pothos.org

Well, I finally succumbed and purchased Graham Phillips' "A the G: Murder in Babylon", where he purports to 'solve' the mystery of A's death (Paul Doherty's brought out a similar book recently, too).All I can say is that it's a fantastic piece of fiction, but nothing more. So far I've filled about 3 pages (narrow rule, very small writing) with errors, and I'm not half way through.The problem largely seems to be that he bases his conclusions on a badly-identified 'source' text which isn't one of the main five, and which I think *must* be a version of the Alexander Romance (he does at least say it's anonymously written). I certainly can't find any other reputable source that claims that Roxane, Stateira and Barsine were all at the feast where Al became ill! The best bit for me, so far, has to be the chapter on Antipater. Even though he is the most often quoted culprit in the (legitimate) literature, Phillips ultimately discounts him; yet he builds a case for Antipater's motive ... and he does so based on his entirely fictitious account of Antipater's life.I've just got past the bit where Arrhidaios is motivated to kill Alexander because he was in love with Barsine when she lived in Macedonia (having got close to her when she was studying with Aristotle for a year), and Alexander 'took her from him' after her capture after Issus. Oh, yes, and prior to claiming her as his mistress, Alexander saved her from rape by his troops.It's a masterclass in fantasy fiction, but nothing so far indicates that he's really read any of the books in his bibliography!It costs -ú20 in the UK - SPEND YOUR MONEY ON SOMETHING ELSE!All the bestMarcus

Marcus, are you *absolutely* sure this book isn't meant to be fiction? I haven't read it and certainly won't bother now. I've stalled at the last two chapters of Doherty's book for the same reason. Once he stops quoting in full from *all* the major sources (one chapter has nine pages of quotes out of eleven pages of copy!) and starts with his own theories, my jaw drops to the top of my shoes.Best regards,Linda Ann

I haven't read the Doherty book, but I think I ought to, just for comparison - after all, two books come out at the same time, both with different lists of suspects (almost completely), and end up with different culprits.Of course, as they both appear to have taken little or no notice of the historical sources, it's hardly surprising! :-)All the bestMarcus

Thanks for the heads up on that one. Don't you just hate it when people totally skew the facts? I mean, you can have some poetic license when writing historical fiction but at least try and stick as closely as possible to what is known from the main Sources. This story sounds pretty incredible! (or should I say 'incredulous!'

Oh, it's got worse since I wrote my original post! His entire chapter on Seleucus is a tissue of fantasy.Marcus