Alexander the Great: The Truth Behind the Myth

Alexander’s career is famous; the man himself is much harder to recover. Paul Cartledge follows him from his upbringing under Philip II through Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela, the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire and the increasingly difficult campaigns in Central Asia and India.

At the centre of the book is the problem of evidence. Most surviving accounts were written after Alexander’s death and are entangled with admiration, hostility and legend. Cartledge weighs those traditions while considering Alexander’s leadership, ambitions, self-presentation and relationships with both Macedonians and conquered peoples. The familiar story of conquest remains, but it is placed within a more critical Macedonian, Greek and Persian context.