I have read over two dozen books covering Alexander - some with a very positive view on the young Macedonian conqueror (such as this title) and some with very dark and negative views about him. Being that he was a figure of pre-Christian antiquity some 2300 years ago and that very little writings and actual facts remain from that era, Alexander has thus become as much of a mythological legend as a true historical figure. Very often, the writings of historians (from ancient to modern) are mere reflections of how they perceive Alexander through their own prisms of personal values, morality and views on history. It is interesting, even outright fascinating, how this enigmatic figure elicits such a wide range of emotions and perspectives from historians and readers alike - from that of irrational idolatry and adulation to outright hostility and venomous contempt.
This book is, overall, quite favorable towards Alexander. It doesn't try to hide Alexander's faults as a human being and the war atrocities that Alexander is responsible for and for which he regretted. It is an easy book to digest compared to many other Alexander biographies, which often tend to get mired in scholarly prose and obtuse academia. The writing is clear and concise and flows in a way that is meant to educate and inform the more casual modern reader, not impress other scholars of ancient history. At the same time, it is thoroughly researched and you can tell that Rogers has a deep understanding of the era in which Alexander lived as well as before and after.
The impact of Alexander cannot be overestimated although it has become fashionable for the anti-Alexandrian school of historians and scholars to extrapolate on the negative aspects of Alexander's conquests and brutal suppression of resistance and revolt. What I'd like to ask of some of these armchair kings and generals is: What would YOU have done if you were in his position? What would you have done differently if you were just appointed king at the age of 20 and there are many around you willing to kill you and your loved ones to attain what you have? We're talking about 2300 years ago and people still kill unremittingly all over the world TODAY when it comes to the grand human pastime of attaining and wielding power.
It's so easy for historians to sit in their school offices and home dens and on some sort of a moral high chair applying the moral values of today to the constant warlike conditions of Alexander's era. If you knew you had Alexander's unruly genius for military command and tactics and you knew you could vanquish the "barbarian" enemy and impose the ideals and culture of your country, would you not have done what Alexander did? How could anyone really put himself in Alexander's shoes? How many people in today's age can even imagine what it was like to be in one of these battles wearing armor and wielding only a two-foot blade sword knowing that you could be struck down or decapitated any moment? But it's easy for us to sit in our couch or behind a computer screen and type, "I could have done better. He wasn't so great. I wouldn't have killed so many people. I'm morally superior than that."
Considering the vast power he attained and wielded over such a humongous territory in such antiquity, Alexander has to be considered one of the most generous and magnanimous monarchs of all time. He could have butchered and wiped out populations on a grand scale - but he didn't. He could have forcibly imposed Macedonian culture, religion, administration and governance on the lands he conquered - but he didn't. He always gave city-states or tribes a chance to surrender. Only when there was resistance and Macedonian lives lost would his wrath be brutal and systematically ruthless. Alexander was virtually generous to a fault to the people he conquered in many cases.
As far as Alexander's influence and impact, it's obvious that Alexander facilitated the expansion of the Roman Empire that came afterwards and the spread of Christianity. How different would the world be today if Christ was born under the domain of the Persian Empire? If you simply follow history - and this isn't hard to see - it's obvious that Alexander built the table for Christianity (as a meal) to be served. The Roman Empire set the table with the trimmings, but it was Alexander who advanced Western ideals on the Middle East through his conquests of what are now Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt. We can't go as far as to say that Alexander was responsible for Christianity, but he facilitated it so that it is what it is today. That's just a simple fact.
I heartily recommend this book to the Alexander novice as well as the Alexander buff wishing to round out his or her collection. It isn't definitive and I'd rate works from Robin Lane Fox, J.F.C. Fuller, and Peter Green higher in terms of exhaustive academia, but this one's easier and more pleasant to read through. There is a timeless mythical element to Alexander to this day and I believe that's why he is such a fascinating figure. Some of the truths will never be known, leaving us to forever ponder the details, the gaps in his story, his motives, and the intrigues of his most amazing life. Alexander is a figure who will undoubtedly be studied and debated about for as long as the human race survives. He is indeed THAT pivotal of a figure in human history.
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fradfav
A lovely book in pristine condition
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2022