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Alexander's Veterans and the Early Wars of the Successors (Fordyce W. Mitchel Memorial Lecture Series)

di Joseph Roisman

Altri autori: Vedi la sezione altri autori.

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From antiquity until now, most writers who have chronicled the events following the death of Alexander the Great have viewed this history through the careers, ambitions, and perspectives of Alexander ?s elite successors. Few historians have probed the experiences and attitudes of the ordinary soldiers who followed Alexander on his campaigns and who were divided among his successors as they fought for control of his empire after his death. Yet the veterans played an important role in helping to shape the character and contours of the Hellenistic world. This pathfinding book offers the first in-depth investigation of the Macedonian veterans ? experience during a crucial turning point in Greek history (323 ?316 BCE). Joseph Roisman discusses the military, social, and political circumstances that shaped the history of Alexander ?s veterans, giving special attention to issues such as the soldiers ? conduct on and off the battlefield, the army assemblies, the volatile relationship between the troops and their generals, and other related themes, all from the perspective of the rank-and-file. Roisman also reexamines the biases of the ancient sources and how they affected ancient and modern depictions of Alexander ?s veterans, as well as Alexander ?s conflicts with his army, the veterans ? motives and goals, and their political contributions to Hellenistic history. He pays special attention to the Silver Shields, a group of Macedonian veterans famous for their invincibility and martial prowess, and assesses whether or not they deserved their formidable reputation.… (altro)
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Alexander’s Veterans and the Early Wars of the Successors
by Joseph Roisman. Narrated by John Burlinson
Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

This text is Professor Roisman’s attempt to harmonize, distinguish, criticize, and add his own conclusions to those of the ancient historians, such as Plutarch, and Diodorus, and later historians such as A. B. Bosworth, regarding the wars of succession among the generals, and others, who served under Alexander the Great. In particular though, Prof. Roisman centered his attention on these matters from the point of view of the veteran soldiers; how they were affected by their leaders’ political and military decisions, and what effect, if any, their wants and needs had on those decisions.
Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, likely poisoned, and his generals, Cassander, Ptolemy, Antigonus, and Seleucus known as the Diadochs or Diadocchi, and particularly the generals, Eumenes, Perdiccas, Kraturas, and Antigonus’ son, Demetrius all participated in the struggles for succession. Alexander’s wife, Roxanne, Alexander’s sister, Cleopatra, and his half-brother Arrhydarhis, who became Philip the Second, also participated in the struggle to determine who was going to rule as successor to Alexander.

The second part of this book’s title tells you that events deteriorated quickly into war among them, and given how Prof. Roisman describes the alliances, deals, betrayals of deals, oath making and oath breaking, assassinations, assassination attempts, and out-right murder, among these people, I am surprised Alexander ever got out of Macedonia, much less to India.

Prof. Roisman’s first two chapters set the story by describing Alexander’s relationship to his generals and to his regular troops, which is essential to understand the later struggles and relationships among the Diadochs and their men. All was not brotherhood and good will. At the time of its first battle in India, which they won, the army was exhausted and did not want to continue the campaign. They wanted to go home. Moreover, they resented Alexanders’s mode of Persian dress and adoption of Persian customs. They resented his inclusion of Persian calvary men into the regular calvary. Alexander was going native and his followers did not like it. Alexander met these complaints with manipulation, through the use of gifts, honors, and flattery, and the judicious use of violence, i.e., executing the leaders of the disenchanted.

The subsequent chapters detail the particular efforts of such men as Perdiccas, Kraturas, and Eumenes to control a portion or all of Alexander’s former empire. I won’t reveal too much, but I can say that few of the participants in this struggle for the empire died of old age.

There is wonderful material here to make a dramatic TV series to rival any aired.

Now, a little feedback regarding the audio book itself. I’ve had to look up the spelling of many of these names. A list of dramatis personae [showing off my few latin phrases] and an occasional map would have been a great help in following the narrator. So I went to YouTube and found a series of short videos on the Kings and Generals channel about the wars between the Diadochs. Here maps of the region and orders of battle were shown that were helpful to following the narrator of Prof. Rosiman’s text. After seeing these videos, I listened to most of the book a second time and gained more understanding of the history presented.
If you are interested in Alexander and his empire, I would recommend this book, because without knowing what happened to his empire after his death, you don’t have the whole story.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. ( )
2 vota SamShumate | Feb 19, 2021 |
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Nome dell'autoreRuoloTipo di autoreOpera?Stato
Joseph Roismanautore primariotutte le edizionicalcolato
Burlinson, JohnNarratoreautore secondarioalcune edizioniconfermato
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From antiquity until now, most writers who have chronicled the events following the death of Alexander the Great have viewed this history through the careers, ambitions, and perspectives of Alexander ?s elite successors. Few historians have probed the experiences and attitudes of the ordinary soldiers who followed Alexander on his campaigns and who were divided among his successors as they fought for control of his empire after his death. Yet the veterans played an important role in helping to shape the character and contours of the Hellenistic world. This pathfinding book offers the first in-depth investigation of the Macedonian veterans ? experience during a crucial turning point in Greek history (323 ?316 BCE). Joseph Roisman discusses the military, social, and political circumstances that shaped the history of Alexander ?s veterans, giving special attention to issues such as the soldiers ? conduct on and off the battlefield, the army assemblies, the volatile relationship between the troops and their generals, and other related themes, all from the perspective of the rank-and-file. Roisman also reexamines the biases of the ancient sources and how they affected ancient and modern depictions of Alexander ?s veterans, as well as Alexander ?s conflicts with his army, the veterans ? motives and goals, and their political contributions to Hellenistic history. He pays special attention to the Silver Shields, a group of Macedonian veterans famous for their invincibility and martial prowess, and assesses whether or not they deserved their formidable reputation.

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