pothos.org

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/produ ... gJ0sPD_BwE

I don't know what this will be like, but the author is a TV producer for archaeological programmes so it may be creditable.

Dear Alexias, thank you for recommending this book: it's full of archaeological exaustive footnotes, all of them up to date. I read it and learnt a lot of things that I didn't know before. Very useful indeed.

Oh, excellent. I bought it but haven't got round to reading it yet.

Hi Hiphys, I finally read this book and like you would definitely recommend it.

It is very readable, yet with copious notes referencing the sources and academic work for virtually every statement made. Its aim is to fill in the background world to Alexander's early years and it is full of all sorts of incidental details such as the architect who built the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus probably built Philip's new palace at Aigai; the Corinthian League was probably convened at nearby Isthmia rather than Corinth because it had the infrastructure from the Games to cater for the large number of delegates; the nymphaeum at Mieza probably wasn't part of Aristotle's school as there are no ancillary buildings, but a large complex of buildings has recently been uncovered over the hill.

There are also other details that I hadn't realised before such as Aeropus, the father of Alexander the Lyncestrian, was exiled by Philip shortly before Chaeronea, what for I am not sure but it explains why suspicion fell on his sons when Philip was murdered. Also, Philip and Alexander and the army spent nearly a year in Greece prior to Chaeronea, much of it in Boetia and that there were two clashes, possibly over a wet winter, in one of which the Macedonian cavalry got caught out in boggy ground.

The only quibble I have is that I find it difficult to believe Alexander didn't have any experience of warfare until he was made regent, and when he joined his father in Thrace, and that he didn't see his mother for the three years he spent at Mieza. These just seem a little unrealistic, but they don't detract overall from the book.

An update from Heckel's Who's Who on Aeropus: