Alexander the Great changed the world that he knew--but how he did it, and how much of his story is truth and how much is invented, is hard to tell. One of our most important sources for his achievements and personality is Plutarch's Life of Alexander, and this is the first detailed commentary on it for over fifty years, along with a thorough introduction and translation. It is a sister volume to the author's 2011 edition (also in the Clarendon Ancient History Series) of Plutarch's Caesar, the Life paired with Alexander in Plutarch's series of Parallel Lives. The life of Alexander the Great was clouded in legend from his own lifetime, not least because Alexander himself curated his image with such care. Disentangling the truth is not an easy task, especially because our surviving narratives, including Plutarch's, all date from centuries later under the Roman empire. Plutarch's Life of Alexander is especially important for Alexander's early years, but for his later achievements too it often supplements or corrects our other accounts; it is also a considerable literary achievement, as Plutarch produces a memorable picture of a brilliant soldier, full of spirit and ambition, gradually coarsened by his own successes and his suspicions of his friends until his final months at Babylon in a court full of superstition, terror, and dread. Plutarch had to navigate his way through an unusually vast stock of material to produce this portrait. This commentary discusses those literary techniques in detail as well as providing a thorough investigation of the historical issues that Plutarch's narrative raises.

Plutarch: Alexander: Translated with an Introduction and Commentary (Clarendon Ancient History Series)

Literature & Fiction

Pelling, Christopher

Classics

Oxford University Press

Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome is a book for all readers who want to know more about the literature that underpins Western civilization. Chistopher Pelling and Maria Wyke provide a vibrant and distinctive introduction to twelve of the greatest authors from ancient Greece and Rome, writers whose voices still resonate strongly across the centuries: Homer, Sappho, Herodotus, Euripides, Thucydides, Plato, Caesar, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, and Tacitus. To what vital ideas do these authors give voice? And why are we so often drawn to what they say even in modern times? Twelve Voices investigates these tantalizing questions, showing how these great figures from classical antiquity still address some of our most fundamental concerns in the world today (of war and courage, dictatorship and democracy, empire, immigration, city life, art, madness, irrationality, and religious commitment), and express some of our most personal sentiments (about family and friendship, desire and separation, grief and happiness). These twelve classical voices can sound both compellingly familiar and startlingly alien to the twenty-first century reader. Yet they remain suggestive and inspiring, despite being rooted in their own times and places, and have profoundly affected the lives of those prepared to listen to them right up to the present day.

Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome: Ancient Ideas for Modern Times

Wyke, Maria

History & Criticism

This is a collection of studies on ancient (especially Latin) poetry and historiography, concentrating especially on the impact of rhetoric on both genres, and on the importance of considering the literature to illuminate the historical Roman context and the historical context to illuminate the literature. It takes the form of a tribute to Tony Woodman, Gildersleeve Professor of Latin at the University of Virginia, for whom twenty-one scholars have contributed essays reflecting the interests and approaches that have typified Woodman's own work. The authors that he has continuously illuminated - especially Velleius, Horace, Virgil, Sallust, and Tacitus - figure particularly prominently.

Ancient Historiography and its Contexts: Studies in Honour of A. J. Woodman

Marincola, John

Kraus, Christina S.

Literary Texts and the Greek Historian (Approaching the Ancient World)

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Routledge

Much of ancient history can only be written thanks to evidence supplied by Plutarch. His historical methods and qualities were for long subjected to little systematic analysis. However, in recent decades an authoritative and profoundly influential set of studies has appeared in the field, the work of Christopher Pelling. This book contains eighteen of Pelling's most important papers, revised by the author. Together, they form an essential work of reference for serious students of Greece and Rome.

Plutarch and History

History

Ancient Civilizations

Classical Press of Wales

Literary Texts and the Greek Historian

Herodotus and the Question Why (Fordyce W. Mitchel Memorial Lecture Series)

In the 5th century BCE, Herodotus wrote the first known Western history to build on the tradition of Homeric storytelling, basing his text on empirical observations and arranging them systematically. Herodotus and the Question Why offers a comprehensive examination of the methods behind the Histories and the challenge of documenting human experiences, from the Persian Wars to cultural traditions.
In lively, accessible prose, Christopher Pelling explores such elements as reconstructing the mentalities of storyteller and audience alike; distinctions between the human and the divine; and the evolving concepts of freedom, democracy, and individualism. Pelling traces the similarities between Herodotus's approach to physical phenomena (Why does the Nile flood?) and to landmark events (Why did Xerxes invade Greece? And why did the Greeks win?), delivering a fascinating look at the explanatory process itself. The cultural forces that shaped Herodotus's thinking left a lasting legacy for us, making Herodotus and the Question Why especially relevant as we try to record and narrate the stories of our time and to fully understand them.

University of Texas Press

In the 5th century BCE, Herodotus wrote the first known Western history to build on the tradition of Homeric storytelling, basing his text on empirical observations and arranging them systematically. Herodotus and the Question Why offers a comprehensive examination of the methods behind the Histories and the challenge of documenting human experiences, from the Persian Wars to cultural traditions. In lively, accessible prose, Christopher Pelling explores such elements as reconstructing the mentalities of storyteller and audience alike; distinctions between the human and the divine; and the evolving concepts of freedom, democracy, and individualism. Pelling traces the similarities between Herodotus's approach to physical phenomena (Why does the Nile flood?) and to landmark events (Why did Xerxes invade Greece? And why did the Greeks win?), delivering a fascinating look at the explanatory process itself. The cultural forces that shaped Herodotus's thinking left a lasting legacy for us, making Herodotus and the Question Why especially relevant as we try to record and narrate the stories of our time and to fully understand them.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Pelling, Christopher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Pelling, Christopher

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Pelling, Christopher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Plutarch: Alexander: Translated with an Introduction and Commentary (Clarendon Ancient History Series)

Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome: Ancient Ideas for Modern Times

Ancient Historiography and its Contexts: Studies in Honour of A. J. Woodman

Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome: Ancient Ideas for Modern Times

Literary Texts and the Greek Historian (Approaching the Ancient World)

Plutarch and History

Literary Texts and the Greek Historian

Literary Texts and the Greek Historian

Herodotus and the Question Why (Fordyce W. Mitchel Memorial Lecture Series)

Herodotus and the Question Why (Fordyce W. Mitchel Memorial Lecture Series)