This isn't the easiest book to read - it presumes a certain level of knowledge about the world of the Greek Mediterranean, and Lane Fox's sentences do have a tendency to run on, but for the most part he writes clearly and lucidly. One can only imagine what he might have achieved had he lived. Whatever else he was, Alexander was probably the greatest conqueror, general and explorer in history - to do all he did by the age of 32 is astonishing. Modern society likes to compare him to Hitler and focus on the number of deaths involved in his conquest of the Persian Empire, but you just can't retrospectively judge figures from history with modern morals and ethics. His books include The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome, The Unauthorised Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible, Travelling Heroes: Greeks and their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer and Pagans and Christians in the Mediterranean World from the Second Century AD to the Conversion of Constantine.Īlexander has always been a fascinating figure to me. Robin Lane Fox was the main historical advisor to Oliver Stone on his film Alexander, and took part in many of its most dramatic re-enactments. 'An achievement of Alexandrian proportions' 'I do not know which to admire most, his vast erudition or his imaginative grasp of so remote and complicated a period and such a complex personality' Fox's book became my main guide through Alexander's amazing story' The myth he created is as potent today as it was in the ancient world.Ĭombining historical scholarship and acute psychological insight, Alexander the Great brings this colossal figure vividly to life. His achievements were unparalleled - he had excelled as leader to his men, founded eighteen new cities and stamped the face of Greek culture on the ancient East. When he died in 323 BC aged thirty-two, his vast empire comprised more than two million square miles, spanning from Greece to India. Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler of passionate ambition who understood the intense adventure of conquest and of the unknown. From award-winning historian Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great searches through the mass of conflicting evidence and legend to focus on Alexander as a man of his own time.

Alexander the great by robin lane fox