Reviews

Reviewer:

rjones2818 "Rex A. Jones" (Somewhere in Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews

By 

K. Gilligan "avid reader" (Haddon Heights, NJ)

By 

Gianluca Bortini (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
  

Wonderful book!
selket56
2006-06-17 09:40 pm UTC (link)

I just finished my second read through of your book and am so impressed! It's a breath of fresh air to read a scholarly work on Alexander and in particular his relationship with Hephaistion that is based on intelligent research and conclusion that doesn't seem to allow personal bias to overrun the work.

Like the work Dr. Reames has presented on Hephaistion, you present the reader with the picture of a very complex, intelligent and vastly able individual - not a "dumb brute", as some historians would suggest. After finishing your chapter on Hephaistion, one can well understand why he would be (to quote from your book) "recognized as Alexander's fully empowered Prince-consort." I also like the way you presented in a very clear-cut no nonsense matter what most likely might have been the truth of their relationship. It is a wonderous thing to see that Hephaistion's character and role in Alexander's life and court finally being taken seriously.

I also enjoyed the rest of the book, particulary the chapter on Bagaos. As you did for Hephaistion in your previous chapter, you did for Bagoas. You presented the reader with a realistic portrayal of this indiviudal, not some fictional characterization. Granted I love "The Persian Boy", but your presentation Bagoas has more a ring of truth to it.

It's so wonderful for those of us who study Alexander and his legacy to finally see some light breaking through the clouds regarding both Hephaistion and Bagoas. If anything it gives one a greater and expanded, and more realistic image of Alexander, his court and world he lived in. Thank you.

Elizabeth

coraldawn
2006-06-18 04:12 am UTC (link)

I too love the book! I have read the book once and the chapter on Hephaistion twice. Everything you write about Hephaistion rings true and is such a welcome change from how many historians (primarily men) characterize him (which I believe reveals their own biases). I also started to think that if Alexander did regard him as a "fully-empowered Prince Consort", and that too for a long while, it's quite natural that many of his other friends would have been madly jealous and hated Hephaistion. Perhaps in a way it was Alexander's immense devotion to him that also spelled doom for the way his achievements were "suppressed" to some extent later by people writing about those times. I am curious: in your personal opinion, were Alexander and Hephaistion exactly the same age, or could Hephaistion be younger? I ask because after reading the section on his likenesses, it struck me that all of them show a man with a relatively young face, younger than some of Alexander's statutes show him to be.

I love the chapter on Barsine and Herakles! It provides ample evidence for Herakles being Alexander's son and should put to rest theories that Herakles was an "imposter". Poor boy, not only did he have a tragic life, but in modern times has been thought to not even exist!

And lastly, the Bagoas chapter is great. This is how I envisioned Bagoas and it was lovely to find that I wasn't totally off. I confess I didn't care for "The Persian Boy" and found that Bagoas to be unbearable. Thanks for a much more realistic portrait of Bagoas as an important Courtier and not some lowly slave boy.

Mr. A. G. Batt "AndyGB" (UK)
5.0 out of 5 stars A must have addition to the Alexander canon, 5 Jan 2010

At first glance anyone interested in Alexander the great might dismiss this book as just another cash in on the Alexander legend presented with an irrelevant modern bias; that would be a mistake, as this is the most impressive and informative book on Alexander I have read in a long time. After so many books in recent years, attempting to re-access his life and legacy through an anachronistically modern moral viewpoint it is a delight to come across something that not only confirmed ideas I had often held, but also contained a great deal of information that I did not know. The book is written in an accessible style and would suit the casual reader as well as a serious historian.

Although the book does come with an excellent overview of Alexander’s life and ‘career’ before devoting chapters to his lovers real and imaginary, this is perhaps not a book for the beginner, but rather for someone who has read a more standard biography (the best full length biographical overview is probably that by Robin Lane Fox) and wishes to know more. Those more interested in Alexander the man rather than the military leader would do well to read this book. Not since Mary Renault’s biography `The Nature of Alexander’, has the ruler’s personality been so expertly revealed; although in this book Chugg avoids some of the more romantic elements of Renault’s biography, and grounds any conclusions or suppositions in extensive references to the ancient sources so that the reader is left free to agree or disagree with the author’s findings and ideas. I found myself convinced again and again by his assertions.

Alexander’s love life has been controversial ever since he was alive; with many who have written his history through the ages suppressing what they find disreputable. Tarn expunges any suggestion of homosexuality from his biography, whilst others have failed to view his homosexual relationships with a knowledge of the sexual mores of his own time. It is perhaps easier now than ever to make a correct assessment of Alexander’s love life, as prejudice against homosexuality has lessened and authors cling less to a Christian moral viewpoint when writing about people’s sex lives; there is not the necessity to swing the emphasis one way or the other any longer. It’s too simplistic to view his sexuality in terms of gay or straight as those sorts of boundaries just didn’t exist in ancient Greece. That said, without doubt the single most important person in Alexander’s life was Hephaistion his lifelong friend and lover, and there is more about their relationship in this book, than in any other on Alexander thus published - for that chapter alone this book is worth buying. I was riveted by the amount of new information gleaned from the sources. Hephaistion has often been dismissed as ineffective and even stupid - only promoted through his personal connection to Alexander; how such an opinion could have taken hold is staggering given the wealth of evidence in the sources that is very much to the contrary. Here Hephaistion’s reputation as an able general and successful campaigner is restored to say nothing of his published (albeit now lost) correspondence with Aristotle. Those familiar with Mary Renault’s novel The Persian Boy will also relish the chapter on Bagoas as the status and position he came to occupy in terms of his position at court seems to be greater than Renault realized either in her novel or biography. The chapter on Roxane is also highly interesting; aside from his mother probably the most important woman in his life, and unlike the state marriages at Susa, Roxane seems to have genuinely captivated Alexander; although given the ruthless streak that emerged after his death, he was wise to never make her his Queen! I am less sure about the chapter on Barsine, but there is nothing in the book without interest.

Just as one can learn a lot about someone from looking at who they had relationships with, much can also be gleaned from what they read; Alexander was an avid reader, and something of a `philosopher king’. After reading this book, those fascinated by Alexander’s personality will want to explore further by reading the books Alexander loved; notably of course the Iliad, but also Xenophon's Anabasis (the Persian Expedition) and Cyropaedia (The Education of Cyrus) to say nothing of the tragedies of Euripides, a writer Alexander quoted again and again. Mary Renault’s biography went some way in stressing the importance of these books often neglected by other biographers, but Chugg manages to tie them down still further to incidents in Alexander’s life and behaviour. The soliloquy in Euripides’ Alcestis that Chugg quotes in relation to Hephaistion’s funeral rites couldn’t fail to bring a tear to the eye. In such details do people come alive and the past connects to the present.

A minor criticism would be the cover artwork which I found slightly off-putting; perhaps because I do some graphic design work I am used to things looking quite stylish - this book deserves to be much better presented, as the content deserves to reach as wide an audience as possible. Highly recommended.