Hammond's The Genius of Alexander

[jan]

Hi Marcus, I read your review about this book which I just bought. I would like to know more about Hammond the author. Is there a bio of him on record? Thanks.

[marcus]

Hi Janet,I'm not sure, but there ought to be!I do have a copy of his obituary from The Times - I shall see if I can dig it out and make a note of the salient points for you. All the bestMarcus

[jan]

Thanks, Marcus, I would appreciate it. I have learned that he died on March 24, but I have not yet been able to find any kind of bio on him at all. He taught at the University of Cambridge, and I found a bit of a controversy about his version of Macedonia and Eugene Borza's rebuttal. It seems that there are no end of arguments, but I am really enjoying his book The Genius of Alexander, as I am reading it simultaneously with the book written by Robin Lane Fox. It is all a matter of taste, I believe, finally. Robin Lane Fox makes blanket statements; whereas, Hammond has done a great job of identifying all the sources for his material. I am very much impressed with Nick Hammond.

[marcus]

Hi Jan,Well, I haven't found the obituary yet, but I know I have it ... somewhere! Bear with me.I did prefer "The Genius of A the G" to his previous book ("A the G: King, Commander and Statesman"), although they are both good. There certainly are some areas where he clashes with other scholars (Bosworth especially has quite a few bones he picks with Hammond). However, there are few who would argue with Hammond's knowledge of the topography of Northern Greece - he fought with the Greek REsistance in World War II, so is the only Alexander scholar who had the experience of campaigning in the very land where Alexander learned his trade. All the bestMarcus

[jan]

Wow, that is fascinating. I found on Alexander'stomb website information about all the sources that he tenaciously tracked, and that impressed me so much. I just have not been able to find a bio on him at all, and I can't help but wonder why. I found only one reference to his demise, and in it, it did say that he had been the one who had led a group on the very trail that was used by the traitor at the battle of Thermopylae. I found that very interesting. I will appreciate it when you do find the Times obituary as I am very much interested. He sounds like a very great intellect!

[Nicator]

Hi Jan,
A great intellect indeed! If anyone could be called Soter, I think it would be Nick Hammond. He was one of the few authors I've read that avoided the negativism so often associated with the histories of Alexander. I found his military insights intriguing, particularly after doing a fair bit of research myself and then reading his account to discover that certain points agreed almost verbatim with my own. One thing comes to mind though that you should be aware of, and that is he had a tendency to create military tactics with what seemed to make the most sense (I know this, because I did the same thing). His argument that Alexander led a foot charge at Issus, and not a cavalry charge raised more than a few eyebrows. later Nicator

[karen]

Times NGL Hammond obituary -- http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:Wfj ... &hl=enThis is the Google cached version -- the original is gone.Regards,
Karen

[marcus]

Well, there you are - that's exactly the obituary I was after. I would have had to type some bullet points, so what Karen's found is infinitely better!By the way, you might find you have to open it in a new window.ATBMarcus

[jan]

Thanks, Karen, so much. I appreciate it very much.

[jan]

Thanks, Marcus, I finally have been able to get pothos back up again. Has been out the last couple of times I tried. I appreciate both your efforts so much.