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I looked it up last night, and the usual sacrifice was a few grains of barley. That's what they'd have used for daily prayers, and would have been all the poor could afford. They also put cakes and pastries on the fire, and milk or honey were the usual liquid libations. A favourite offering was the ...

The only time Athens threatened to do anything was when the Spartans raised an army against Antipater, but then they held back and didn't get involved. The Athenians preferred to fight using mercenaries or proxy armies. During Philip's reign, they allied with Olynthus and then did nothing when he be...

Animal sacrifices were expensive and most Greeks could only afford it for special occasions. Now, Alexander was probably the only person who could have afforded it, but they also sacrificed incense and various foods such as bread, so he probably only offered a blood sacrifice when it was practical o...

Marcus, The first time I saw Highlander, it got to the scene where the McLeods come out of the castle to go to war - and I was cheering! The McLeods are in Lewis and the MacLeods in Skye. Or it may be the other way round...The only other thing I know about the McLeods is that they sided with the Eng...

Jan, My full name is Derek John McLeod Holmes, as my grandmother came from the McLeod clan on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. Have you seen the film Highlander? Those are the McLeods. There's nothing particularly inspiring about Derek Holmes, whereas John McLeod has that author's "ring" to ...

Amyntoros, Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad you liked what you've read. What style to use for spoken language was one of the more difficult decisions. For a start, Alexander spoke ancient Greek, so anything that has him talking in English is way off the mark from the outset. I didn't want them s...

All, Thanks for the interest in my books, and I hope those who read them enjoy them. Yes, the people on this website are experts and will spot every historical inaccuracy, so announcing I'd written an Alexander novel isn't something I did lightly. Got to take up the point of Alexander's attitude whe...

All, Just wanted to say that I've written a novel about Alexander. It's called "Lord of the World" and covers the Persian campaign through to Sogdiana. It's my second book. The first is called "The Lion of Macedonia" and deals with his childhood. There'll be a third starting with...

Darius left Ecbatana in advance of Alexander's approach leaving Bisthanes to hold the city, but Bisthanes surrendered without a fight.

Maybe an Assyrian king besieged Ecbatana in a previous century, and that's why the story's become confused and attributed to Alexander.

Derek

Kenny, I'd guess that would be the massacre of the Greek mercenaries at the Granicus, who numbered between 5,000 and 20,000 depending on who you believe. But it wasn't an outright massacre. Alexander refused their surrender and sent the troops in from all sides, but they were still armed and fought ...

For anyone in the US:

The History Channel is showing a new program tomorrow night, Tuesday October 31st, about Alexander's siege catapults. It's part of the "Man, Moment, Machine" series, and is at 10pm eastern.

Dean, Earlier in the book, Michael Wood describes a trip to a lake in Tajikistan, while searching for the Sogdian Rock. He was taken to a cave near the lake which contained an ancient mummified body, and which the locals claimed was Spitamenes. I assume he's refering to that. If you've got the same ...

Nina, I went on a tour of Turkey a few weeks ago, and it was perfectly safe. There are problems with Kurds and fundamentalists in the eastern regions, but an escorted tour won't take you farther east than Cappadoccia in the centre of the country. Turkey is a marvellous country, very welcoming and su...

All,

I went into Livius this morning, and it redirected me to some site that said the domain name had expired. Is anyone in touch with Jona Lendering to make sure he's aware?

I quite recently saw a picture of an Assyrian wall relief, where soldiers were paddling across a river by lying on skins. It was probably a fairly routine manouevre by Alexander's time.