The Life of Alexander the Great (The Folio Society)

430 pp. Translated by Aubrey de Selincourt, with additional text by J.K. Davies, frontispiece and illustrations (10 total) by Raymond Hawthorn, map of Alexander's route on endpapers and 14 maps in text drawn by K.C. Jordan. "Although written over four hundred years after Alexander's death, Arrian's Campaigns of Alexander is the most reliable account of the man and his achievements we have. Arrian's own experience as a military commander gave him unique insights into the life of the world's greatest conqueror. He tells of Alexander's violent suppression of the Theban rebellion, his total defeat of Persia, and his campaigns through Egypt, India and Babylon - establishing new cities and destroying others in his path. While Alexander emerges from this record as an unparalleled and charismatic leader, Arrian succeeds brilliantly in creating an objective and fully rounded portrait of a man of boundless ambition, who was exposed to the temptations of power and worshipped as a god in his own lifetime."  ABOUT THE AUTHOR: "Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' (ca. 86 - after 146), known in English as Arrian, and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Greek historian, a public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the Roman period. As with other authors of the Second Sophistic, Arrian wrote primarily in Attic. His works preserve the philosophy of Epictetus, and include the Anabasis of Alexander, an important account of Alexander the Great, as well as the Indica a description of Nearchus' voyage from India following Alexander's conquest, and other short works. He is not to be confused with the Athenian military leader and author, Xenophon from the 4th century BC, whose best-known work was also titled Anabasis. Arrian is generally considered one of the best sources on the campaigns of Alexander as well as one of the founders of a primarily military-based focus on history."