The Campaigns of Alexander : Penguin Classics

The most important historical source on one of the most powerful leaders of the ancient world, Arrian-s The Campaigns of Alexander illustrates how Alexander the Great came to rule over a vast empire of his own making, translated from the Greek by Aubrey de Selincourt, and revised with an introduction and notes by J.R. Hamilton in Penguin Classics.

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.

Aubrey de Selincourt-s vivid translation is accompanied by J.R. Hamilton-s introduction, which discusses Arrian-s life and times, his synthesis of other classical sources and the composition of Alexander-s army. This edition also contains appendices, maps, a list for further reading and a detailed index. The details of Arrian-s life (b. 86) are uncertain, though the shape of it indicates a man of wide and varied talents. He was governor to the Emperor Hadrian, the author of a number of works of non-fiction and an Athenian citizen. In 145 he rose to become a chief magistrate of Athens and thereby part of the governing body of the city. His date of death is not known.