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Child Of A Dream
''Child of a Dream'' (original title: ''Il figlio del sogno'') is the first part of Valerio Massimo Manfredi's Alexander trilogy, released in 1998. It narrates the childhood of Alexander the Great, son of King Philip II of Macedon and queen Olympias. He is tutored by the great Greek philosopher Aristotle until the age of 16, thanks to the friendship of Hephaestion and Ptolemy, he becomes a charismatic and mighty warrior, ready to take on the challenge of expanding the Macedonian Empire following the assassination of his father. Plot The story starts before the birth of Alexander at Pella, when his mother Queen Olympias dreams of a snake slithering inside her bed and thrusting its seed inside her; when she recounts her dream to the priests of the Oracle of Dodona, they tell her that her child shall be the offspring of Zeus and a man, just like his hero Achilles. On the day that Alexander was born, his father Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valerio Massimo Manfredi
Valerio Massimo Manfredi (born 8 March 1943) is an Italian historian, writer, essayist, archaeologist and journalist. Biography He was born in Piumazzo di Castelfranco Emilia province of Modena and, after getting a degree in Classical Arts at the University of Bologna, he became an archaeologist at the Catholic University of Milan, specialising in the topography of the Ancient World. At the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore itself, he taught from 1980 to 1986, then moved on to an academic career at the University of Venice (1987) and then at the Loyola University of Chicago, the Sorbonne University in Paris and the Bocconi University in Milan. However, due to his numerous commitments, both national and international, he can no longer lecture full-time, but he holds a visiting professor role. Between the 1970s and the 1980s, he has undertaken the "Anabasis" expeditions for the reconstruction of the itinerary of the Ten Thousand's retreat. This expedition covered a total o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seleucus I Nicator
Seleucus I Nicator (; ; grc-gre, Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ , ) was a Macedonian Greek general who was an officer and successor ( ''diadochus'') of Alexander the Great. Seleucus was the founder of the eponymous Seleucid Empire. In the power struggles that followed Alexander's death, Seleucus rose from being a secondary player to becoming total ruler of Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Iranian Plateau, eventually assuming the title of '' basileus'' (king). The state he established on these territories, the Seleucid Empire, was one of the major powers of the Hellenistic world, until being overcome by the Roman Republic and Parthian Empire in the late second and early first centuries BC. After the death of Alexander in June 323 BC, Seleucus initially supported Perdiccas, the regent of Alexander's empire, and was appointed Commander of the Companions and chiliarch at the Partition of Babylon in 323 BC. However, after the outbreak of the Wars of the Diadochi in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thessaly (ancient Region)
Thessaly or Thessalia (Attic Greek: , ''Thessalía'' or , ''Thettalía'') was one of the traditional regions of Ancient Greece. During the Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean period, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, a name that continued to be used for one of the major tribes of Greece, the Aeolians, and their dialect of Greek, Aeolic Greek, Aeolic. Geography At its greatest extent, ancient Thessaly was a wide area stretching from Mount Olympos, Mount Olympus to the north to the Spercheios Valley to the south. Thessaly is a geographically diverse region, consisting of Thessalian plain, broad central plains surrounded by mountains. The plains are bounded by the Pindos Mountains to the west, Mount Othrys to the south, the Pelion and Mount Ossa (Greece), Ossa ranges to the east, and Mount Olympos to the North. The central plains consist of two basins, the Larisa basin and the Karditsa basin, drained by the Pineios (Thessaly), Pineios River into the Vale of Tempe. The Pagasetic Gulf in southeaste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eumenes
