This exciting new edition is an indispensable guide for undergraduates to the study of Alexander the Great, showing the problems of the ancient source material, and making it clear that there is no single approach to be taken.

The twelve thematic chapters contain a broad selection of the most significant published articles about Alexander, examining the main areas of debate and discussion:

• The Sources


• Alexander’s Influences and the Macedonian Background


• Alexander’s Aims


• Alexander’s Battles and Generalship


• Alexander and the Greeks


• Alexander and the Persian Empire


• Alexander, India and the Gedrosian Desert


• From Mass Marriage to Death


• Alexander and the ‘Unity of Mankind’


• Alexander and Deification


• Alexander and Conspiracies


• Alexander: The ‘Great’?

The Reader has the distinctive feature of translating a substantial number of the more inaccessible primary sources; each chapter is also prefaced with a succinct introduction to the topic under consideration.