The new poll - which book?

[marcus]

Thanks Nick, Thomas, for organising the poll. Anyone who hasn't put in a vote yet should do so!But it did confirm to me that we ought to split up ancient and modern sources when discussing the merits of the books. I had to vote for Arrian but I would have liked to have voted for something else from the modern sources.Still, a great exercise and I look forward to checking the results periodically.All the bestMarcus

[susan]

In the past 24 hours I've come across two new books - not in the top 10 and never will be, but still interesting.1 - Alexander in Fact & Fiction by Brian Bosworth & Elzabeth Baynham which I found in the British Museum alongside the pencil-cases of Egyptian mummies. It's not an essential book but there's lots of interesting articles in it, by people like Badian, Bosworth etc. There seemed to be a dig at this and other web-forums.2 - I've just loaned a copy of the Syriac version of the Alexander Romances, by E.A. Wallis Budge, and we're transcribing parts of it. While it's the Romance and there's no guaranteed authenticity in it, I can't help feeling that there are authentic parts that haven't survived in the main sources; a casual glance showed a mention that Alexander was named after an earlier son of Philip by another wife, who had died. While the main sources don't mention this, I would think it is likely enough, and if this statement was in Plutarch it would be accepted. I'm looking forward to finding other leads in it.Susan

[nick]

Hi Susan -Observations like this deserve a place in Sikander's Book Reviews pages ! Please submit them ! (You can use Sikander's mail or mine.)Hi Marcus -Yes, I can understand the idea of separating the originals and modern books - however, the idea of the Top 10 is just to have one handy list of books which would satisfy people interested (or developing their interest) in Alexander. To separate old & new books is more apropriate for the book reviews page. It is just a matter of 'concept'.Best reagards -
Nick

[marcus]

Nick,I totally understand. It's just that, when I went to vote in the poll it occurred to me. It wasn't meant as a criticism, honest :-)Susan,See my (short) review of Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction in the book reviews section :-)All the bestMarcus