A biography of Alexander the Great, based on a series of 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, debts, and an army. He led the army east into the Persian Empire, beginning a military campaign. The young man became a king, a hero, and a living god, dying at age thirty-two in Babylon. Ruins of his cities have emerged from the sea and Central Asian hillsides, diaries of Babylonian astronomers have been deciphered, and the tombs of his ancestors have been unearthed. Based on more than a decade of research, Alexander covers the author's travels from the catacombs of Egypt to the passes of Afghanistan. Sparta’s warriors and resilience are known as a model for toughness, justice, and masculinity. The Spartans' reputation as fighters is matched by their code of honour. Sparta traces the story of Ancient Greece's city-state, from its beginnings as a hamlet in the Peloponnese to its rise as a military superpower of the Classical world. Andrew Bayliss covers the double monarchy, the methods for raising children as soldiers, and the role of women in Spartan life. This is the story of its rise and fall.
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