New Book - Festschrift for Eugene Borza

[amyntoros]

Jeanne Reames has announced on her Livejournal the publication of a festschrift in honor of Eugene N. Borza.

Macedonian Legacies: Studies in Ancient Macedonian History and Culture in Honor of Eugene N. Borza

Editors: Timothy Howe and Jeanne Reames

The book can be pre-ordered now, and has a publication date of 1 May 2009. See here for the page on Jeanne's LJ; here for Regina Books information; here to order.

And a list of the articles (quoted from Jeanne's LJ):

"Centering the Periphery" Carol G. Thomas

"Philip II and the Transformation of Macedonia: a Reappraisal" Edward M. Anson

"The Development of a Naval Siege Unit Under Philip II and Alexander III" William M. Murray

"Sport and Ethnicity in Ancient Macedonia" W. Lindsay Adams

"Pillip II and Olympias on Samothrace: a Clue to Macedonian Politics During the 360s" William Greenwalt

"Alexander, the Gordian Knot, and the Kingship of Midas" Mark Munn

"The Role of the Basilikoi Paides at the Argead Court" Elizabeth D. Carney

"Crisis and Opportunity: the Philotas Affair ... Again" Jeanne Reames

"Alexander's Organization of Egypt: a Note on the Career of Cleomenes of Naucratis" Stanley M. Burstien

"The Grave Relief of Adea, Daughter of Cassander and Cynnana" Olga Palagia

"Alexander in India: Ptolemy as Near Eastern Historiographer" Timothy Howe

"The Roots of Macedonian Ambiguity in Classical Athenian Literature" Sulochana Ruth Asirvatham

"Legion Over Phalanx: the battle of Magnesia, 190 B.C." Kenneth W. Harl

Some wonderful topics and writers here – and all for just $24.95! Yes, I know I sound like an advertisement, but I do love compilations and this seems like an exceptionally good one.

Best Regards,

[Phoebus]

I'm definitely getting it... but... grrrrr.... I DO hate it when those "Legion vs. Phalanx" topics pop up, as the premise of the very argument is pretty much inaccurate to begin with.

[Sandra]

I hope I can got my hands on this book- this means- they will send it to my country.

[amyntoros]

I hope I can got my hands on this book- this means- they will send it to my country.

Hi Sandra,

Well, the Regina Books ordering page has the following information near the top:

Prices shown in this catalog include shipping within the United States.
For shipping outside the United States, add $7.00 per book (USD) to prices shown.
All shipments outside the United States are by air.

Unless there are any restrictions on mailing books to Latvia you should be okay, but you could always send them an email in advance of ordering.

Best regards,

[Sandra]

Just got the book in my mailbox!

[marcus]

Jeanne Reames has announced on her Livejournal the publication of a festschrift in honor of Eugene N. Borza.

Macedonian Legacies: Studies in Ancient Macedonian History and Culture in Honor of Eugene N. Borza

Editors: Timothy Howe and Jeanne Reames

The book can be pre-ordered now, and has a publication date of 1 May 2009. See here for the page on Jeanne's LJ; here for Regina Books information; here to order.

Thanks for the heads up on this one, Amyntoros. I have ordered my copy and it should arrive within the week. Doubly lucky, I noticed that they also had the Heckel/Tritle title "Crossroads of History: Alexander the Great", which Amazon has been claiming not to have for ages. So I ordered that, as well!

Great one.

ATB

[marcus]

Thanks for the heads up on this one, Amyntoros. I have ordered my copy and it should arrive within the week. Doubly lucky, I noticed that they also had the Heckel/Tritle title "Crossroads of History: Alexander the Great", which Amazon has been claiming not to have for ages. So I ordered that, as well!

Well, my two new books arrived yesterday, to join the growing pile of "things to be read" (groan!). Had a quick shuftie and both titles look very good - some interesting topics in very readable format. Some of them are refreshingly short, too, which makes them ideal for reading last thing at night!

Well worth adding them to the library.

ATB

[amyntoros]

Thanks for the heads up on this one, Amyntoros. I have ordered my copy and it should arrive within the week. Doubly lucky, I noticed that they also had the Heckel/Tritle title "Crossroads of History: Alexander the Great", which Amazon has been claiming not to have for ages. So I ordered that, as well!

Well, my two new books arrived yesterday, to join the growing pile of "things to be read" (groan!). Had a quick shuftie and both titles look very good - some interesting topics in very readable format. Some of them are refreshingly short, too, which makes them ideal for reading last thing at night!

Well worth adding them to the library.

ATB

Will have to take a quick look again at Crossroads of History - it's been a while since I read it and I recall that it contained some excellent articles. The two Alexander books I'm currently working on are the festschrift and Heckel's newest compilation, Alexander the Great: A New History. I've only read a couple of chapters in each but thought I'd say a quick word about the two from Macedonian Legacies.

First up, Jeanne Reames' Crisis and Opportunity: The Philotas Affair … Again. There's an interesting defense of Hephaistion included in this article - interesting because IMO there's little in the sources to indicate that Hephaistion truly needs defending. However, I'm sure everyone is aware that some scholars treat Hephaistion's involvement in the Philotas affair with great suspicion. Jeanne's challenge to their theories is concise and quite convincing - much, much better than my muddled analysis and long-winded dispute of Heckel's remarks in the chapter on Hephaistion in his Marshals of Alexander's Empire! (Fortunately only a couple of Pothosians were subjected to it by email. And it did little to change their opinion, I might add. ) As well as the above, I'm impressed by Jeanne's use of an interdisciplinary approach. I think that many events in Alexander's life could benefit from being examined with "new" eyes, and in this article the psychology of crisis management features strongly, as well as a reference to a social study which involved torture. (Or at least the participants thought that it did.) And all this in an article only ten-and-a-half pages long!

