The History of Alexander [Reprint ed.] 0140444122, 9780140444124

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CLASSICS

QUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS /

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THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER ADVISORY editor: BETTY RADICE

QUINTUS cuRTius RUFUS» the Roman historian, wrote the only life in Latin of Alexander the Great. The History originally consisted of ten books, of which, unfortunately, the first and second are entirely lost. The author’s identity and the date of composition of this work have been the subject of great debate. However, the evidence of recent years suggests he was a soldier and politician who rose from obscurity to a senatorial career under Tiberius (ad 14-37). But the fall

of the emperor’s chief minister, Sejanus, brought his political

Thus he turned to writing, and in the of Sejanus and the accession of Claudius

career temporarily to an end. ten years between the

fall

(ad 41) he composed the great part of the History of Alexander, which he completed in the emperor’s early years. He later obtained the proconsulship of Africa and

it

appears he died in

office in

ad

53.

JOHN YARDLEY has published extensively on Roman literature, and has provided translations of Justin for the American Philological Association Classical Resources series (1994)

Clarendon Ancient History lated Livy

31—40

for the

series

and

for

(Books ii— 12, 1997). He has also trans-

Oxford World’s Classics (2001). His most recent

works are Justin and Pompeius Trogus: Justin’s

Oxford University Press’s

A

Study of the Language of

Epitome of Trogus (Toronto, 2003) and (with Waldemar Heckel)

Alexander the Great: Historical Sources in Translation (Blackwell, 2003).

He

is

Professor of Classics at the University of

Ottawa and a former

President of the Classical Association of Canada.

WALDEMAR HECKEL was bom He was educated University of

Canada at British Columbia in

Germany. McMaster University (MA) and the in 1949 in Konigshofen,

(Ph.D.).

He

is

now

Professor at the

University of Calgary, Canada. His books include The

Testament of Alexander the Great:

A

Lxist

Days and

Prosopographic Study (Stuttgart,

1988) and The Marshals of Alexander's Empire (London, 1992). He has also published, with John Yardley, a translation and commentary

on

Justin,

(Oxford, 1997).

Books 11-12,

for the

Clarendon History Series

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i

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 9999 05661 341

No longer the property Boston Public

ot the

Library.

teiBiofffeteaiatarUil benelitB the Library.

'Luxurious living and base cruelty are not mutually exclusive' Alexander the Great (356-323

BC),

who

led the

Macedonian army

was perhaps

the most

successful conqueror the worJd has ever seen. Yet although

no other

to victory in Egypt, Syria, Persia

individual has attracted so

and

India,

much speculation across

Alexander himself remains an enigma.

the centuries,

Curtius' History offers a great

deal of information unobtainable from other sources of the time.

A

compelling narrative of a turbulent era, the work recounts events on a heroic scale, detailing court intrigue, battles

- among them, those of Macedonia's great war with

which was

and

to culminate in

Alexander's

the defeat of an ancient

the most plausible

realized

brilliantly in his

speeches and

stirring

of a

portrait of

man

Persia,

triumph over King Darius

and mighty empire.

and haunting image

final

brutal

It

also provides by far

Alexander

we

ruined by constant

possess: a

good

fortune

youth.

John Yardley's

Waldemar

fihe translation

accompanied by an

is

introduction by

Heckel, which considers the sources for the work and

its

and updated

historical value. This edition also includes detailed notes

further reading.

JOHN YARDLEY notes by WALDEMAR HECKEL

Translated by with an introduction and

PENGUIN

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www.penguincl assies, com Cover: Alexander the Great Penguin History/Archaeology

on 1

his

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Horse, detail from a

century AD

Roman mosaic

depicting the Battle of

U.K. £9.99

Issus,

ISBN 0-140-44412-2

from the House of the Faun in

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now

in

CAN. $18.99 U.S.A. $14.00

the

Archaeological Museum,

Noplesjfhoto: The Art Archive/Degli Orti)

I

9 780140 444124