This volume tries to tackle the most serious problem facing modern Alexander the Great studies:
that of inadequate sources. Its principal interest is in surviving ancient continuous accounts
(Diodorus Curtius Rufus Plutarch Arrian and Justin) which are at least three hundred years
younger than Alexander and in many ways one-sided in their Greek bias often promoting the view
of Alexander within the narrow bounds of a Western conqueror. The papers in this volume
deconstruct these accounts and search for sources used by their authors principally in
narrative of eye-witnesses and other authors of the first generation after Alexander including
his court historian Callisthenes and his companions Onesicritus Aristobulus and Ptolemy. They
search for fragments of ancient literary works known from papyri and for shadowy accounts
created on the Persian side like the mercenaries' source. Some papers look into propaganda
patterns of the age of Alexander and their connections with clichés of Egyptian literature.
Some investigate a parallel tradition on the last will of Alexander enshrined in I Maccabees
and best known from the Alexander Romance. Finally papers in this volume examine
post-classical rendition of Alexander: Jewish from the Talmud to Josippon and Byzantine
composed of separate textual traditions of various ancient authors with Plutarch taking pride
of place.
