Alexander The Great

James Romm is the James H. Ottoway, Jr. Associate Professor of Classics at Bard College. He is also the editor of Herodotus, On the War for Greek Freedom: Selections from the Histories (Hackett Publishing Company, 2003), and Plutarch, Lives that Made Greek History.

The translations . . . are rendered in clear, modern style. Romm's Introduction is fresh, mature, and insightful--one of the best brief synopses of Alexander's life and impact this reviewer has read in recent years. . . . Romm's carefully selected and well-translated passages from Arrian provide a vivid and cohesive narrative of the highlights of Alexander's career. Wherever there is a major discrepancy among our ancient sources, or wherever an alternate version seems to enrich Arrian's account, Romm relegates the variant source to his notes, thereby providing the enhancement without disrupting the main narrative. He has thus preserved the flow of Arrian's narrative, while also providing a commentary that alerts the reader to some of the pitfalls that mark any attempt to understand the course of Alexander's achievements. I highly recommend this work as a pedagogical component in the teaching of basic courses on Alexander. And even some battle-hardened advanced students, scholars of the Macedonian monarchy, and history buffs would benefit by the insights of Romm's introductory essay and the notes accompanying Arrian's text. --Eugene N. Borza, The Classical Outlook