Brill's Companion to Alexander the Great

Many important issues surrounding Alexander the Great's conquest have captured the interest of scholars and general readers since antiquity. This book, which is intended as an informative companion for scholars and nonspecialist alike, acquaints us with these issues and their current interpretations, and opens up new directions of investigation as it confronts them. It covers a broad range of topics: the ancients' representations of the king in literature and art; Alexander's relations with Greeks, Macedonians, and the peoples of Asia; the military, political, sociological and cultural aspects of his campaigns; the exploitation of his biography and the myths about him by ancient philosophers to argue a moral point or by modern communities in and outside the Balkans to affirm or contest ethnic and national identities.