Alexander the Great by Arrian
by Donald E. Hester
on Saturday, 27 December 2008
Book Reviews
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Donald E. Hester
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I just finished the book “Alexander the Great” by the Roman historian Arrian.
One word of advice, you will need a map of Alexander’s campaigns. The names of people and the names of places can quickly confuse you if you don’t have a map of the area. Over all I can see why Alexander was a great leader, he cared for his men and he was a fair and just man. There was a story that while Alexander and his men were in the dessert and some of his men found a helmet’s worth of water. When the men brought it to him he dumped it out and the ground. He told them he would not drink if they could not drink. Definitely a great leader.
Other than that, there were blow by blow military engagements. I noticed that he would often do the unexpected. He would do what his opponent would not think he would do, or did what they would not think it was possible. There is a lot of good military tactics you can learn from this book. No doubt the Romans used this book for that very reason.