Eumenes (; grc-gre, Εὐμένης; c. 362316 BC) was a Greek general and satrap. He participated in the Wars of Alexander the Great, serving as both Alexander's personal secretary and as a battlefield commander. He later was a participant in the Wars of the Diadochi as a supporter of the Macedonian Argead royal house. He was executed after the Battle of Gabiene in 316 BC. Early career Eumenes was a native of Cardia in the Thracian Chersonese. At a very early age, he was employed as a private secretary by Philip II of Macedon and after Philip's death (336 BC) by Alexander the Great, whom he accompanied into Asia. After Alexander's death (323 BC), Eumenes took command of a large body of Macedonian and other Greek soldiers fighting in support of Alexander's son, Alexander IV. Satrap of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia (323-319 BC) In the ensuing division of the empire in the Partition of Babylon (323 BC), Cappadocia and Paphlagonia were assigned to Eumenes; but as they were not ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attalus (general)
Attalus (Greek: Ἄτταλος; c. 390 BC – 336 BC), a Macedonian from Lower Macedonia, was an important courtier and soldier of Philip II of Macedonia. Family connections to Philip II of Macedon Attalus was born in Lower Macedonia in 390 BC. In 338 BC, Attalus's adopted niece Cleopatra Eurydice married king Philip II of Macedonia. It is said that at the wedding, Attalus made a prayer that Cleopatra may give birth to a legitimate male heir to Philip. This was seen as a direct insult to Alexander the Great. In the spring of 336 BC, Philip II appointed Attalus and Parmenion as commanders of the advance force that would invade the Persian Empire in Asia Minor. Revenge-rape of Pausanias of Orestis According to a story of Aristotle's, lengthened by Cleitarchus and Diodorus Siculus, Attalus sexually assaulted Pausanias of Orestis in retribution for besmirching the reputation of Attalus's friend (possibly relation), also named Pausanias, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cleopatra Eurydice Of Macedon
Eurydice (Greek: Εὐρυδίκη), born Cleopatra (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα) was a mid-4th century BC Macedonian noblewoman, niece of Attalus, and last of the seven wives of Philip II of Macedon, but the first Macedonian one. Biography Cleopatra was a maiden whom Philip married either in 338 or 337 BC and was his seventh wife. While Cleopatra was Philip's seventh wife she was his first Macedonian wife, and was wed as an alliance between the king and his general, Cleopatra's uncle, Attalus. As Philip's wife, Cleopatra was given the name "Eurydice". Although Philip was a polygamist, his marriage to Cleopatra greatly upset Olympias, his fourth wife and the mother of Alexander the Great, and threw Alexander's inheritance into question. According to both Justin and Satyrus, Cleopatra Eurydice and Philip produced two children, Europa, a girl, and Caranus, a boy. Following Philip's assassination, both children were murdered by Olympias, whereupon Cleopatra took her own life, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheronea
Chaeronea (English: or ; el, Χαιρώνεια , ) is a village and a former municipality in Boeotia, Greece, located about 35 kilometers east of Delphi. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Livadeia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 111.445 km2, the community is 26.995 km2. Population 1,382 (2011). It is located near Mount Thourion in the Kifisós river valley, NW of Thebes. History First settled in the Prehistoric period at the site now known as Magoula Balomenou (Μαγούλα Μπαλωμένου), its older name was Arne, and it was originally on the shore of Lake Copais (later drained). Chaeronea was subject to Orchomenus which was, beginning in 600 BC, a member of the Boeotian League. In the late 5th century BC, Chaironeia belonged to one of the 11 Boeotian districts along with Acraephnium and Copia. Chaeronea's importance lay in its strategic position near the head of the defile which p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bucephalus
Bucephalus or Bucephalas (; grc, Βουκεφάλας, ; – June 326 BC) was the horse of Alexander the Great, and one of the most famous horses of classical antiquity. Ancient historical accounts state that Bucephalus' breed was that of the "best Thessaly, Thessalian strain", and that he died in what is now Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan, after the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC. The horse was reportedly buried at Jalalpur Sharif, a small town situated a short distance to the southwest of Jhelum. Another account states that Bucephalus is buried in Phalia, a town located near the city of Mandi Bahauddin, which was named after him (Alexandria Bucephalous). Bucephalus was named after Bucephalus (brand), a branding mark depicting an ox's head on his haunch. Taming of Bucephalus A massive creature with a massive head, Bucephalus is described as having a black coat with a large white star on his brow. He is also supposed to have had a "Horse markings#Other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mieza, Macedonia
