Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5660 in Books
• Published on: 1976-07-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Synopsis
Although written over 400 years after Alexander's death, Arrian's "Campaigns of Alexander" is our best source of knowledge of the man and his deeds. Arrian had himself been a military commander, and his record of the exploits of the world's greatest conqueror reveals sympathy for his subject, without the adulation or contempt which so often mar other histories of the time. His unaffected style of writing, with its matter-of-fact tone, offsets the remarkable career and paradoxical nature of Alexander. Arrian's sources were "Alexander's men", but he is a true historian, not a mere compiler; presenting a fair, clear report about a man who was worshipped as a god in his own lifetime.

Customer Reviews

Excellent, the bible for any history of Alexander the Great
Simply the best! A must for every fan, admirer and ... of Alexander the Great.

Accounts from contemporary historians like Callistenes, Onesicritus, Nearchus and Aristobulus did exist but only bits and pieces have come to us. Arrian was lucky enough to have access to the biography of Alexander written by Ptolemy, one of Alexanders' generals and maybe his half-brother, who became pharaoh of Egypt. What we know today has been recorded by a handful ancient writers (Diodorus of Sicily, Curitus Rufus and Plutarch mainly) who still could consult those old records, and Arrian is one of them.

Lucius Flavius Arrianus, better known as Arrian was a Greek historian from the 2nd century AD, who served as a military commander in the Roman Empire. He had widespread interests in philosophy, topographic-ethnography, history, and military matters, which culminated in his books on Alexander. He writes in a matter-of-fact-tone without being dull or dry. Personally I possess the pocket version of The Campaigns of Alexander which I always carry with me when travelling. Arrian knows how to keep his reader's mind alive, which may or may not have been influenced by the translator, Aubrey de Sélincourt. In any case, it turns out to be very pleasant and fascinating reading material.

Over the years since antiquity up till today, whoever wants to write about Alexander the Great will always have refer to Arrian in the first place. All what the history or science fiction authors tell us, is based on Arrian's accounts. He clearly states the dates and the events, describes the battlefields and positions of the armies involved with nearly analytical precision, and he puts the cities and landscapes in true perspective. Whatever information you need, you can always rely on Arrian to find it, without fringes or inessential details.

excellent translation, decent book
This book is excellently structured with an introduction on the author, Arrian, excellent footnotes and a couple of appendices at the end.

I found the actual text had way too many names. I just got the impression that Alexander was constantly taking part in minor skirmishes, but I think that is the point.

More and better maps would definitely have helped this book out, as well as some diagrams of battle formations for Alexander's major battles.

Finally, I found the author tended to note various inconsistencies or exaggerations only once whereas I would have preferred he mention them everytime. For example, Arrian frequently understates the number of Macedonian dead (figures as low as 100 against 10 000 in the Persian forces i believe) and I would have liked the translator/publisher to give a more conservative estimate, although maybe this simply isn't possible due to lack of data.

Overall this book is a good introduction to Alexander.

Good copy of the text
This work is hard to review, as it is just a translation. The account Arrian gives is pro-Alexander and a biased account on the truth, but this is just how it is. The book itself is very helpful, with good footnotes for details, and a helpful map section at the back. This is very useful for studying the text, and as a reference to Arrians account.