Alexander the Great: A Very Short Introduction

In 336 BCE, Alexander III inherited the kingdom of Macedon; twelve years later he had conquered the Achaemenid Persian Empire and campaigned as far as India. Hugh Bowden introduces the extraordinary expansion of Alexander’s rule while placing it within the Macedonian monarchy he inherited, the Persian imperial world he conquered and the traditions through which his career has been remembered.

Rather than presenting Alexander only as an exceptional military genius, Bowden considers kingship, religion, court politics, cultural interaction and the practical problems of governing an increasingly diverse empire. He also addresses the limitations of the surviving ancient sources and the creation of Alexander’s later legend. Compact and critical, this Very Short Introduction is a useful entry point for readers seeking the historical Alexander behind both the famous campaigns and the mythology that accumulated around them.