Mosaic of Alexander the Great, ca. 1st century, B.C., in the House of the Faun, Pompeii
Alexander the Great’s name has become symbolic of the irresistible conqueror with an unbendable will and an inexhaustible drive to succeed. Since the Romans gave him the title of “Great” two thousand years ago, Alexander has remained the standard by which generations of leaders have been measured.
It’s well known that the Macedonian king conquered the Persian Empire by the age of 26. He is credited setting the stage for the later spread of Christianity and trying to build a multicultural empire comprising Greeks, Persians, Indians, Arabs, and Africans. He seemed the embodiment of the ancient heroic ideal. But the full story of his decline and fall as he sought to bring the most remote areas of the Persian empire under his control is not as well known.
After extensive research and travel retracing Alexander’s route through Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan, John Prevas, historian, classics scholar, and author, offers another version of Alexander: a megalomaniac and a brutal conqueror driven by ego and greed. Prevas offers an iconoclastic glimpse into a hero of the ancient world who was perhaps more terrible than great.
Prevas is the author of Hannibal Crosses the Alps; Xenophon's March; Envy of the Gods: Alexander the Great's Ill-Fated Journey Across Asia; Power Ambition Glory; and Hannibal’s Oath.
