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The Nature Of Alexander
''The Nature of Alexander'' (1975) is a nonfiction work by novelist Mary Renault (1905–1983). Summary The book is a biography of King Alexander the Great, (356-323 BCE/BC), ruler of Macedon, Egypt and Persia. Renault wrote several historical novels in which Alexander appears: ''The Mask of Apollo'' (1966), '' Fire from Heaven'' (1969), ''The Persian Boy'' (1972) and ''Funeral Games'' (1981). She felt these were not enough to tell the whole story of Alexander, and so she completed her nonfiction biography. The book makes no attempt to be impartial or neutral, but rather unabashedly advocates Alexander as a truly great man. For example, Renault rejects the usual terminology of the "murder" of Kleitos, pointing out that legally, "murder" refers only to a killing with premeditation, which absolutely was not the case when the King killed Kleitos in a drunken brawl, after much drink and much provocation. She also points out that the beauty of the mummy of Alexander was still muc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Renault
Eileen Mary Challans (4 September 1905 – 13 December 1983), known by her pen name Mary Renault ("She always pronounced it 'Ren-olt', though almost everyone would come to speak of her as if she were a French car." ), was an English writer best known for her historical novels set in ancient Greece. Born in Forest Gate in 1905, she attended St Hugh's College, Oxford, from 1924 until 1928. After graduating from St Hugh's with a Third Class in English, she worked as a nurse and began writing her first novels, which were contemporary romances. In 1948, she moved to South Africa with her partner Julie Mullard, where she spent the rest of her life. Living in South Africa allowed her to write about openly gay characters without fearing the censorship and homophobia of England. She devoted herself to writing historical fiction in the 1950s, which were also her most successful books. She is best known for her historical fiction today. Renault's works are often rooted in themes related t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funeral Games (novel)
''Funeral Games'' is a 1981 historical novel by Mary Renault, dealing with the death of Alexander the Great and its aftermath, the gradual disintegration of his empire. It is the final book of her Alexander trilogy. Synopsis The chapters of the book have the years of the events for their titles: * 323 BC. Alexander the Great dies in Babylon. Perdikkas seeks to be appointed as Regent for the king's yet-unborn heir. Meleager wants Arrhidaios acclaimed as king. The dispute threatens to become a civil war. Roxane murders the daughters of Darius and their unborn children. Perdikkas becomes Regent, with both Phillip Arrhidaios and Alexander IV (son of Roxane) as nominal joint kings. Ptolemy and Bagoas reach an agreement. The Greeks revolt; Antipatros crushes them. * 322 BC. Perdikkas crushes the Isaurians. Bagoas visits Ptolemy in Alexandria, and together they advance their plans for relocating the mummy of Alexander to that city. The daring plan is carried out, and the Mummy and go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Historiography Of Alexander The Great
There are numerous surviving ancient Greek and Latin sources on Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, as well as some Asian texts. The five main surviving accounts are by Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, and Justin.Green, 2007, pp xxii–xxviii In addition to these five main sources, there is the ''Metz Epitome'', an anonymous late Latin work that narrates Alexander's campaigns from Hyrcania to India. Much is also recounted incidentally by other authors, including Strabo, Athenaeus, Polyaenus, Aelian, and others. Strabo, who gives a summary of Callisthenes, is an important source for Alexander's journey to Siwah. Contemporary sources Most primary sources written by people who actually knew Alexander or who gathered information from men who served with Alexander are lost, but a few inscriptions and fragments survive. Contemporaries who wrote accounts of his life include Alexander's campaign historian Callisthenes; Alexander's generals Ptolemy and Nearchus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1975 Non-fiction Books
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up. * January 2 ** The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress. ** Bangladesh revolutionary leader Siraj Sikder is killed by police while in custody. ** A bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways. * January 5 – Tasman Bridge disaster: The Tasman Bridge in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier , killing 12 people. * January 7 – OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%. * January 10–February 9 – The flight of ''Soyuz 17'' with the crew of Georgy Grechko and Aleksei Gubarev aboard the ''Salyut 4'' space station. * January 15 – Alvor Agreement: Portugal an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phobos (mythology)
Phobos ( grc, Φόβος, , Ancient Greek: "fear") is the god and personification of fear and panic in Greek mythology. Phobos was the son of Ares and Aphrodite, and the brother of Deimos. He does not have a major role in mythology outside of being his father's attendant.Hesiod, ''Theogony'933/ref> In Classical Greek mythology, Phobos exists as both the god of and personification of the fear brought by war. In Roman mythology, he has also been referred to as Pavor or Terror. Mythology Phobos was the son of Ares and Aphrodite. He mainly appears in an assistant role to his father and causes disorder in battle. In the ''Iliad'', he accompanied his father into battle along with the goddess Eris (discord) and his brother Deimos (Dread). In Hesiod's '' Shield of Herakles'', Phobos and Deimos accompany Ares into battle and remove him from the field once he is injured by Herakles. In Nonnus' '' Dionysiaca'', Zeus arms Phobos with lightning and Deimos with thunder to frighten Ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bagoas (courtier)