Mieza ( grc, Μίεζα), "shrine of the Nymphs", was a town in ancient Macedonia, where Aristotle taught the boy Alexander the Great between 343 and 340 BCE.pothos.orgAristotle (384-322 BC) Ptolemy classifies Mieza among the cities of Emathia. Stephanus of Byzantium, on the other hand, deriving his information apparently from Theagenes, alludes to it as "''τόπος Στρυμόνος''", and adds that it was sometimes called Strymonium. The site where Mieza once stood is the modern Lefkadia, near the modern town Náousa, Imathia, Central Macedonia, Greece, and has been the subject of archeological excavations since 1954.Orkin, Lisa (18 July 1999)"Greece – Ruins Renewed: Seeking New Life For Past Glories" ''The Seattle Times'' (via Associated Press). Mieza was named for Mieza, in ancient Macedonian mythology, the daughter of Beres and sister of Olganos and Beroia. It was the home of Alexander's companion Peucestas. Aristotle was hired by Alexander's father, Philip I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonidas
Leonidas I (; grc-gre, Λεωνίδας; died 19 September 480 BC) was a List of kings of Sparta#Heraclids, king of the Greek city-state of Sparta, and the 17th of the List of kings of Sparta#Agiad dynasty, Agiad line, a dynasty which claimed descent from the mythological demigod Heracles. Leonidas I was son of King Anaxandridas II. He succeeded his half-brother King Cleomenes I to the throne in c. 489 BC. His co-ruler was King Leotychidas. He was succeeded by his son, King Pleistarchus. Leonidas had a notable participation in the Second Persian invasion of Greece, Second Greco-Persian War, where he led the allied Greek forces to a last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) while attempting to defend the pass from the invading Persian army; he died at the battle and entered myth as the leader of the 300 Spartans. While the Greeks lost this battle, they were able to expel the Persian invaders in the following year. Life According to Herodotus, Leonidas' mother was not only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philotas
Philotas ( el, Φιλώτας; 365 BC – October 330 BC) was the eldest son of Parmenion, one of Alexander the Great's most experienced and talented generals. He rose to command the Companion Cavalry, but was accused of conspiring against Alexander and executed. Biography When Alexander became king of Macedonia (336 BC) with Parmenion's support, he and his relations were rewarded with offices and commissions. Philotas was promoted, from a commander of a cavalry squadron to commander of the Companions, the corps of Macedonian cavalry that also provided bodyguards and attendants to the King. In battle, Alexander rode with and led this cavalry corps; they were, literally, his "companions," hence the name. Philotas, though a highly capable officer, was widely perceived as arrogant and pompous; he was never able to master the role of courtier, was often a center of conflict, and often earned the King's disfavour. He would serve alongside Alexander in numerous battles, fighting at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perdiccas
Perdiccas ( el, Περδίκκας, ''Perdikkas''; 355 BC – 321/320 BC) was a general of Alexander the Great. He took part in the Macedonian campaign against the Achaemenid Empire, and, following Alexander's death in 323 BC, rose to become supreme commander of the imperial army, as well as regent for Alexander's half brother and intellectually disabled successor, Philip Arridaeus (Philip III). He was the first of the Diadochi who fought for control over Alexander's empire. In his attempts to establish a power base and stay in control of the empire, he managed to make enemies of critical generals in the Macedonian army—including Antipater, Craterus and Antigonus—who decided to revolt against the regent. In response to this formidable coalition and a provocation from another general, Ptolemy, Perdiccas invaded Egypt, but his soldiers revolted and killed him when the invasion foundered. Family background According to Arrian, Perdiccas was the son of the Macedonian n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
