A biography of Alexander the Great, based on new discoveries and the author’s own translations of source material from twelve ancient languages.

In 336 BCE, at the age of twenty, Alexander, a boy from the hills of Macedon, inherited a kingdom, a pile of debts and an army which answered to nobody. Desperate to hold on to power, he led the army east, into the heart of the vast Persian Empire, and began a military campaign. The young man became a king, the king became a hero, the hero became a living god, and the god died aged thirty-two in Babylon.

For centuries, historians have told his story, yet Alexander has remained a mystery. But now, the ruins of his cities have emerged from the bottom of the sea and the dust of Central Asian hillsides. The diaries of Babylonian astronomers who knew him have been deciphered. The tombs of his ancestors have been unearthed. Based on more than a decade of research, Alexander allows readers to experience the story through research that has taken the author from the catacombs of Egypt to the passes of Afghanistan.