History is full of faltering heirs, of legacies that died with fathers. Some subsist on their fathers' names for a time, spending his honor like coin, but lacking the necessary traits to add to the capital. Others squander all at once, consumed by enemies, or by incompetence. Rare is it for the son to possess all that is required to further what was started. Some others, blessed with such a character, were not born into a position to use it.Money, armies, and position Crassus had, and died in Parthia. For students of Greek and Roman history, Parthia is a graveyard for audacious generals. When Xenophon wrote an account of his greatest military achievement it was not a battle won or nation conquered, but escaping that desert alive.But Alexander crosses it. His only precedents for such a campaign are the gods themselves, Dionysus and Hercules, who often failed in myth to do what Alexander achieves in life. Arrian, himself, points out that authors often attach Hercules' name to impossible tasks, so that the hero's failures could be said to mark the limits of reality.But they are not Alexander's limits. Plato imagined the Mediterranean as a pond, the Greeks as frogs squatting at its shore, a symbol equally fitting for the Romans, so that whenever we hear of 'The World' and of its limits, our exotic locales are Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Spain, or another Herculean limit, 'The Pillar of Hercules' at Gibraltar. After some centuries, Caesar alights briefly at Britain, but it's nothing to match the scope of Alexander.There is a certain shock when reading the ease at which Alexander overcomes these legendary lands, as if he were a hero of Lucian's and vaulting to the moon. One almost expects him to return bearing a phoenix and a cynocephalid (he doesn't, though there is one bucephalid). To conquer Parthia would be impressive enough, but to lay low all of Persia, the ineffable shadow over Greece, seems a dream. Then Scythia, Bactria, and all the way to the Indus.It is the sort of achievement, like Genghis Khan's, which seems superhuman, inexplicable, unrepeatable, and so it was. One is left wondering whether Alexander would have achieved more had he lived past thirty-two, whether the Greek world would have met India and China, what sort of a history might have resulted. But such speculation is mere fancy.Truly, Alexander seemed to have everything needed for success: high birth, loyal troops, a tactical mind, a generous nature, unassuming charm, political acumen, a tireless spirit, and unlimited vision. Though Arrian's history is primarily militaristic, we do get a portrait of the man, and come away understanding the unique character that allowed his achievements. He was also a man of flaws, dying a reveler, sometimes losing reason to passion, and with an obsessive desire which would not have stopped at the Indus without the near-mutiny of his troops.But there was one thing he did not have: a writer worthy to record his exploits, either in history or epic. He had no Thucydides or Herodotus, not even a Xenophon. Though many tried, none succeeded in capturing the man, and so, all the works of his time, whether of history or romance, disappeared, not worthy to recall. Arrian's own was compiled some time after events transpired, a combination of sources of varying veracity. His legacy was one of dissolution, leaving both his empire and his story fragmented.But we are not entirely destitute, and I, for one, am glad for the opportunity to enjoy what remains of a story too large for the histories to hold.
This is another of the monumental ancient histories published in the Landmark series of texts translated from the Greek and, here, Latin. The Campaigns of Alexander contains all the signature traits we associate with the earlier volumes of Thucydides, Herodotus, and Xenophon: many maps illustrating the text as well as locator keys within the sidebars and footnotes, many photographs illustrating landscapes, cultural artifacts, and technical features of the period, extensive footnotes to detail information relevant to Arrian's text, and appendices lettered A through M providing comprehensive supporting material covering almost every aspect of Alexander's life, his long war of conquest, and his times. As always the reader-friendly format and the layout in general make for a book which is physically beautiful, a pleasure to hold, to read, and to linger over.Arrian was Lucius Flavius Arrianus Xenophon, a 2d century Roman historian who lived about 400 years after the events he wrote about. It might be said he was the most distanced from his material of the Landmark ancient historians. He wrote of Alexander's history with a nod to myth and more than a nod to other ancient sources. For good reason, his is the most authoritarian of the Alexandrian accounts. My trouble was finding Arrian's writing engaging. The question isn't about the accuracy--his is considered the most authoritarian of the ancient accounts. But with this translation from Arrian's Latin there's a lack of feeling and emotional attachment we experience with the famous Greek histories. Perhaps the problem is one of fundamental Latin-Greek language differences and the attendant difficulties of translation to make the Latin as fluid as the Greek of, say, Thucydides or Herodotus. Arrian seems disconnected from his material, not only by time but by certain cultural and political sensibilities, despite the almost wholesale transfer of Greek culture to the Roman world. The result is cold history without analysis, a survey of the facts as they came to Arrian.
