The Persian Boy

by Mary Renault Book 2 in the Alexander the Great Trilogy series.

First published 1972

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4.5(1,268)

Bagoas, a Persian aristocrat's son, is captured, enslaved and made a eunuch before entering the court of Darius III. After the Achaemenid defeat, he is brought to Alexander and chooses to remain with the Macedonian king, becoming his companion and interpreting the Persian court Alexander has inherited.

Through Bagoas, the novel follows Alexander from the conquest of Persia into Central Asia and India, the army's refusal to continue at the Hyphasis and the disastrous march through Gedrosia. His rivalry with Hephaestion, Alexander's marriage to Roxana and the king's final illness turn imperial expansion into a story of love, cultural conflict and loss.

Historical Periods

Battle of Issus333 BCE Siege of Tyre332 BCE Battle of Gaugamela331 BCE Achaemenid Persian Empire550–330 BCE Alexander’s Indian Campaign327–325 BCE Gedrosian Desert March325 BCE

Genres

Biographical Fiction Court & Political Fiction Romance War Fiction

Historical people

Alexander the Great357 BCE–324 BCE Darius III381 BCE–331 BCE Hephaestionc. 356 BCE–324 BCE Ptolemy I Soter369/368–282 BCE Bagoasc. 5th century BCE–c. 4th century BCE Roxana348 BCE–311 BCE