To all those who witnessed his extraordinary conquests, from Albania to India, Alexander the Great appeared invincible. How Alexander himself promoted this appearance--how he abetted the belief that he enjoyed divine favor and commanded even the forces of nature against his enemies--is the subject of Frank L. Holt's absorbing book.
Solid evidence for the "supernaturalized" Alexander lies in a rare series of medallions that depict the triumphant young king at war against the elephants, archers, and chariots of Rajah Porus of India at the Battle of the Hydaspes River. Recovered from...

What George W. Bush called the "first war of the twenty-first century" actually began more than 2,300 years ago when Alexander the Great led his army into what is now a sprawling ruin in northern Afghanistan. Accounts of Alexander's invasion of ancient Bactria read eerily like news from our own day. In this vivid, meticulously researched, and elegantly narrated book, Frank L. Holt follows Alexander's historical, archaeological, and numismatic legacy back and forth between ancient Bactria and modern Afghanistan. Recounting the plight of the most powerful leader of the time as he led the most...

The creation of a Greek Frontier in Central Asia was one of the most famous and far-reaching achievements of Alexander the Great. Yet the process was shaped as much by the political traditions of the natives as by the cultural traditions of the newcomers. This book examines this key historical clash from both sides, and shows that the birth of Hellenistic Bactria was a traumatic one eliciting more bitterness than 'brotherhood'.
The book is composed of four major parts: Part I provides an introduction to both Bactrian and Alexander studies; Part II surveys the land and peoples of Central...