β Scribed by Nicastro, Nicholas
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Aug 2009
323 B.C. The great Alexander is dead -- and the uneasy peace in his former empire is unraveling. Machon, the late king's renowned friend and ally, is the scapegoat for Alexander's downfall, charged with the capital crime of corruption of a god.
As an Athenian and an outsider, Machon is prepared to accept the challenge of his accusers and tell the truth behind Alexander's meteoric rise and fall. From his bloody ascent to power and his string of victories, to the seething hatred of the peoples he conquered, to his slow descent into drunkenness, madness, and wanton brutality, this is the stunning and tragic saga of a peerless military leader who proclaimed himself a god -- and lost his humanity.
βNicastro describes life in ancient Athens with a vividness that leaps from the pageβ¦I was charmed by the notion of a teenaged Alexander with greasy hair and acne β an image characteristic of Nicastroβs humanizing approach. He avoids both apologetics and exaggerated sensationalism, making 'Empire of Ashes' one of the best recent novels on the conqueror.β
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Alexander the Great (356 to 323 B.C.) ascended to the throne of Macedon at the age of twenty. He fought his greatest battles, including the conquest of the mighty Persian Empire, before he was twenty five and died at the age of thirty three, still undefeated by any enemy. His reputation as a supreme
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