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Fiona, Mine is the only novel on your list so I expect it’ll be a while before you get to it, but I hope you enjoy it when you do. I had some surprise presents at Christmas - two Alexander board games! One’s called “Field Commander: Alexander” and the other is “Alexander the Great”. I’ve not had the...

Pausanias' body was originally hung from a tree, and cremating it on Philip's own pyre was only due to Olympias mocking Philip. Also, I read somewhere that criminals were crucified in Macedonia and the 2,000 crucified at Tyre was in imitation of that (treating them as mere criminals instead of honou...

John,

Great photos. Very atmospheric. I find myself just staring at them; can almost see the ghosts still manning the ramparts! Thanks for one of the most interesting threads on Pothos in a good while.

Derek

I’m another one whose introduction to Alexander was through a childhood collection of Ladybird books. The pictures of climbing the Sogdian Rock and crossing the Gedrosian Desert stuck in my brain into adulthood, even if I’d virtually forgotten the stories behind them and Alexander was just another n...

Susanne,

Wow! Thanks for that! I’d pretty much given up on writing, but you’ve inspired me to persevere and get back to the vampire book. Even self-publishing for a small audience is more satisfying than not writing anything at all.

Thanks again,

Derek

Alita, Thanks for the praise. I don’t often get feedback from my books, so it’s very welcome. Amazon has God of War on its “Look Inside”, so you can read more there. In fact, Derek is my real name, as is John McLeod. They’re my middle names and I thought they sounded more author-like. I was also loo...

For those in north America:

The Battles BC series this evening, Sunday 19th, is about Alexander. It's on the History Channel at 10pm eastern. The others in the series have been a bit comic book in their presentation, but very informative and well worth watching.

Derek

My thought is that I like the forum the way it is. The main focus of posts is Alexander, but all and anything with the most tremulous connection can be the subject of a post, and threads regularly meander in and out of other subjects. That's fine by me. If the subject is something I'm not particular...

All, As some of you know, my hobby over the last few years has been to write Alexander novels. Well, I’m pleased to say that the third and final volume is finished and available. It’s called “God of War” and covers Alexander’s life through the invasion of India to his death. I know some of you have ...

As women weren’t a threat, the way I interpreted that was that Alexander wasn’t involved in their murder. It was purely revenge by Olympias on the woman who’d displaced her as queen. However, it’s thought that Cleopatra may have had a son, Caranus, and if so he’d have to be killed. The family group ...

Hated the new look when I first saw it on Sunday; it seemed very narrow and squashed. But I’m getting better used to it now and am sure I won’t notice in a few more days. One thing, the front page looks a bit cluttered, especially where the banned subjects are listed. As that page is the “Monumental...

All, The BBC website has a quite interesting article on Babylon by a reporter who has just visited the site. Make sure you also follow the link to see the photo's. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7729064.stm Even in its present state, it's still another place on my list. Sigh, maybe I'll get ...

The Egypt tourism website is pretty good. This is their Alexandria page, and has a map showing the location of Nabi-Daniel Mosque, plus info about the Attarine Mosque.

http://www.touregypt.net/alexandria/

Derek

My opinion would be that Alexander was no more than a man of his times. He lived in a brutal age and had a brutal job, so it’s not surprising he turned out that way. Yes, he caused the deaths of a lot of people, but usually no more than he needed and nowhere near the senseless brutality of some of t...

Paralus, Oxyartes must have had some importance locally, otherwise marrying his daughter wouldn’t have made much difference. Even so, the sources are probably being a tad generous when they call people kings and princes. Society was tribal-based and the Sogdian definition of nobility was probably li...