Alexander the Great's life and career are here examined through the major issues surrounding his reign. What were Alexander's ultimate ambitions? Why did he pursue his own deification while alive? ...How did he administer his conquests? Did he actually set the world in 'a new groove' as has been claimed by some scholars? Each of the key themes, arranged as chapters, will be presented in approximately chronological order so that readers unfamiliar with the life of Alexander will be able to follow the narrative. The themes are tied to the major controversies and questions surrounding Alexander's career and legacy. Each chapter includes a discussion of the major academic positions on each issue, and includes a full and up-to-date bibliography and an evaluation of the historical evidence. All source material is in translation. Designed to bring new clarity to the contentious history of Alexander the Great, this is an ideal introduction to one of history's most controversial figures.
Alexander the Great was religiously both a man of his time and the catalyst for change in the pattern of Greek religious life. He accepted the ubiquity of divine presence in the world and ...participated actively in the practice of Greek paganism, but he was also imbued with his own importance which evolved over time into a belief in his own divinity. This belief and the desire for such recognition led to the worship of Hellenistic kings as mortal gods.
Alexander's heirs Anson, Edward M
2014., 2014, 2014-07-01, 2014-04-24
eBook
Alexander’s Heirs offers a narrative account of the approximately forty years following the death of Alexander the Great, during which his generals vied for control of his vast empire, and through ...their conflicts and politics ultimately created the Hellenistic Age. -Offers an account of the power struggles between Alexander’s rival generals in the forty year period following his death -Discusses how Alexander’s vast empire ultimately became the Hellenistic World -Makes full use of primary and secondary sources -Accessible to a broad audience of students, university scholars, and the educated general reader -Explores important scholarly debates on the Diadochi
Alexander's Foundation of Alexandria Anson, Edward M
International journal of military history and historiography,
03/2021, Volume:
42, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Abstract
Many reasons have been offered for Alexander the Great's foundation of Alexandria in Egypt. He wished to create a great economic and cultural centre, or a naval base from which to control ...the Aegean, or simply to expand his prestige. It has also been argued that Alexander may have had no greater purpose at all and that this entire episode in the Alexander saga owes much to Ptolemaic propaganda. This paper will argue that this Alexandria, like the Conqueror's other foundations, was primarily to be a military base in a foreign land, designed to thwart any future attempt, in this case by the Egyptians, to free themselves from his control.
The intense bonds among the king and his family, friends, lovers, and entourage are the most enticing and intriguing aspects of Alexander the Great's life. The affective ties of the protagonists of ...Alexander's Empire nurtured the interest of the ancient authors, as well as the audience, in the personal life of the most famous men and women of the time. These relations echoed through time in art and literature, to become paradigm of positive or negative, human behavior.By rejecting the perception of the Macedonian monarchy as a positivist king-army based system, and by looking for other political and social structures Elizabeth Carney has played a crucial role in prompting the current re-appraisal of the Macedonian monarchy. Her volumes on Women and Monarchy in Ancient Macedonia (University of Oklahoma Press, 2000), Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great (Routledge, 2006), Arsinoë of Egypt and Macedon: A Royal Life (Oxford University Press, 2013) have been game-changers in the field and has offered the academic world a completely new perspective on the network of relationships surrounding the exercise of power. By examining Macedonian and Hellenistic dynastic behavior and relations, she has shown the political yet tragic, heroic thus human side, thus connecting Hellenistic political and social history.Building on the methodological approach and theoretical framework engendered by Elizabeth Carney's research, this book explores the complex web of personal relations, inside and outside the oikos (family), governing Alexander's world, which sits at the core of the inquiry into the human side of the events shedding light light on the personal dimension of history. Inspired by Carney's seminal work on Ancient Macedonia, the volume moves beyond the traditionally rationalist and positivist approaches towards Hellenistic antiquity, into a new area of humanistic scholarship, by considering the dynastic bloodlines as well as the affective relations. The volume offers a discussion of the intra and extra familial network ruling the Mediterranean world at the time of Philip and Alexander. Building on present scholarship on relations and values in Hellenistic Monarchies, the book contributes to a deeper historical understanding of the mutual dialogue between the socio-cultural and political approaches to Hellenistic history.
