Alexander the Great > Bibliography

Bibliography

Many various sources were used and include both the best available primary sources and secondary sources. Overall there are many difficulties with the chronology and the historiography that we will attempt to analyze to get the most accurate picture possible.

Background

Primary Sources

While a few fragments exist, there are no complete surviving historical works that date to the hundred years following Alexander's death. The works of the major Hellenistic historians Hieronymus of Cardia (who worked under Alexander, Antigonus I and other successors), Duris of Samos and Phylarchus, which were used by surviving sources, are all lost.[18] The earliest and most credible surviving source for the Hellenistic period is Polybius of Megalopolis (c. 200–118), a statesman of the Achaean League until 168 BC when he was forced to go to Rome as a hostage. His Histories eventually grew to a length of forty books, covering the years 220 to 167 BC.

The most important source after Polybius is Diodorus Siculus who wrote his Bibliotheca historica between 60 and 30 BC and reproduced some important earlier sources such as Hieronymus, but his account of the Hellenistic period breaks off after the battle of Ipsus (301 BC). Another important source, Plutarch's (c. AD 50 – c. 120) Parallel Lives although more preoccupied with issues of personal character and morality, outlines the history of important Hellenistic figures. Appian of Alexandria (late 1st century AD–before 165) wrote a history of the Roman empire that includes information of some Hellenistic kingdoms.

Other sources include Justin's (2nd century AD) epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Historiae Philipicae and a summary of Arrian's Events after Alexander, by Photios I of Constantinople. Lesser supplementary sources include Curtius Rufus, Pausanias, Pliny, and the Byzantine encyclopedia the Suda. In the field of philosophy, Diogenes Laërtius' Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is the main source; works such as Cicero's De Natura Deorum also provide some further detail of philosophical schools in the Hellenistic period

This table includes the primary events and themes covered by these historians. Since the works of these historians overlap in content but vary in detail and perspective, the chapter and book numbers correspond to the specific sections where each historian discusses these events. This can serve as a guide to understanding the comparative accounts of Alexander the Great's life and campaigns.

The Anabsis of Alexander.

Secondary Sources

Smith, William, Sir, 1813-1893. Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography 1854. Volume 1. London : Walton & Maberly

Smith, William, Sir, 1813-1893. Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography 1854. Volume 2. London : Walton & Maberly