The Persian Boy

by Mary Renault

Book 2 in the Alexander the Great Trilogy series.

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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

Ancient Greece Classical Greece Alexander the Great Wars of Alexander the Great Ancient World Achaemenid Persian Empire

Genres

Biographical Fiction Court & Political Fiction Romance War Fiction

Historical people

Alexander the Great357 BCE–324 BCE Darius III381 BCE–331 BCE Hephaestion357 BCE–325 BCE Ptolemy I Soterc. 360s BCE–c. 280s BCE Bagoasc. 5th century BCE–c. 4th century BCE Roxana348 BCE–311 BCE