Customer Reviews

Alexander the Great: Murder in Babylon

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a great admirer of Alexander the Great, and own practically every book written about him. However, this is the first book that focuses exclusively on studying in depth the mystery of his untimely death. Phillips' book reads like an Agatha Christe muder mystery, only this time it's a real event that changed the course of history. I could not stop reading it, savoring every chapter as the author closes in on his murderer and the reasons behind it. At the end, the author convinces you that Alexander was really mudered and gives you ample reasons to accept the culprit he has uncovered. It's an absolute success of a murder mystery. I highly recommend it to both history and crime mystery buffs.

I was able to get a copy of 'Alexander the Great" while visiting England recently and anyone who sees Oliver Stone's Alexander movie should read this book. It offers a scholarly insight into Alexander the Great's life and the power-plays that went on within his court. It is easy to read for the layperson but is extremely well researched. This book should also appeal to those who are looking for a good murder mystery. I don't know how many historians will agree with the author's conclusions, but it is certain to keep them eagerly turning the pages. I give this book top marks.

This is filled with historical detail, excellent illustrations, maps and drawings. I thoroughly enjoyed the depth of information and the way it reads almost like a modern murder mystery. This is definitely "CSI:Babylon". A good read!

Was Alexander the Great murdered in Babylon? In a historical mystery which combines Dan Brown's narrative panache (but with far superior writing skills), Agatha Christie's sense of drama and mis-en-scene, and Paul Johnson's synoptic view, Graham Phillips makes a convincing case that, indeed he was. "Alexander the Great: Murder in Babylon" (Virgin Books, 2004) is as thorough as any scholarly study, footnotes and all and, yet, it is compulsively and breathtakingly readable.

The book opens with the events of the fateful banquet in 323 BC: 32-year old conqueror of the known world, Alexander III, fell ill with the most unusual symptoms and then died. For some reason, his hideous expiry has been attributed to malaria, typhoid, or alcohol poisoning. But Phillips demonstrates irrefutably that the King was assassinated, his drinks laced with fatal herbs.

Having considered the means, Phillips then proceeds to review the motives and opportunity each of the suspects had. And what a list it makes! By the end of his ego-driven life, Alexander had converted his entire entourage into a gaggle of bitter, vengeful, scheming courtiers and spurned wives. Phillips shines the proverbial spotlight on each suspect in turn, analyzing his or her relationship with the young potent, the promise and the inevitable disappointment and disillusionment, love turned to virulent, seething, pernicious hatred or to cold, calculated, merciless self-interest.

Antipater, the long-suffering soldier who feared that he is about to be executed by an increasingly more paranoid Alexander; Arridaeus, the King's older brother, intermittently mentally incompetent, but sufficiently coherent to envy and resent his sibling; Barsine, the gorgeous captive-turned-wife, jilted for a younger woman, saddled with Alexander's first child; Seleucus, the able officer whose meteoric rise via the military ranks may have tempted him to seize even more power; Roxanne, Alexander's first wife and queen, driven insane by her jealousy of Alexander's Persian second wife, Statira, daughter of the defeated Darius III; Meleager who frowned upon Alexander's self-deification and who survived the purge of the loyal Macedonian cohorts in favor of Persian recruits; Statira, who openly threatened to kill Alexander to avenge her father's death; and Perdiccas, Alexander's second-in-command and instant beneficiary from his untimely demise.

Phillips then proceeds to place the whole event in intricate, rich, and panoramic historical and cultural context and to suggest a plausible solution to the enigma of Alexander's murder, culprit, method, and aftermath included. This, in itself, renders the book the ultimate intelligent whodunit. But Phillips' main (possibly inadvertent) contribution may be the emergence of another profile of Alexander: querulous, paranoid, delusionally megalomaniac, hostile, treacherous, and flippant. In other word: a narcissistic psychopath. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited".

I really loved how the author broke everything down and made it feel like a murder mystery, not some dry old history book. I also enjoyed the recap bullet points at the end of every chapter to help you keep track of everything. This was a great and addicting read.