After Alexander Troncoso, Victor Alonso; Anson, Edward M
2013, 2013-03-08
eBook
When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC without a chosen successor he left behind a huge empire and ushered in a turbulent period, as his generals fought for control of vast territories. The time of ...the Successors (Diadochi) is usually defined as beginning in 323 BC and ending with the deaths of the last two Successors in 281 BC. This is a major publication devoted to the Successors and contains eighteen papers reflecting current research. Several papers attempt to unravel the source history of the very limited remaining narrative accounts, and add additional materials through cuneiform and Byzantine texts. Specific historical issues addressed include the role of so-called royal flatterers and whether or not Alexander's old guard did continue to serve into their sixties and seventies. Three papers reflect the recent conscious effort by many to break away from the Hellenocentric view of the predominantly Greek sources, by examining the role of the conquered, specifically the prominent roles played by Iranians in the administration and military of Alexander and his Successors, pockets of Iranian resistance which eventually blossomed into Hellenistic kingdoms ruled by sovereigns proclaiming their direct connection to an Iranian past and a continuation of Iranian influence through an examination of the roles played by certain of the Diadochis Iranian wives. The papers in the final section analyse the use of varying forms of propaganda. These include the use of the concept of Freedom of the Greeks as a means of manipulating opinion in the Greek world; how Ptolemy used a snake cult associated with the foundation of Alexandria in Egypt to link his kingship with that of Alexander; and the employment of elephant images to advertise the authority of particular rulers.
This paper argues that in antiquity Greeks primarily defined their ethnicity by the Greek language. In essence, a Greek knew a Greek when he heard one. Greek speech and Greek ethnicity were seen as ...intimately connected, and even though this connection was often described as primordial, Greek ethnicity could be acquired by those who assiduously adopted the language. This association of Greek language and ethnicity developed because, despite the many different dialects and political divisions within the Hellenic world, this predominantly oral society, thanks to its wandering poets and singers, its national religious festivals, and its widespread commerce among the various Greek states, maintained a high level of language comprehensibility among those who proclaimed themselves Greeks.
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8.
Xenon Adsorption on Modified ETS-10 Kuznicki, Steven M; Ansón, Alejandro; Koenig, Andrée ...
Journal of physical chemistry. C,
02/2007, Volume:
111, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The interaction of xenon with silver ETS-10 is found to be unusually strong. Xenon adsorption was studied on Na-ETS-10 and its silver exchanged counterpart, Ag-ETS-10, by gas chromatography and ...gravimetric adsorption. High adsorption capacities were observed even at low pressure (6 wt % Xe at 0.5 Torr and 25 °C). High isosteric heats of adsorption for xenon on Ag-ETS-10 were observed, higher than on any other adsorbent reported to date. High selectivity of xenon over nitrogen and oxygen is also observed, especially at low xenon partial pressures. The great affinity of this adsorbent for xenon is attributed to the presence of silver nanoparticles, which grow on the surface of the molecular sieve after heat treatment of Ag exchanged material.
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Anson examines one aspect of the alleged powers of a postulated Macedonian popular assembly, namely the claimed prerogative to hear "capital cases," or more specifically to decide capital cases of ...treason. Most of the uncontested Macedonian judicial assemblies occurred during Alexander's reign. These power existed only when the monarch chose to involve the Macedonians in the judicial decision-making process. Otherwise, the king made these decisions on his own authority. The role of these assemblies, then, was political, not constitutional or traditional. In the final analysis, there is no basis for the supposition that the Macedonians had the customary and recognized right to hear capital cases. The personal nature of authority in Macedonia meant that much depended on the personality and ability of the king, or his regent, or, as in the period of the Diadochs, the would-be dynasts vying for power, and, also, on the Macedonians' reaction to their decisions and actions.
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Interest in Alexander the Great has never flagged from the time of his death until the present day. The bibliography of Alexander the Great continues to grow at near exponential rates. He was a ...commander of outstanding ability whose legacy was a world forever changed. However, plagued by a dearth of contemporary sources, scholars still debate his goals, his methods, and his true legacy. Did he envision and work towards a world where the races would be fused into one? Or was he an insatiable conqueror whose values were those of a Genghis Khan or a Tamarlane? Was his empire built on expediency or was it an attempt at a new world order under an absolute monarch. Finally, did Alexander order his own deification, and was this the result of practical administrative and political calculations, or was it the consequence of growing megalomaniacy. All of these interpretations have modern scholarly adherents, although some have come to dominate most current scholarship.
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