The History of Alexander

Name: The History of Alexander
Rating: 4.6 (142 reviews)

by Quintus Curtius Rufus

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4.5(142)

Composed in Latin under the Roman Empire, The History of Alexander is the only surviving Latin monograph devoted entirely to Alexander the Great. The original work comprised ten books, but the first two and portions of later books have been lost, so the extant narrative begins after the invasion of Asia is already under way. Curtius follows Alexander’s war against Darius III through Issus, Tyre, Gaugamela, Babylon and Persepolis, then across Central Asia and into India before the army’s punishing return through Gedrosia.

Military operations are interwoven with speeches, court intrigue and an increasingly critical study of kingship. The executions of Philotas and Parmenion, the killing of Cleitus, the conspiracy involving Callisthenes, Alexander’s marriage to Roxana and the death of Hephaestion reveal a command fractured by fear and rivalry. The final book carries the narrative through the mutiny at Opis, Alexander’s death at Babylon and the first struggle over the regency, monarchy and division of the satrapies, presenting conquest as both an extraordinary achievement and the source of a succession crisis.

Historical Periods

Battle of Issus333 BCE Siege of Tyre332 BCE Battle of Gaugamela331 BCE Burning of Persepolis330 BCE Battle of the Hydaspes326 BCE Achaemenid Persian Empire550–330 BCE Alexander’s Indian Campaign327–325 BCE Gedrosian Desert March325 BCE Partition of Babylon and Macedonian Succession323–320 BCE Classical Historiography500 BCE–250 CE

Genres

Classical Literature Court & Political Fiction

Historical people

Alexander of Lyncestisc. 5th century BCE–331 BCE Alexander the Great357 BCE–324 BCE Darius III381 BCE–331 BCE Antipater398 BCE–320 BCE Olympias376 BCE–317 BCE Philip II of Macedonc. 382–336 BCE Hephaestionc. 356 BCE–324 BCE Ptolemy I Soter369/368–282 BCE Bagoasc. 5th century BCE–c. 4th century BCE Roxana348 BCE–311 BCE Perdiccas366 BCE–322 BCE Philip III of Macedon360 BCE–318 BCE Cassander356 BCE–297 BCE Antigonus I Monophthalmusc. 382–301 BCE Parmenion401 BCE–330 BCE