The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander (Landmark Series)

Landmark's edition of Arrian's "Anabasis Alexandrou" (The Campaigns of Alexander) is absolutely fantastic. Each time I started to read it, I had a hard time putting it down.That Alexander did so much before turning 33 years old is just not believable. And furthermore, beyond the historical and political importance of Alexander, from a purely literary standpoint, the story of the expedition is always exciting and changing. Although there were many contemporaneous accounts made by people intimately involved with the expedition available to Arrian when he wrote, all these accounts have since disappeared. We are lucky to have Arrian's account.With respect to this particular edition of Arrian's account, the translation was new and extremely easy to read.The footnotes were excellent because they provided a continuous scholarly commentary. How many times do you make the effort to read all the footnotes, just to realize that you could have read the text twice as fast without missing anything important? Not here.This text has been the subject of much scholarly writing, and you get this information in the footnotes. More specifically, the footnotes very frequently bring in Plutarch's Alexander, Diodorus Siculus, and Quintus Curtius. Sometimes these notes provide new, additional information. Sometimes these footnotes provide conflicting information. Other times the notes address current day scholarly debate and research. Either way, you're left with a deeper appreciation of Arrian and the legend of Alexander.As with the other books in the Landmark series, there were frequent maps showing not only where the cities were, but also where they were in relation to other landmarks. Each chapter starts with an overview map of where the expedition went during that chapter in addition to more focused maps sprinkled frequently within each chapter. There are also maps in the beginning and the end of the book of all the locations mentioned, as well as maps of the whole expedition and the whole expedition mapped up against present-day political boarders. There are also pictures of what the geography and locations look like today as well as artifacts from the era.The 25-page intro by Paul Cartledge was good and the 2-6 page essays at the back of the book by various scholars, about 15 of them, were also very interesting, but not essential.But without a doubt, the star of the whole show was the excellent writing and research by Arrian, made accessible and appreciable by the translation and footnotes. Read the second introductory paragraph of Arrian's text and then smile. Arrian was a little full of himself, but he told the truth!My only regret about this edition was that it did not include a monograph by Arrian called the Indika, which described Nearkhos' parallel-to-Alexander's journey from the mouth of the Indus through the Persian Gulf by water. The Landmark edition frequently alludes to the Indika and could easily have included it. I'm not sure a good modern day translation of the Indika in English exists.

Arrian was a Greek philosopher and historian during the height of the Roman empire. He became a Roman citizen, served as consul, provincial governor, defended his province from invasion, and finally served as an archon (administrator) of Athens.His book on Alexander begins with the king's accession to the throne and ends with his death; the period in between is when he builds his empire and earns his legendary reputation. It's a military history, so it focuses mostly on military operations and tactics, battles, and Alexanders' skill as a leader. If this doesn't seem romantic, it's not. Alexander built his empire through war, and this is how he did it.There are some moments that show Alexander dealing with his subordinates, corresponding with his adversaries, or handling his army, but they are not your normal anecdotes; even the most colorful moments tie in with Alexander's military campaigns.When Alexander is not fighting, the book shows how he administered his empire after each new conquest. It's very interesting to see how he organized his empire, not just conquered it.It's important to understand than Arrian is one of only five sources on Alexander the Great that were written in ancient times. In other words, all modern historians draw their material from Arrian and the others. What sets Arrian apart is that he copied most of his information from memoirs written by Alexander's lieutenants, and he doesn't stray into any legends. The information Arrian makes use of focuses largely on the military aspect of the war, but it's also as authentic as it gets.This might not be the most romantic or glorious book, but it is the meat and potatoes of Alexander the Great.The Landmark edition is something else. You can't go ten pages without at least one map (usually several). There are pictures of artifacts, ruins, and natural scenery where Alexander traveled. The appendices really put the work into context and can stand alone as their own book; they offer professional analysis that might not occur to the casual reader. The introduction describes all the known sources on Alexander, which can help you further your reading.All in all, this book doesn't have everything on Alexander, but it is the single most informative book out there.

Full English language translation of complete original text - heavily annotated with (black & white) maps, charts, diagrams, photos, chronologies, glossary, index. Reasonably priced too. I have three others from this series - all super. Thanks to seller for quick, undamaged shipment of pristine book. abh