Alexander the Great and Roxane: Beyond the Love Story

Описание: Bloke captures women in siege. Makes them dance for him. Picks one of them to be his wife. History's greatest love story? I don't think so.

The tale of Alexander the Great's marriage to Roxane has been celebrated in literature and art for millennia. But what really happened? Here, I take you through what the ancient sources actually say and explain the problems with their accounts. We look at why modern historians have interpreted these events very differently to ancient writers. And then I take you on a real deep dive into the nitty gritty details of the sources to show how little we really know about Alexander's life. Along the way, we'll talk about how you can bring something new to studying Alexander.

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Ancient Sources Discussed in the Video

Arrian, Campaigns of Alexander (Book 4, Chapter 18.4 to 19.6). In the video, the translation I read from is P.A Brunt's 'Anabasis of Alexander', published in the Loeb series in 1976. The other translation I like is called 'The Landmark Arrian' which has some really good maps.

Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History of Alexander the Great (Book 8, Chapter 4.1 to 4.22).

Metz Epitome, sections 24-31.

Strabo, Geography (Book 11, Chapter 11.4).

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For modern interpretations*

Stephen Harrison, Alexander the Great: Lives and Legacies (2025), pages 96-99.

Stephen Harrison, 'Alexander in Bactria and India, and the Spanish in America: Agency and Interaction on the Fringes of Empire' in D. James & S. Harrison (eds.), Theorising Comparative History (2025), 227-250, esp. 235-239.

Elizabeth Baynham, 'Alexander and the Amazons', Classical Quarterly 51 (2001), 115-126, esp. 125.

Elizabeth Carney, 'Alexander and Persian Women', AJPh 117 (1996), 563-583, esp. 576.

Paul Cartledge, Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past (2004), esp. 125, 283-4

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For really detailed source discussion *

A.B. Bosworth (1995), A Historical Commentary on Arrian's History of Alexander, Volume II, Books IV-V. Oxford (this is discussed in various places from p.124 through to about p.139).