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Pierre Briant, Alexander the Great and his Empire: a Short Introduction (tr. Amélie Kuhrt), Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 2010; pp. xxi + 192; ISBN 978-0-691-14194-7 (Hbk); $42.95
After no fewer than five French editions since its initial publication in 1974, and numerous translations into other languages, both European and Asian, we have at last an English version of Pierre Briant's classic Alexandre le Grand. What might be the justification of such a seemingly belated translation? In Briant's view two common defects of Alexander scholarship are still to be redressed, viz., an excessively biographical approach to its subject, and a concomitant Hellenocentrism. Briant (B) therefore seeks to set the career and achievements of Alexander into the wider context of Middle Eastern history (the expanded English title is important).
As the author of From Cyrus to Alexander: History of the Persian Empire (the 2002 translation of the 1996 French original) and several other seminal works on the Achaemenid Empire, B is particularly well placed to restore balance and perspective, as far as that is possible. Here's the rub. Nothing on the Persian side matches the power of the Greek historical narrative, and this is remorselessly focused on the charismatic Alexander. B faces a formidable challenge.
A new Foreword reaffirms B's purpose: "this is not a biography (xi) ... the book's organizing principle is the issue of the conquest-but not so much in military terms as in its political and organizational aspects (xiv-xv). B warns the reader that there will be gaps: there is no critique of the sources (that has been well covered elsewhere); no technical analysis of armies, weapons or tactics, "let alone any discussion of the great set battles".
Well, what will there be? After a brief account of Alexander's early years, and a preliminary chapter on "The Major Stages of the Conquest (334-323)" to orient the reader, B discusses the origins and objectives of the conquest and the resistance to it, the administration, defence and exploitation of the conquered lands, and Alexander's relations with, and policies towards, the Macedonians, Greeks and Iranians. B has updated the text in the light of new discoveries (alas, "unfortunately rare for this period"; xii) and interpretations, adding new maps and illustrations, more references to ancient...