We will follow one of history’s greatest generals – Alexander the Great, as he sets off from his native Macedonia to conquer the vast Persia Empire. His journey of conquest crosses the Dardanelles, before pausing at Troy and then descending into mythical Egypt. From there he chases his foe across the plains of Persia and then heads beyond to the extraordinary heights of the Hindu Kush and into the valley of the Ganges, before trekking home to legendary Babylon. Along the way he fights four great battles and numerous sieges, burns Persepolis and destroys an Empire. Join his journey.
- Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great (Penguin, 1973. ISBN 9780141925981)
- J E C Fuller, The Generalship of Alexander the Great (Da Capo Press, 1960, ISBN 0-306-81330-0)
- A B Bosworth and E J Baynham, Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction (Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-19-925275-0)
- Waldemar Heckel, The Conquests of Alexander the Great (Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-84247-1)
- Oliver Stone, Alexander (2007 Film)
- Michael Wood, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (BBC 2005)
- The enormous journey taken over the years 334-323 BCE by the conquering army of Alexander the Great.
- Stop along his route, not only to talk, briefly about the four great battles and the sieges, but rather to examine the highlights of his journey.
- His birthplace at Vergina; Troy; Sidon; the Pyramids and Siwah Oasis in Egypt; Persepolis (the great city he destroyed); the heights of the Hindu Kush; the valley of the Ganges and the trek across the terrifying Gedrosian Desert back to fabulous Babylon.
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Appreciate the genius of this greatest of generals but also question what sort of a person he was – a spreader of Greek culture or a wanton killer of men?
- Get some feeling for what it must have been like for Alexander’s soldiers to walk so far and so long, their lives at risk and their fate uncertain. Why did they do it?
