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Hi all!I apologize for being quite the lurker, recently. Things have been hectic around here (my first book, 'Men of Bronze', was featured on the cover of the Jan. 3 issue of Publishers Weekly; the resulting 'buzz' has been interesting, to say the least). I'm researching the city of Pella, Philip's ...

Hi All,Well, since we're all sharing our good news, I guess it's my turn. 'Memnon', my second novel, has been accepted by my publisher, Medallion Press, Inc. (http://www.medallionpress.com). It will be released in hardcover in June of 2006. Why the long lead time? Well, I sold it to them based on 4 ...

Congrats Ruth! Now, get cracking on the book :)Scott

Hi Ruth,The way I do it, when I have conflicting dates, is to find a source I feel I can trust and use the date they prefer. For my first book, set in ancient Egypt, my benchmark source was the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, followed by Oxford's Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. When I ran across confl...

The difference was Memnon was in control at Halicarnassus, while Alexander controlled Issus/Gaugamela. Alexander could not stop Memnon from coming and going as he pleased; once he'd inflicted as much damage on Alexander as he possibly could (and lost as many men himself as he dared), Memnon withdrew...

Hi Linda,Thanks for that! I forgot, actually, to check Plutarch's Moralia. So far, I've only found 2 references in the Life of Alexander. I'm going to use Perseus to search the rest of Plutarch. Many, many thanks :)Scott

Since we're on the subject of Memnon, I'm working on compiling an index of Memnon in the ancient sources. So far, I have Aristotle, Arrian, Demosthenes, Diodorus, Plutarch, Curtius Rufus, Strabo, and an inscription in the Stoa at Athens, I don't have Justin or the Oxyrrencian (sp) Historian. If anyo...

Hi Ben,I'd say Alexander probably would have still won. As good as a soldier as Memnon may have been, he was still but a cog in the Persian war machine. On his own, he was able to delay Alexander and make him expend precious resources taking Miletus and Halicarnassus (the more devastating of the two...

Hi Ben,I'd say Alexander probably would have still won. As good as a soldier as Memnon may have been, he was still but a cog in the Persian war machine. On his own, he was able to delay Alexander and make him expend precious resources taking Miletus and Halicarnassus (the more devastating of the two...

Hello All,Last night, while at my local Barnes and Noble slurping a mocha chillatte, I was able to browse Cartledge's 'Alexander'. It didn't seem to be as 'anti-Alexander' as the review made it out to be. Granted, I was mainly looking for what he had to say about Memnon of Rhodes (calls him a half-P...

Dear Forum-mates,I received a bit of good news this week that I thought I'd share with you. It's not strictly Alexander-related, but it bodes well for my novel 'Memnon'. My first book, 'Men of Bronze' (concerning the Persian invasion of Egypt in 525 BC), sold last week to Medallion Press. In the con...

On the subject of maps, does anyone know where I can get a detailed map of western Asia (the Troad, Mysia, Aeolus, Lydia)? I have a modern version, but it's in Turkish (I've spent many, many hours going over it with a magnifying glass and Michael Grant's Guide to the Ancient World, trying to locate ...

Hi Dr. Jeanne,Have you tried keeping your sig in a wordpad file, then just cutting and pasting as needed? That might work better than writing it out each time :)Cheers,Scott (with no sig to speak of)

In 'The Generalship of Alexander the Great', Gen. Fuller parrots Tarn's idea of a mercenary source, though he claims it was Diodorus who made use of it. I guess this accounts for Diodorus' occasional pro-Persian slant. The attribution can be found on the first page dealing with the siege of Halicarn...

Ruth,I think Alexander actually looked down on professional athletes. One of his circle asked why he didn't compete, and he answered because the other athletes weren't kings, too. I'll look around for the citation and get it to you asap.Scott