If you follow The Second Achilles on Tumblr you will know that I have begun a daily chapter-by-chapter guide to Plutarch’s Life of Alexander.
The series is an attempt (occasionally successful) to write a short post on each chapter, accompanying each one with images relevant to the text.
Every seven chapters I’ll link to them all here for anyone who would like to read them but without joining Tumblr.
- Prologue/Chapter One Plutarch’s Introduction
- Chapter Two - Alexander’s Ancestry & Parentage
- Chapter Three - Alexander’s Birth
- Chapter Four - Alexander’s Physical Appearance & Character
- Chapter Five - More on Alexander’s Character & his teachers
- Chapter Six - The Calming of Bucephalas
- Chapter Seven - Aristotle
Update: For links to the other posts in this series, click here
In Chapter Three - Alexander’s Birth, you stated without swaying that the Sixth of the Macedonian month Lous corresponds to ‘our’ 20th July. This is far from being sure: ancient Greek months weren’t as constantly settled as ours: the same month might be many days longer or shorter; not only, but it might be shifted before or after another month. Perhaps it’s for this reason that Aristobulus says (Arrian 7,28,1) Alexander was thirty two and eight months old when he died: evidently he put his birth in October, not July.
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That’s a good point. I’ll mention that in my next Tumblr post.
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