Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great (356-323 B. C. E. ) precipitated immense historical change in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. But the resonance his legend achieved over the next two millennia stretched even farther – across foreign cultures, religious traditions, and distant nations. Alexander came to embody the concerns of Hellenistic man; he fueled Roman ideas on tyranny and kingship; and, he was a talisman for fourth-century pagans and a hero of chivalry in the early Middle Ages. He appears in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic writings, frequently as a prophet of God. Whether battling winged foxes or meeting with the Amazons, descending to the underworld or inventing the world's first diving bell, Alexander inspired as a hero, even a god. Stoneman traces Alexander's influence in ancient literature and folklore and in later literatures of east and west. His book provides the definitive account of the legends of Alexander the Great – a powerful leader in life and an even more powerful figure in the history of literature and ideas. This title is short-listed for the 2009 Runciman Award, administered by the Anglo-Hellenic League and sponsored by the National Bank of Greece.