Marcus,,, New Books?

[kenny]

Marcus HailToday I went to our local book shop and saw what I thought 3 new books.1/Alexander Killer of Men. David J lonsdale2/Alexander The Great Murder in Babylon..Graham Philps3/Alexander the Great Death of a God.Maybe these are not new but I only just came acroos them. Have you read any and whats your opinion if you have.I had a brief look throughh the third book and it seems to be a theory of murder with Ptolemy in the frame.Although I never really thought Ptolemy was in the frame I think ill give the book a read.If Ptolemy was in anyway connected to the murder,,, I dont understand why he was so generous in him memoirs,,, Or maybe a guilty concience,,, It fare to say that in view of how his generals did feel about Alexander policies that they were all somewhat involved,,, then oce the murder done split it up. But Cassander was the killer.regardsKenny

[kenny]

Marcus Take a checkI just read the guardians preview of the Death of agod by Paul Doherty.Your reviews would still be welcome but the feedback I got from the guardian was negative along with Cartledge and Laura Foreman.It seems these guys dont have much nice to say about Alexander.At the same time I was surprised the Guardian reviewer seemed to be more understanding of nearly all Alexanders aspects,,, Basically i think the guardian is pretty good.Ill give those books I mentioned a miss they seem to be Alexander bashers.The guardian reviewer likened Cartledge to a Demosthenese or a right wing Athenian thinker.Kenny

[marcus]

Hi Kenny,The Lonsdale book I can heartily recommend.The Doherty book that proposes Ptolemy as the killer I haven't read, but from what I hear it's a bit of a waste of space.The Graham Phillips book is complete rubbish. All the 'history' in it is made up, so it doesn't even provide anything useful aside from his potty theories.So neither of the books about his death are really worth it, but the Lonsdale book is well worth reading.Hope that helps, Kenny.All the bestMarcus

[marcus]

I'm writing this after my other reply ...I don't agree with the Guardian's assessment of the Cartledge book. He does have a swipe at Alexander about some things, but on the whole I found it quite an even-handed book. HAve you read the Robin Lane Fox book? That's definitely worth reading. If you can find Peter Green's "Alexander of Macedon", too, that gets better every time I read it!All the bestMarcus

[kenny]

Marcus CheersYou saved me -ú40.00p Ill give lonsdale a try. I read Lane fox and Green very early on,,I just saw these three and thought they were new.Didnt yo agree the guardian reviewer gave an educated open minded view on Alexander?Cheers fo rge advice.Kenny

[marcus]

Glad I could help, Kenny.Yes, the Guardian reviewer seemed pretty knowledgeable, and open-minded. Unusual! :-)Marcus

[thom]

Kenny:"Alexander the Great Death of a God.I had a brief look throughh the third book and it seems to be a theory of murder with Ptolemy in the frame."That accusation comes courtesy of the Book of the Death of Alexander the Great, a manuscript from late Antiquity which implicates most of Alexander's senior Companions in his ostensible poisoning."But Cassander was the killer."Probably not. The probable cause of his death was disease, and the smart money says it was typhoid (for which see "A Mysterious Death", New England Journal of Medicine, 38:1764-1769, June 11, 1998, by historian Eugene N. Borza, and R. Michael Benitez, M.D., Ph.D., David W. Oldach, M.D. and Robert E. Richard, M.D., Ph.D., all of the University of Maryland School of Medicine).Hope this helps.Regards,Thom Stark

[xxx]

Actually the smart money is on Falciparum Malaria. There's plenty of holes in Oldach's typhoid theory. Regards,Tre

[agesilaos]

Actually the Liber de Mortis explicitely exculpates Ptolemy; so much so that Bosworth posits that it is Ptolemaic propaganda from 309, 'Ptolemy and the Will of Alexander' in 'ATG in Fact and Fiction' OUP 2000

[abm]

indeed, and to my mind Bosworth's analysis is irefutable.disease is certainly the most likely cause, but a diagnosis is impossible when the only thing we have are a few literary accounts.

[agesilaos]

The only refutation would be to place it as a later fiction of no significance of course. The only thing that troubles me is the prominence of, the otherwise unknown, Holcias; surely ptolemy would not let a complete nobody intrude into his propaganda claiming a Royal bride? Such obvious fabrication would undermine the whole edifice.

[abm]

indeed, but maybe Holkias is a historical figure from the early Diadochoi period whose existence is simply not attested in any of the surviving sources, which, after all are rather scanty.

[kenny]

MarcusThanks for your lonsdale advice I found the book good also.However I found a mistake very early on I think he got Memnon killed at Issus maybe Tyre but he did get it wrong.Kenny