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I am considering buying this as a reference book - I'm teaching Alexander as an A level topic and both I and my students find the sheer number of characters and names in Alexander's story quite confusing. Does anybody know/use this book - would you recommend it?

catharine wrote:I am considering buying this as a reference book - I'm teaching Alexander as an A level topic and both I and my students find the sheer number of characters and names in Alexander's story quite confusing. Does anybody know/use this book - would you recommend it?

I would absolutely recommend it! Tremendously detailed, with all the references you will ever need for each of the characters. It might, in fact, be far more than you ever need at A-Level; but for you, as the teacher, it will be invaluable. Worth every penny!

You are very lucky, getting to teach Alexander at A-Level. Could I ask which Board it is?

ATB

Thank you very much and I will certainly get the book. The board is AQA and yes, I am enormously enjoying it although it is more work than all my other courses put together, since although I am a Classics graduate I never studied Alexander at uni or before! I am finding this website invaluable as you can imagine. All suggestions gratefully received!

catharine wrote:Thank you very much and I will certainly get the book. The board is AQA and yes, I am enormously enjoying it although it is more work than all my other courses put together, since although I am a Classics graduate I never studied Alexander at uni or before! I am finding this website invaluable as you can imagine. All suggestions gratefully received!

Cheers! I teach modern History and it seems unlikely that I'll be able to persuade my school to start an Ancient History (or Class Civ) A Level. But we do do AQA, so I shall be interested to look at their syllabus.

By all means keep coming to Pothos and asking questions if you need to. We'll always be more than happy to help. And if you wish to PM me, please do so.

ATB

One book that I've always recommended for anyone new to Alexander, such as students, is Michael Woods "in the footsteps of Alexander". The reason is Michael actually traveled the entire route,(modern vehicles of course) that Alexander and his Army took from start to finish. Aside from a few places that were deemed unsafe for travel, (gaugamela being one). But he writes in a very capturing way and has photos to go along with every area he went through. It definately captures the imagination and gets legends from locals that you normally can't find in the histories. I personally like it a lot and will get people into the spirit quite quickly in my opinion. Which wasn't what you were asking for but its worth checking into.