Sources for Alexander the Great
An Analysis of Plutarch's 'Life' and Arrian's 'Anabasis Alexandrou'

This 1993 book attempts to analyse and evaluate in detail the sources of information that the ancient writers Plutarch and Arrian drew on.

N. G. L. Hammond (Author)

9780521714716, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 August 2007

364 pages
21.5 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.474 kg

Plutarch and Arrian have contributed more than any other ancient authors to our picture of Alexander the Great, but since they wrote four or more centuries after his death the value of what they said depends upon the sources of information on which they themselves drew. In this 1993 book the attempt is made to define and to evaluate those sources in a detailed study, analysing the historians' works section by section and comparing them with other accounts of the same episodes. This volume completes Professor Hammond's study of the five Alexander-historians begun with Three Historians of Alexander the Great (Cambridge University Press, 1983) and lays a basis for work in this area.

Preface
Abbreviations and select bibliography
Prolegomena
Part I. Plutarch's Sources for the Narrative Passages: 1. Alexander's origin, boyhood and relations with Philip
2. Balkan campaign, sack of Thebes and landing in Asia
3. The set battles in Asia
4. Alexander and Darius
5. Phoenicia, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Parthia
6. Conspiracies and Callisthenes
7. Bactria, India and Carmania
8. Persia and Babylonia
9. Attributions and deductions
Part II: 10. Plutarch's reflective passages and Alexander's personality
Part III. Arrian's Sources for the Anabasis Alexandrou: 11. The methodology of Arrian
12. From Macedonia to the Tanaïs
13. From the Tanaïs to the Indus valley
14. Advance from Nysa and return to the Hydaspes
15. From the Hydaspes to Persepolis
16. The last year of Alexander's life
Part IV: 17. The personality of Arrian and his choice and use of sources
Index.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]