Egypt
The Telegraph, UK (Review by Lorna Gibb)
Philip II of Macedonia by Ian Worthington
Not really about Egypt but this might be of use to anyone who has an interest in Alexander The Great.
See the above for more.
- Alexander And His Macedonian Heirs
Al Ahram Weekly (Jill Kamil) Macedonian conquest of Egypt, its consequences and its reflection in literature and art were the subject of an international workshop at the University of Warsaw towards the end of 2011. Its aim was to explore the means by...
- Book Review: Cleopatra, Last Queen Of Egypt
Star Tribune (Allen Barra) Cleopatra VII has always inspired a considerable amount of interest. It is nice to see that Joyce Tyldesley's book has been so well received by so many reviewers. Here's another positive review. Cleopatra has generated...
- Book Review: Alexander The Great - A Life In Legend
Bryn Mawr Classical Review There's a table of contents on the above page, together with the rest of the review. Here's an extract: Richard Stoneman, Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend. New Haven, CT/London: Yale University Press, 2008. Reviewed...
- Book Review: Alexander The Great In His World
Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Review by Cheryl Golden) Carol G. Thomas, Alexander the Great in His World. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007 Table of Contents Carol Thomas' contribution to the voluminous scholarship on the "Great" Alexander III of...
- Where Is The Dignity In The Display Of This Corpse?
Independent (Philip Hensher) It is interesting to note that in all the 100s of repetitive articles and posts alerting us to the fact that the body of Tutankhamun went on display this month (revealing his face to onlookers for the first time), so very...
Egypt
Book Review: Philip II of Macedonia
The Telegraph, UK (Review by Lorna Gibb)
Philip II of Macedonia by Ian Worthington
Not really about Egypt but this might be of use to anyone who has an interest in Alexander The Great.
Any biography requires the piecing together of partial sources and the working through of contradictory ones to create a plausible narrative. When the protagonist lived more than 2,000 years ago, this task is even more difficult.
There are many gaps. Particularly sad is the lack of information about Philip's early life. Worthington skilfully uses information from the rich documentation of Alexander the Great's early life to speculate about and suggest that of his father, and does so with a great deal of style.
Where more than one outcome or motivation is likely, the alternatives are given, discussed and an author's preference justified. This technique is especially evident in the chapter looking at Philip's assassination.
At the age of just 46, Philip was stabbed by his bodyguard, Pausanias, in the public surroundings of a busy theatre. Two possibilities exist as to why he was murdered. The first, that it was a private matter resulting from the fact that Philip had ended a homosexual relationship with Pausanias and taken up with a new lover; the second, that it was a plot involving Olympias and her son Alexander.
Was Olympias fearful that any male heirs of Philip's newest wife, Cleopatra, might supplant her son and allow her enemy Attalus (the guardian of Cleopatra) to act as regent?
The evidence that Alexander the Great and his mother orchestrated the death of Philip is convincing; shortly after Alexander's accession, Olympias seemed to confirm this by killing both Cleopatra and her new baby girl.
See the above for more.
- Alexander And His Macedonian Heirs
Al Ahram Weekly (Jill Kamil) Macedonian conquest of Egypt, its consequences and its reflection in literature and art were the subject of an international workshop at the University of Warsaw towards the end of 2011. Its aim was to explore the means by...
- Book Review: Cleopatra, Last Queen Of Egypt
Star Tribune (Allen Barra) Cleopatra VII has always inspired a considerable amount of interest. It is nice to see that Joyce Tyldesley's book has been so well received by so many reviewers. Here's another positive review. Cleopatra has generated...
- Book Review: Alexander The Great - A Life In Legend
Bryn Mawr Classical Review There's a table of contents on the above page, together with the rest of the review. Here's an extract: Richard Stoneman, Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend. New Haven, CT/London: Yale University Press, 2008. Reviewed...
- Book Review: Alexander The Great In His World
Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Review by Cheryl Golden) Carol G. Thomas, Alexander the Great in His World. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007 Table of Contents Carol Thomas' contribution to the voluminous scholarship on the "Great" Alexander III of...
- Where Is The Dignity In The Display Of This Corpse?
Independent (Philip Hensher) It is interesting to note that in all the 100s of repetitive articles and posts alerting us to the fact that the body of Tutankhamun went on display this month (revealing his face to onlookers for the first time), so very...