Jaakkojuhani Peltonen - Böcker

The life of Alexander the Great began to be retold from the moment of his death. The Greco-Roman authors used these stories as exemplars in a variety of ways. This book is concerned with the various stories of Alexander and how they were used in antiquity to promote certain policies, religious views, and value systems.The book is an original contribution to the study of the history and reception of Alexander, analysing the writings of over 70 classical and post-classical authors during a period of over 700 years. Drawing on this extensive range and quantity of material, the study plots the continuity and change of ideas from the early Roman Empire to the early Middle Ages.

From premodern societies onward, humans have constructed and produced images of ideal masculinity to define the roles available for boys to grow into and images for adult men to imitate. The figure of Alexander the Great has fascinated people both within and outside academia. As a historical character, military commander, cultural figure and representative of the male gender, Alexander’s popularity is beyond dispute. Almost from the moment of his death, Alexander’s deeds have had a paradigmatic aspect: for over 2300 years, he has been represented as a paragon of manhood – an example to be followed by other men – and through his myth, people have negotiated assumptions about masculinity.This work breaks new ground by considering the ancient and medieval reception of Alexander the Great from a gender studies perspective. It explores the masculine ideals of the Greco-Roman and medieval pasts through the figure of Alexander the Great, analysing the gendered views of masculinities in those periods and relating them to the ways in which Alexander’s masculinity was presented. It does this by investigating Alexander’s appearance and its relation to definitions of masculinity, the way his childhood and adulthood are presented, his martial performance and skill, proper and improper sexual behaviour, and finally through his emotions and mental attributes.Masculine Ideals and Alexander the Great will appeal to students and scholars alike, as well as to those more generally interested in the portrayal of masculinity and gender, particularly in relation to Alexander the Great and his image throughout history.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license

From premodern societies onward, humans have constructed and produced images of ideal masculinity to define the roles available for boys to grow into and images for adult men to imitate. The figure of Alexander the Great has fascinated people both within and outside academia. As a historical character, military commander, cultural figure and representative of the male gender, Alexander’s popularity is beyond dispute. Almost from the moment of his death, Alexander’s deeds have had a paradigmatic aspect: for over 2300 years, he has been represented as a paragon of manhood – an example to be followed by other men – and through his myth, people have negotiated assumptions about masculinity.This work breaks new ground by considering the ancient and medieval reception of Alexander the Great from a gender studies perspective. It explores the masculine ideals of the Greco-Roman and medieval pasts through the figure of Alexander the Great, analysing the gendered views of masculinities in those periods and relating them to the ways in which Alexander’s masculinity was presented. It does this by investigating Alexander’s appearance and its relation to definitions of masculinity, the way his childhood and adulthood are presented, his martial performance and skill, proper and improper sexual behaviour, and finally through his emotions and mental attributes.Masculine Ideals and Alexander the Great will appeal to students and scholars alike, as well as to those more generally interested in the portrayal of masculinity and gender, particularly in relation to Alexander the Great and his image throughout history.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license

The chapters in this volume highlight the complexity and diversity of approaches to how ancient and medieval cultures understood martial masculinity and the significance warfare had on masculine values during the premodern era. They also point to how these ideals were manifested in numerous environments, covering topics from multiple points of view and using a variety of sources and methods.In the ancient and medieval periods, “manliness” was often understood as the ability to demonstrate bravery in war and eagerness to use violence in different situations. While certain marginal groups, such as philosophers and Christians, promoted more peaceful ideals of masculinity, war and masculinity were tightly connected to the cultures and societies of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Indeed, in Roman and later medieval culture, warfare played an essential role in constructing ideals of proper manliness and masculinity. This constructed masculinity manifested itself not only in written culture but also in everyday life, both visually and bodily.War and Masculinity in Roman and Medieval Culture is intended for those interested in ancient Roman and medieval culture, particularly researchers and students of gender and masculinity in Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages.