Alexander's childhood

[Linda]

I am a year 6 student in Australia studying the life of Alexander the Great. I am after information about his childhood and am having difficulty finding information. I would appreciate any suggestions...Kind regards
Lucinda

[ruthaki]

Alexander had an interesting childhood in particular because of the conflict between his mother and father. If you read Mary Renault's book "Fire From Heaven" it tells about his childhood. Although this is a fiction book, it will give you some insights into his life. He was known to be a remarkable child, bright, curious and determined. He had a Spartan tutor early on and later went to school at Mieza studying with Aristotle. There are many more things I could tell you about him. I've been reading and studying about Alexander since I was 16 yrs old and that's a long, long time. Now I'm writing a novel about the fall of his dynasty and one of the main characters is his son and only heir Alexander IV. Hope this is helpful. Ruthaki

[agesilaos]

The main source for Alexander's childhood are the opening chapters of Plutarch's life, however the stories have to be taken with a pinch of salt as they were written after he had acquired his greatness. This does allow for source criticism though which gains good marks in most exams.

[jan]

I would like to help you. In Child of Dreams by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, the entire book is mostly about his formative years. It is pure fiction, but it is suitable for adolescent reading. Check your library in the children's department and you will find lots of material there.

[Linda]

Frankly, I think you would be wasting your time reading Manfredi. i think it is suitable for adolescent reading, but probably only adolescents, as they could rifle through it looking for the rude bits. You would be better reading Plutarch, or if you want fiction, Mary Renault's Fire from Heaven is a better book.

[marcus]

Linda,You've said what I wanted to say! :-)Personally, even for an adolescent I wouldn't recommend Manfredi. There are even better rude bits in other books!Still, each to his own, I suppose. Sikander is still looking for a positive review of the book, so I hope someone, somewhere, is able to supply it.All the bestMarcus

[dean]

Hello,
I have just re-read Fire From Heaven and am half way through my re-reading of The Persian Boy and seem to be understanding it much better.
The interesting thing is; as Renault points out somewhere that Alex's childhood up to manhood is practically undocumented and yet is also more or less a half of his lifespan. So much has been lost in not knowing what went on in the early years.
I think personally that people's most crucial years are the early ones- I mean they are the ones that decide your character and of course now we can only conjecture as to his childhood- as Renault has done so beautifully.
As for Manfredi can I say something? Read it as it is an accessible and easy read for kids- the historical facts are surprisingly not far off the mark I think that you will find.
Best regards,Dean.

[Linda]

Hi DeanI think I found the negatives about the book too annoying to bother trying to read it - and I wouldn't recommend it to a young person; if they liked it, then fine, but, as Marcus pointed out, the characterisation is lousy. There are so much better historical novels - it is just cliched. For children, there are things like Rosemary Sutcliffe which evoke the relevant historical period, and have good stories and characters.Actually, it makes it worse that he has all the facts there - I would rather read Paul Doherty (although he is pretty bad as well), who has created his own story, than see the story of Alexander told in such an inadequate way...But, each to their own - I know not everyone likes Renault, so..