Nor was his political program limited simply to succeeding the Achaemenids.
While it is true that he was mainly a leader and conqueror, in many situations – chiefly from 330 – he attempted coalition-based solutions that he attained through diplomatic means. A biased picture of Alexander as a limited, brutal invader is contradicted by sources. Neither position addresses the heart of the matter. To some he remains a ruthless conqueror with little understanding for the traditions of the peoples he conquered, whereas others see him as a conscious successor of the Achaemenids. This is the thrilling tale of Alexander's successive triumphs in the face of dire adversity.Īn assessment of Alexander’s policies toward Iranians and generally Asians run a full gamut. He nearly abandoned the siege of Tyre and he almost died when he was lost in the Libyan desert. Greatly outnumbered at Issus, he was also outflanked and encircled at Gaugamela. It was to this that Christopher Marlowe alluded when he asked, 'Is it not passing brave to be a king and ride in triumph through Persepolis?' Yet often in Cleitarchus' account Alexander had to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. This was when the earth began to shake at Alexander's tread and everything began to seem possible. This volume covers Alexander's conquest of the Persians, from the Battle of Issus in 333BC to the death of Darius in July 330BC. Now the work is revived in a riveting reconstruction based upon ancient works that it inspired. But every copy was destroyed in antiquity and only derivatives survive.
I’ll bet they didn’t tell you that in high school.The most influential account of the career of Alexander the Great was penned by Cleitarchus decades after Alexander's death. So “ catamite ” is derived from “Ganymede” who was the boy lover of Zeus. But only males can be pederasts.) If something that would be attacked if it were contemporary is displaced into history or plainly labeled sci-fi or myth, it seems to be tolerated.
Of course, then I had to look up pederasty and catamite. (It took me weeks as a teenager in Portland, Oregon, to find out what sodomy was. It’s a strange phenomenon that the most uptight and righteous cultures are often the safest for outliers, because there’s little recognition of what they are. If it had been “American,” there might have been outcry and, in fact, there was enough tsuris in England to indicate a move to South Africa was wise. It is, therefore, an historical romance, If it had been written by a gay man, there might have been uproar, but it was written by a gay woman. “The Persian Boy” is a study in devotion justified by greatness, based on the historical evidence of a slave boy, Bagoas, who was the personal attendant and lover of Alexander the Great.
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