Sources for Alexander the Great

This 1993 book attempts to analyse and evaluate in detail the sources of information that the ancient writers Plutarch and Arrian drew on.

Plutarch and Arrian are the ancient writers who tell us most about Alexander the Great. This 1993 book is an attempt to analyse and evaluate in detail the sources of information they themselves drew on, a necessary first step to appreciating the value of their own accounts.Plutarch and Arrian have contributed more than any other ancient authors to our picture of Alexander the Great, but since they wrote four or more centuries after his death the value of what they said depends upon the sources of information on which they themselves drew. In this 1993 book the attempt is made to define and to evaluate those sources in a detailed study, analysing the historians' works section by section and comparing them with other accounts of the same episodes. This volume completes Professor Hammond's study of the five Alexander-historians begun with Three Historians of Alexander the Great (Cambridge University Press, 1983) and lays a basis for work in this area.