Non-fiction book reviews - Diadochi

This forum is for updated versions of the site's main pages, and for resources for students of Alexander. Posting is limited.
If you quote any material from anything on pothos.org, please ensure you include a link to the original work and give due credit.
Post Reply
Alexias
Strategos (general)
Posts: 1099
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:16 am

Non-fiction book reviews - Diadochi

Post by Alexias »

NON-FICTION BOOK REVIEWS – DIADOCHI

Alexander to Actium - The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age, Peter Green, University of California Press, 1990 (970 pages).
Reviewer: Nick Welman

If you need to change a lightbulb, but you cannot reach the ceiling, this is the book you need. It is even said that when Alexander finally sat down on the throne of Darius at Susa, and his legs could not reach the ground but kept dangling in the air, someone fetched a copy of Green's "Alexander to Actium" to support the king's feet. This is not merely a joke: Alexander to Actium is not a book one can 'read'. It is too heavy to sit down with on a couch. Your arms will get tired within minutes. It is too bulky to read in bed. The only thing you can do, is to put it on a stable office desk and study it. And I mean really 'study' it. What Green lacks, both in his biography on Alexander as in this comprehensive book on Hellenistic times, is that compact, fluent style of writing that makes authors like Hammond, Lane Fox and Wood agreeable and entertaining. However, when I recently needed information about the economy of the Hellenistic age, Green's work was the only source available that provided accurate information. I opened the appropriate chapter, made some notes, closed the book and hired some professional furniture movers to get Alexander to Actium back on its proper place on the shelf again. Green's book takes of where Waldemar Heckel's "Marshals" has stopped. The career of almost every king of the Hellenistic era is discussed in some detail. Green pays attention to art, economy, religion and rather every other topic that comes to mind. He might only fall short when treating Hellenistic warfare and the major armed conflicts that raged on between the successor kings, involving hundreds of thousands of men. But that may be the only omission. If you are interested in 'reading' about Alexander's era, chances are that Alexander to Actium will become just a piece of furniture soon - and nothing else. If your interests go further and you need a comprehensive phone book with lots of references, Alexander to Actium is a good tool to explore the Hellenistic world - slowly, topic by topic.

Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State, Richard A. Billows
Reviewer: Forum Contributor

Antigonos Monopthalmos was appointed satrap of Phrygia early on in Alexander's campaign, becoming one of the key players in the division of the empire after 323 BC. This book is somewhat sparse in its dealings with Antigonos before Alexander's death, but what it does say gives good background to what was going on out of the immediate theatre of war, about which our main sources are fairly quiet. The second half of the book will be interesting for anyone who wants to know more about the wars of the successors and how the diadochoi created their individual kingdoms after Alexander's death.

Seleukos Nikator, John D. Grainger
Reviewer: Marcus Pailing

A short(ish) but no less interesting, profile of Seleucus, considered a bit of a joke by his fellow diadochoi until he emerged as a victor at Ipsos in 301BC and went on to found the second longest reigning Hellenistic dynasty. Only the early part of the book deals with Seleucus's activities during Alexander's lifetime, of course, but the whole study is excellent.
Post Reply