Book Review Added to Site

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sikander
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Book Review Added to Site

Post by sikander »

Greetings,

This is just a quick note to let everyone know that a new book review (by Karen) has been added to the Book Reviews page under Books on Alexander. This review covers Vicky's new book, Alexander Rocks the World, written with children as the target audience.

My thanks to Karen for a thorough review and to Thomas for assisting in its posting.


Regards,
Sikander
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dean
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Post by dean »

Hello,

Cheers Sikandar for drawing my attention to the review.

and thanks Karen for the time taken- and for a great review.

Reading about what you mentioned about the author's little impasse about Leonidas- curiously Renault in "fire" records the follwing,
Leonidas.
He was Olympias' uncle; but more Hellenized than Philip himself. As a young man, in love with the idea rather than the ideas of Greece, he had travelled south, making first for Athens. Here he had acquired a pure Attic speech, studied oratory and composition; and sampled the philosophic schools just long enough to decide they could only undermine sound tradition and the findings of common sense. As was natural to a man of his birth, he made friends among the aristocracy, hereditary oligarchs who looked to the good old days, deplored the times, and, like their forbears back to the Great War, admired the customs of Sparta. In due course Leonidas went to see it.
Is this part of her writer's creative licence or is this written down somewhere?
With Renault, you instinctly get the impression that somewhere there is a reference but I am not a hundred percent sure.
Best regards,
Dean
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karen
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Leonidas

Post by karen »

Hi all:

Thanks for the kudos re the review. Sikander I had been meaning to email you asking if you'd received it! Now I know you have.

Good question, Dean -- where the heck did Mary Renault learn all this stuff about Leonidas? It's as if his life story were recorded somewhere.

No doubt Amyntoros is scouring her books even as I write :)

Warmly,
Karen
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amyntoros
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Re: Leonidas

Post by amyntoros »

karen wrote:No doubt Amyntoros is scouring her books even as I write :)
Ack! This is quite embarrassing because although I hadnGÇÖt yet reached for my books, I was thinking of doing so even before I read your post! :oops:

My first reference stop these days is HeckelGÇÖs wonderful WhoGÇÖs Who in the Age of Alexander the Great; afterwards all I have to do is check his source listings. Now, IGÇÖm missing one historical text, Diogenes of Babylon ap. Quint 1.1.9, but I doubt that this is the source of RenaultGÇÖs information. More likely she is quoting from the Alexander Romance because Heckel gives Ps-Call 1.13 and Jul Val 1.7 as references. (The rest of the listing contains texts that we all know and which certainly donGÇÖt give such detailed information on Leonidas.)

I'm assuming that Renault is quoting from a source, by the way. I agree that it would be very unlike her to invent something so elaborate. So . . . who has a copy of Pseudo Callisthenes and the time to type out the relevant excerpt for us? Pretty please . . . :)

Best regards,
Amyntoros

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