UNITED KINGDOM AUTHOR · HISTORY · NONFICTION
Robin Lane Fox
Robin James Lane Fox, (born 5 October 1946) is an English classicist, ancient historian, and gardening writer known for his works on Alexander the Great. Lane Fox is an Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford, and Reader in Ancient History, University of Oxford. Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at New College from 1977 to 2014, he serves as Garden Master and as Extraordinary Lecturer in Ancient History for both New College and Exeter College. He has also taught Greek and Latin literature and early Islamic history. His major publications, for which he has won literary prizes, include the James Tait Black Award, the Duff Cooper Prize, the Heinemann Award and the Runciman Award, include studies of Alexander the Great and Ancient Macedon, Late Antiquity, Christianity and Paganism, the Bible and history, and the Greek Dark Ages.
For we say that in this Trinity two or three persons are not greater than one alone.
— from Augustine
Most acclaimed
The Classical World
"The classical civilizations of Greece and Rome dominated the world some forty lifetimes before our own, and they continue to intrigue, inspire and enlighten us. The Classical World describes the vast sweep of history in which these two great civilizations prevailed - from the epic poems of Homer and the beginning of literacy through the foundation of Athenian democracy and the turbulent empire-building of Alexander the Great to the Roman Republic and the establishment of the Roman Empire, the rise of Christianity, and the challenges this new faith faced in the Roman imperial age. Robin Lane Fox's telling of this great story focuses on the themes of freedom, justice and luxury which unified these civilizations, and approaches the classical worlds through the eyes of their classicizing enthusiast, the Roman Emperor Hadrian."--Jacket.
The long march
"The March of the Ten Thousand is one of the most famous military adventures in the ancient world. Its fearless army of Greek mercenaries marched through western Asia (modern Turkey and Iraq) in 401 BC to 399 BC, their hopes and hardships recounted by Xenophon the Athenian, an admiring pupil of Socrates. Xenophon's history of the Long March, or Anabasis, became a classic of Greek literature." "In this book, twelve leading scholars explore the Anabasis, a deceptively simple and profoundly rich source of social and cultural history and the mentality of the ancient Greek participants. The contributors explore a wide range of topics, from Xenophon's values, motives and manner as a writer, to the outlook of his companions as mercenary soldiers, from his descriptions of religion in soldiers' lives to their relations with women, boys and the many foreign peoples encountered during the march."--BOOK JACKET.
Alexander the Great
"What can we learn from the stunning rise and mysterious death of the ancient world's greatest conqueror? An acclaimed biographer reconstructs the life of Alexander the Great in this magisterial portrait. More than two millennia have passed, but Alexander the Great is still a household name. His life was an adventure story and took him to every corner of the ancient world. His memory and glamour persist, and his early death at thirty-three has kept him evergreen in our imaginations with a legacy that meant something different to every age: in the Middle Ages he became an exemplar of knightly chivalry, he was a star of Renaissance paintings, and by the early twentieth century he even came to resemble an English gentleman. But who was he in his own time? In Alexander the Great, Anthony Everitt judges Alexander's life against the criteria of his own age and considers all his contradictions. We meet the Macedonian prince who was naturally inquisitive and fascinated by science and exploration, who enjoyed the arts and used the poet Homer's great epic, the Iliad, as a bible. As his empire grew, stretching from Greece and Macedonia to Ancient Egypt and Persia and all the way to India, Alexander exhibited respect for the traditions of his new subjects and careful judgment in administering rule over a vast territory. But his career also had a dark side. An inveterate conqueror, who in his short life built the largest empire to that point in history, Alexander glorified war and was known to commit acts of great cruelty. As debates continue about the meaning of his life, Alexander's death remains an unsolved mystery. Did he die of natural causes, felled by a fever, or did his marshals, angered by his tyrannical behavior, kill him? An explanation of his death can lie only in what we know of his life, and Everitt ventures to solve that puzzle, offering an ending to Alexander's story that has eluded so many for so long"-- The life of Alexander the Great took him to every corner of the ancient world. His memory and glamour persist, and his early death at thirty-three has kept him evergreen in our imaginations. But who was he in his own time? Naturally inquisitive, fascinated by science and exploration, Alexander exhibited respect for traditions as his empire grew-- yet glorified war and was known to commit acts of great cruelty. Did Alexander die of natural causes, or did his marshals, angered by his tyrannical behavior, kill him? Everitt judges Alexander's life against the criteria of his own age and considers all his contradictions. -- adapted from jacket