Do You like book The Campaigns Of Alexander (1976)?
The Anabasis is a record of Alexander the Great's expedition to conquer the known world. Arrian wrote this military history nearly five hundred years after the death of Alexander and used as his primary sources the works of Ptolemy (one of Alexander's Macedonian officers who later took control of Egypt) and Aristobulus (who apparently served Alexander as an engineer). Arrian's reason for believing the historical accuracy of these two men over others is that they both wrote after Alexander's death, and neither seemed to him to exaggerate events. In cases where these two men have differing accounts of events, he presents both and then offers up his reasons for believing one account over the other. Arrian's style is mostly a straightforward telling of events, with various digressions along the way. He greatly admired Alexander and this can be seen in his writing, especially as he attempts to explain why Alexander acted as he did at each turn.Also included in this edition is the Indica, which follows the journey of Nearchus along the coast of India with Alexander's fleet. Arrian shares various observations about India made by Nearchus, as well as Megasthenes (a Greek explorer). While neither of them can be said to have made a very deep or thorough exploration of India it is interesting to see what the Western world at the time believed of the country and its people.
—Cameron
Extremely thorough account of Alexander's campaigns by veritable scholars, whose book satiated my undying intrigue in mythopoetic Macedonia and the perpetual war magnate that is Alexander the Great. While I'm neither a historian nor a philologist--and acquainted with my namesake's legends only on the most facile levels--The Landmark Arrian and the work of James Romm/Robert B. Strassler proved more than a copacetic experience. Though providing a torrent of veridical and sometimes-pedantic information, one can't help but admire the effort on each page--The Landmark Arrian is as much a study on Alexander as it is map-making and relentless earnest, evidenced by the enormous amount of footnotes occupying the text and a genuine sticking-to-the-facts that seduces the reader into immersion of the world (with all its terms, ideologies, cultures, etc.) in which our principal study inhabited. This edition also bears an A-R appendix for readers who enjoy critical examinations more than meticulous 'objective' work, an all-encapsulating index, variegated commentaries, summaries, a motley of ancient works and references (which will surely galvanize the budding historian within you), badass pictures, and a steadfast ardent erudition that should interest anyone with an interest in Alexander the Great. Highest recommendation.
—Alexander
Ancient history is generally just hard to read. Two thousand years, a foreign langauge, and tranlsators who don't have a sufficient command of English make reading primary sources a challenge at the best of times.This book, however, is a stunningly great read. Arrian, de Selincourt(the translator) and Hamilton (the editor) bring Alexander to life in a way that is readable and enjoyable. Of course, like all ancient documents, it should be read slowly and not be put off to the last minute, but it's still an amazing read. A few great quotes from the work:-"It is more disgraceful for a king to tell lies than anyone else." (41)-"In these circumstances they did what most of us do, and, being ignorant of the truth, persuaded themselves into believing what they wished to believe." (55)-"There has never been another man in all the world, of Greek or any other blood, who by his own hand succeeded in so many brilliant enterprises [than Alexander:]." (68)-"Flattering courtiers... always are, and always will be, the bane of kings." (110)-"None of these things [that Alexander achieved:], I say, can make a man happy, unless he can win one more victory in addition to those the world thinks so great- the victory over himself." (213)-"Anger and drunkeness [are:] two vices to neither of which a self-respecting man should ever yield." (216)-"Even enemies are not indifferent to honorable deeds." (236)-"One should not inquire too closely where ancient legends about the gods are concerned; many things which reason rejects acquire some color of probability once you bring a god into the story." (254)-"For a man who is a man, work, in my belief, if it is directed to noble ends, has no object beyond itself." (293)-"Do not try to lead men who are unwilling to follow you; if their heart is not in it, you will never find the old spirit or the old courage." (297)-"If there is one thing above all others a successful man should know, it is when to stop." (297)-"Luck, remember, is an unpredictable thing, and against what it may bring no man has any defence." (297)-"Who knows? Perhaps it was better for [Alexander:] to make his end while his fame was unimpaired and the world most grieved for his loss, and before he was overtaken by the ill fortune which, at one time or another, is the lot of all men." (377)-"Most people, if they know they have done wrong, foolishly suppose they can conceal their error by defending it, and finding a justification for it; but in my belief there is only one medicine for an evil deed, and that is for the guilty man to admit his guilt and show that he is sorry for it. Such an admission will make the consequences easier for the victim to bear, adn the guilty man himself, by plainly showing his distress at former transgressions, will find good grounds of hope for avoiding similar transgressions in the future." (397)
—Coyle
