Anabasis Alexandri, the Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian is the most important source on Alexander the Great. For others with this name see Arrianus (disambiguation. Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' (ca Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ'
The Greek term anabasis referred to an expedition from a coastline into the interior of a country. The term katabasis referred to a trip from the interior to the coast. So a more literal translation would be The Expedition of Alexander.
This work on Alexander is the oldest surviving complete account of the Macedonian conqueror. Macedon or Macedonia ( Greek grc Μακεδονία grc-Latn Makedonía) was the name of a kingdom centered in the northern-most Arrian was able to use sources which are now lost, such as the contemporary works by Callisthenes (the nephew of Alexander's tutor Aristotle), Onesicritus, Nearchus and Aristobulus, and the slightly later work of Cleitarchus. Callisthenes of Olynthus (in Greek; ca 360-328 BC was a Greek Historian. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Onesicritus (Ὀνησίκριτος a Greek historical writer (lived c Nearchus (or Nearchos) (c 360 - 300 BC was one of the officers a Navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. For other people with this name see Aristobulus (disambiguation Aristobulus (reigned 104-103 BC was a king of the Hebrew "Clitarchus" redirects here For the Stick insect Genus, see Clitarchus (phasmid. Most important of all, Arrian had the biography of Alexander by Ptolemy, one of Alexander's leading generals and possibly his half-brother. For the astronomer see Ptolemy; for others named "Ptolemy" or "Ptolemaeus" see Ptolemy (disambiguation.
It is primarily a military history, it has little to say about Alexander's personal life, his role in Greek politics or the reasons why the campaign against Persia was launched in the first place. The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia
Further reading
- Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt, Penguin Classics, 1958 and numerous subsequent editions.
- Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander, translated by P. A. Brunt, with Greek and English text, edited by Jeffrey Henderson, The Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press. Books I-IV: ISBN 0674992601 Books V-VII and Indica: ISBN 0674992970
External links
- Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri, translated by E. J. Chinnock (1893)
- Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri, (section 1.13-16) (pdf, pp. 18-19), Battle of Granicus, from the Loeb edition. The Battle of the Granicus River in May 334 BC was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great and the Persian Empire.
- Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri, (section 4.18.4-19.6), Sogdian Rock, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt