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This it the first in the ground-breaking Alexander Trilogy written by Mary Renault - a trilogy which was a landmark in historical fiction as it was psychologically intense, but also very entertaining. Renault was also one of the first to write explicitly about Alexander's homosexuality (the first book of the trilogy was written in 1969), treating the tradition of male warrior lovers in ancient Greece as a norm of the times.
Alexander's beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. Killing his first man in battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon's cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his father was murdered, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
This is a new Virago Modern Classic edition.
Paperback, 448 Pages, Orig. Publ. 1969, This Ed. Publ. 2014
Author: Mary Renault