Riassunto
Trama e riassunto di Anabasi di Alessandro
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love military history and the ancient world, and anyone who wants to meet Alexander through marches, battles, sieges and the choices of a commander.
Che cos’è questo libro
The Anabasis of Alexander is the fullest surviving ancient account of how a Macedonian king conquered the Persian Empire. It was written in Greek by Arrian, a Roman senator and soldier from Nicomedia, who lived long after Alexander, in the second century after Christ. Its title means the march up country, a word Greeks used for an army moving inland from the coast. Arrian tells the story in seven books, from Alexander's first days as king to the last months of his life.
Arrian wrote because he thought the deeds were not yet told well. Many writers had described Alexander, and many of them disagreed. So Arrian went back to two men who had served in the campaign, Ptolemy and Aristobulus, and followed them wherever they agreed. Where they differed, he says so and picks the version he finds more likely. He also sets down some tales he doubts, because he thinks they deserve a mention.
What do you get from it? You get a clear campaign history: marches, battles, sieges, river crossings and the choices of one commander. You also get a soldier's eye on Alexander, full of admiration but not blind to his faults. Let us begin with the man behind the book, because his own life shapes how he tells the story.
In questo riassunto
- 1A soldier and statesman writes the campaignFree
- 2A young king secures Macedon and Greece
- 3Crossing to Asia and winning at the Granicus
- 4Issus, Tyre, and the road into Egypt
- 5Gaugamela and the fall of the Persian heartland
- 6Bactria, Sogdiana, and the strain inside the army
- 7India, the Hydaspes, and an army that will not go on
- 8Down the Indus and across the desert of Gedrosia
- 9Ruling Asia, the last year, and Arrian's verdict
Punto chiave 1 di 9
A soldier and statesman writes the campaign
Arrian was a Greek from Bithynia, in what is now northwest Turkey, who rose high in the Roman world. He was a pupil of the Stoic teacher Epictetus and wrote down his lessons. Under the emperor Hadrian he became a consul and then governor of Cappadocia, where he commanded troops and faced an invasion by the Alans. He knew armies from the inside, and that shows on every page.
He chose to write in the Greek of the classical age, not the plain Greek of his own day. His models were Xenophon, who had also written an Anabasis about Greek soldiers marching through Persia, and the historian Herodotus. By borrowing the title, Arrian signals that he wants to stand beside Xenophon. He even compares himself to Homer's rivals, saying that Alexander deserved a writer as good as the deeds.
His method is plain. He tells us in the preface that Ptolemy, later king of Egypt, and Aristobulus, an engineer, were both on the campaign. He trusts them because they wrote after Alexander's death, when there was no reason to flatter or fear him. Ptolemy also had no need to lie, Arrian says, since a king would be ashamed to.
This habit of weighing sources gives the book a calm and careful tone. Arrian often writes that something is told in one way by one author and in another way by a second. Then he gives his own view and moves on. Readers get a sense of an honest historian at work, even when his sources are limited.
The result is a narrative driven by action. Arrian cares less about economics, Persian court life or daily camp routine. He wants to follow the army, the king, the terrain and the decision of each day. If you listen with that in mind, the book feels like a well ordered campaign report.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Alexander
- The young Macedonian king inherits his father Philip II's army and leads its campaign against Persia.
- Darius III
- The Persian king commands the empire's forces and faces Alexander as his principal royal opponent.
- Philip II
- Alexander's father is the Macedonian king whose army and planned Persian campaign his son inherits.
- Ptolemy
- A participant in Alexander's campaigns, he supplies one of the accounts Arrian chiefly follows.
- Aristobulus
- A participant in Alexander's expedition, he provides another principal account that Arrian compares with Ptolemy's.
- Porus
- An Indian king, he commands the forces confronting Alexander at the river Hydaspes.
- Bessus
- A Persian claimant to royal power, he becomes Alexander's opponent in the campaign toward Bactria.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 152,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 10 h 5 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Anabasi di Alessandro
What is The Anabasis of Alexander about?
It tells of Alexander the Great's campaigns from his accession in 336 BC to his death at Babylon. It covers his wars against Persia, his march into Central Asia and India, and the struggles within his army.
What does Anabasis mean?
Anabasis is Greek for a march up from the coast into the interior. Xenophon used it for his story of Greek soldiers in Persia, and Arrian took the title to link his work to that earlier book.
Is the Anabasis hard to read?
The narrative runs in order and is driven by marches and battles. The story stays clear.