to Siwah in North Africa and attaches critical importance to whatever he asked and learned there from the oracle, which is now lost to history. Fox claims that he learned that he was the son of Zeus in the form of Ammon.

Fox puts forth a number of controversial assessments, although he concedes that almost nothing about Alexander can be known beyond doubt. One significant claim is that the Persian general Mazeus may have betrayed Darius at Guagamela, which would explain why Mazeus gave up Babylon so easily after the battle and was immediately retained as satrap for the city, one of the greatest in the world. If true, such a revelation would do much to undermine one of Alexander's greatest victories.

Later, Fox argues that the burning of Persepolis, one of the most egregious acts of the Macedonian invasion and one that Alexander quickly came to regret, may have been egged on by a woman traveling with his army, Thais, who was Ptolemy's mistress and mother of three of his children, which explains why Ptolemy hid her role in the debacle in his later history. Meanwhile, Parmenion is cited as a brave and competent general who was slandered by Ptolemy ex-post-facto to sully the aged and murdered general's reputation and burnish Alexander's. Indeed, a critical theme of Fox's narrative is the competition between Callisthenes, Ptolemy and Anaxarchus for writing the official history of Alexander, with Ptolemy coming off as a craven self-promoter, but ultimately successful in acquiring untold riches for himself in Egypt and bequeathing to posterity his version of events.

In other areas, Fox calms the waters that usually rile in other biographies of Alexander, especially in explaining the impact of his adoption of Persian dress and customs and the nature of both his and his lover Hephastion's deaths. Fox sees the murder of Cleitus as a personal, alcohol-fueled brawl with no political motivations (resistance to the Persian customs) whatsoever. The same goes for the ordered killing of Parmenion after the exposure of the plot of the pages and Philotas' role in it, as well as the execution of Callisthenes. Fox maintains that these were all cases of jilted, older men who saw themselves losing standing in the army, not rebellions against the invidious influence of Asian customs and satraps.

Fox devotes much time to uncovering the likely nature of Alexander's untimely death at Babylon. There are two competing versions known to history. The first, a pamphlet written by one of Alexander's closest associates and chosen successor, Perdiccas, that describes an elaborate plot by Antipater in Macedonia to poison Alexander at an elaborate banquet held by Medius, a Companion from Thessaly. Fox dismisses this story out of hand, claiming that there was no poison known to man at that time that would have killed so slowly, as Alexander survived nearly two weeks after falling ill at the party. The second version, from contemporary diaries, claim that Alexander died from excessive alcohol consumption in the month leading up to his death, a perspective promoted by Antipater and his son, Cassander. Fox rejects this tale, too, as highly improbable. Rather, he suggests that Alexander likely succumbed to one of the many fevers endemic to the area, possibly malaria.

If you've read every book available on Alexander or are looking to read just one, Robin Lane Fox's "Alexander the Great" should be on your list.