Alexander the Great : Letters : A Selection

by: Monti, G.

Alexander the Great
Letters: A Selection

Giustina Monti

Aris & Phillips Classical Texts

This book offers the first critical edition with an English translation and commentary on some of the letters attributed to Alexander and transmitted by mainly Plutarch and Arrian. The vast majority of the texts examined here are constituted by Alexander?s 'private' letters, but the book also includes some letters regarded as official. Thirty-four letters are included, although there are many more letters allegedly written by Alexander, which are definitely forgeries. The doubts about the letters mostly come from the fact that the Romance of Alexander is considered a sort of epistolary novel, thus it has been argued that at some point a collection of Alexander?s letters was put together, containing a nucleus of genuine letters, but also expanded with forgeries. This volume attempts to isolate the letters which are regarded as authentic by the majority of modern scholars, with each letter followed by an outline of previous scholarly discussion of its authenticity.

The book brings to wider attention a much-neglected corpus by employing an innovative approach. The traditional study of epistolography tends to focus on literary rather than historical aspects of the genre, whereas this book, by exploring the culture behind the action of writing at Alexander?s court and the diverse approaches in relation to the letters, suggests that different criteria and new ways of writing history, prompted by Eastern standards, were introduced at his court. Furthermore, the collection shows that the step Alexander made, when he assumed the title of Great King, had formal and cultural implications. Finally, the book discusses the provenance of the letters, especially who among the historians contemporary with Alexander knew and handed the letters down.

Table of Contents
Introduction
1. The Sources for the Letters of Alexander
2. How Did the Letters Reach Later Writers? The Archive and the Royal Grammatistes
3. The Formula of Salutation used by Alexander in his Letters
4. The Persian Custom of Writing Letters
5. The Contents of the Letters and their Addressees:
I. The Great King Darius
II. Antipater
III. Olympias
IV. Pedagogues and Friends
V. Alexander?s Trust in Doctors: Warning Letters
6. Language 7. History of Modern Scholarship on the Letters Chronological Table Conspectus Siglorum
Letters: A Selection
Commentary
Bibliography: Critical Editions Studies
Index Locorum
General Index

Giustina Monti is Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies (Greek Culture) at the University of Lincoln. Her main research interests lie in Greek Historiography, and she has published articles on Alexander the Great, Herodotus, and Polybius. She is also the co-editor (with K. Scarlett Kingsley and Tim Rood) of The Authoritative Historian: Tradition and Innovation in Ancient Historiography (2022).

?[The] careful evaluation of each letter in Monti?s selection makes her book a new work of reference on its subject… she has not only breathed new life and insight into a knotty problem in Alexander Quellenforschung, but also has fashioned a desirable tool for anyone working in depth on Alexander-history.?
Tony Spawforth, Classics for All

?Giustina Monti?s edition of Alexander?s letters is a really important contribution to scholarship… and an excellent commentary… If she is right, they become an immensely valuable resource for sifting some truth from the morass of Alexander legend.?
Christopher Pelling FBA, Emeritus Regius Professor of Greek, University of Oxford

?Readers of Plutarch?s Alexander, wanting an expansion of Hamilton?s always useful but succinct 1969 commentary, will find pages of value on those twenty-eight short passages in Alexander considered here by Monti.?
Brad L. Cook, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

?Monti masterfully addresses the challenges associated with the project… With impressive depth, Giustina Monti engages with a challenging and previously overlooked aspect of Alexander?s rule… her work represents a milestone in the field. Future research on Alexander will likely engage extensively with this important commentary.?
Julian Degen, Historische Zeitschrift

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