Bagoas (Old Persian: ''Bagāvahyā'', grc, Βαγώας ''Bagōas'') was the name of two eunuchs in the court of the Persian Empire in the 4th century BC. Bagoas the Younger was a courtier of Darius and later of Alexander the Great. Bagoas' kiss According to Plutarch, Bagoas won a dancing contest after the Macedonian crossing of the Gedrosian Desert. The Macedonian troops, with whom Bagoas was very popular, demanded that king Alexander should kiss Bagoas, and he did so. Fictionalized versions * Bagoas is the narrator and title character of ''The Persian Boy'', the historical novel by Mary Renault, which portrays him sympathetically. He reappears in a smaller but still significant role in the sequel ''Funeral Games''. *The Serpent's Oath' (2021) by A.R. Valeson portrays a historical fiction romance between King Henry VIII's Master Secretary, Thomas Cromwell and the eunuch, Arthamaeus, inspired by the courtier Bagoas. * He makes an even briefer appearance in ''Les Conquêtes d'A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1975 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1975. Events *January 1 – English-born comic writer P. G. Wodehouse is awarded a knighthood, six weeks before he dies in the United States. *January – Colin Dexter's detective novel ''Last Bus to Woodstock'' introduces his Oxford police officer, Inspector Morse. * April 23 **Barbara Pym and Philip Larkin meet in person for the first time, at the Randolph Hotel, Oxford, after years of correspondence. ** Harold Pinter's play '' No Man's Land'' is premièred by the National Theatre at The Old Vic in London, directed by Peter Hall and starring Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson. *April 28 – Harold Pinter leaves his first wife, the actress Vivien Merchant, having begun an affair with the married biographer Lady Antonia Fraser on January 8. * May 10 – Leftist Salvadoran poet, journalist and political activist Roque Dalton (born 1935) is assassinated by former colleagues in the People's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy within the Lyceum and the wider Aristotelian tradition. His writings cover many subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, meteorology, geology, and government. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. It was above all from his teachings that the West inherited its intellectual lexicon, as well as problems and methods of inquiry. As a result, his philosophy has exerted a unique influence on almost every form of knowledge in the West and it continues to be a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion. Little is known about his life. Aristotle was born in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hephaestion
Hephaestion ( grc, Ἡφαιστίων ''Hephaistíon''; c. 356 BC – October 324 BC), son of Amyntor, was an ancient Macedonian nobleman and a general in the army of Alexander the Great. He was "by far the dearest of all the king's friends; he had been brought up with Alexander and shared all his secrets."Curtius 3.12.16 This relationship lasted throughout their lives, and was compared, by others as well as themselves, to that of Achilles and Patroclus. His military career was distinguished. A member of Alexander the Great's personal bodyguard, he went on to command the Companion cavalry and was entrusted with many other tasks throughout Alexander's ten-year campaign in Asia, including diplomatic missions, the bridging of major rivers, sieges and the foundation of new settlements. Besides being a soldier, engineer and diplomat, he corresponded with the philosophers Aristotle and Xenocrates and actively supported Alexander in his attempts to integrate th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cleitus The Black
Cleitus the Black ( grc-gre, Κλεῖτος ὁ μέλας; c. 375 BC – 328 BC), was an officer of the Macedonian army led by Alexander the Great. He saved Alexander's life at the Battle of the Granicus in 334 BC and was killed by him in a drunken quarrel six years later. Cleitus was the son of Dropidas (who was the son of Critias) and brother of Alexander's nurse, Lanike. He would be given the epithet 'the Black' to distinguish him from Cleitus the White. Military service Cleitus was made a commander of the Greek Cavalry under Philip II, a position he would retain under Alexander the Great. At the Battle of the Granicus in 334 BC, when Alexander was being assailed by both Rhosaces and Spithridates, Cleitus severed Spithridates's arm before the Persian satrap could bring it down on Alexander, thus saving his life. He would later be promoted to one of the two commanders of the companion cavalry following the trial and execution of Philotas. The death of Cleitus In 328 BC, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Persian Boy
''The Persian Boy'' is a 1972 historical novel written by Mary Renault and narrated by Bagoas, a young Persian from an aristocratic family who is captured by his father's enemies, castrated, and sold as a slave to king Darius III, who makes him his favourite. Eventually he becomes the lover and most faithful servant of Alexander the Great, who overthrew Darius and captured the Persian Empire. Bagoas' narration provides both a Persian view of the conquest and an intimate look at the personality of the conqueror. In Renault's view, Alexander's love for Bagoas influenced his desire to unite the Greek and Persian peoples. Renault also posits the notion that Alexander's relentless drive to conquer the world stemmed in part from his troubled relationship with his domineering mother, and his desire to "escape" from her influence by leading his army ever eastward. The novel is a sequel to Renault's '' Fire from Heaven'' (1969). ''The Persian Boy'' was a bestseller within the gay communi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