The only other chapter I've read to date is W. Lindsay Adams' Sport and Ethnicity in Ancient Macedonia. The title is self-explanatory, and I think that the reader's appreciation of the article will depend much on how interested they are in the subject matter. I've always had a leaning towards the social and cultural aspects of Classical Greece through the Hellenistic period, so I appreciate Adam's work. This is his second article on the subject of Alexander and sports (that I know of); the other one being The Games of Alexander the Great in Alexander's Empire: Formulation to Decay. In fact, there's an intriguing endnote in the current article which refers back to something Adams wrote in The Games of Alexander the Great.

Note 29. <snip> All of these occasions (eleven altogether) solely involved the army and were for its amusement. It is also interesting to note that after Susa, Alexander stops holding torch race events and substitutes cavalry competitions (gymkhana) clearly on the grounds such use of fire for sport would be offensive to Zoroastrians, but that they had a common interest in horses. Adams, 2007, 135.

In The Games of Alexander the Great, Adams remarks that " … there will be no mention of torch races again, the explanation for which must lie in Persian religious sensibilities. Fire was sacred to Zoroastrians, used ceremonially and not an item for play." I know how we all try to avoid using the word "must" in any of our debates, but I think it likely that Adams has hit the nail on the head here. The first games held by Alexander after Susa were in Hyrcania, after the death of Darius. The removal of torch relays is very suggestive of it being another, more successful attempt of Alexander's at being conciliatory to the Persians who were now in his army – and it makes me wonder just how many of them were with Alexander at this point, something always a subject of furious debate.

I've no more to offer until I've read more chapters (and hopefully I will soon find the time to comment in the other thread about the articles in Alexander the Great: A New History. ) If anyone else has received Macedonian Legacies and would like to comment on other chapters - or those above - I (we) would love to hear from you.

Best regards,

[Paralus]

I'm definitely getting it... but... grrrrr.... I DO hate it when those "Legion vs. Phalanx" topics pop up, as the premise of the very argument is pretty much inaccurate to begin with.

Interesting. We should discuss it one day.

Meantime I need to tell Amyntoros that this gratutitous advertising is simply not on.

My Amex card canna take no more lassie.

Yes I'm seeing Star Trek on Saturday....

For God's sake Jim! I'm an old fart not a Trekker!

[Phoebus]

You know I'm always interested to read your thoughts and opinions, Paralus. Once I get done with my latest round of trips (Germany and/or Croatia in the next two-three weeks), I'll offer what I have to think about this subject... and, who knows, maybe someone who has already read the book will delight me by announcing that particular chapter wasn't what it sounded like to me.

[Paralus]

The discussion should always proceed from the basis that the phalanx of Philip V (Cynoscephalae) and Perseus (Pydna) was not that of Doson(Antigonus) let alone Philip II or Alexander III. Doson took on Cleomemes of Sparta in a saddle between mountains near to Sellasia. This was the last battle where the Macedonian phalanx demonstrated its competence over unfavourable ground.

Philip - and Alexander - will have been appalled at Polybios’ critique of the second century phalanx as an unwieldy monster incapable of dealing with obstacles and possessed of no manoeuvrability. Plainly that earlier phalanx was capable of much more than later Hellenistic models: Granicus, Issos, Gaugamela and the show put on for Glaucias demonstrate it

[jan]

Thanks for the information. The one thing I have promised myself is not to purchase any more books on historical characters ever again! Having moved way too many times and keeping all these books from being lost, or stolen, or otherwise destroyed, I have decided I have enough varied opinions on historical characters. How much more can be said anyway? Just put it it on the internet or in a library for all to read and that is fine with me. Books will soon be collectibles only because of modern technology but it may take another 25 years for that to happen even! Sorry!

[athenas owl]

Thanks for the information. The one thing I have promised myself is not to purchase any more books on historical characters ever again! Having moved way too many times and keeping all these books from being lost, or stolen, or otherwise destroyed, I have decided I have enough varied opinions on historical characters. How much more can be said anyway? Just put it it on the internet or in a library for all to read and that is fine with me. Books will soon be collectibles only because of modern technology but it may take another 25 years for that to happen even! Sorry!

Jan..."how much more can be said anyway?" Shame on you.

Some of us love our books. The tactile feel, the lost or forgotten bookmarks or even money (I found 20 bucks in one the other day...and a pot leaf! (my boyfriend from the early 70's put it there, I remembered after some intial confusion, over 30 years of pressing, it crumbled when I tried to pick it up...in a an old book I had carted across four states and at least one airplane..lucky me no one searched my books!) I never let go of my books. I love the smell, the feel, etc. and a laptop is not the same...it's hard to curl up with a good laptop.

Sadly, I won't be able to get this one or Andrew's for a few weeks still..my fun money (books) went to one of the kids' regular emergency fiascos...but it will be all the sweeter when I can get my hands on the dang things.