Alexander the Great has for over 2000 years been one of the best recognized names from antiquity. This innovative volume explores the many facets of his legend and reception in literature, art and culture from antiquity to the present, ranging across numerous cultures of Europe and the Middle East.

"Alexander III (the Great) was born in the Macedonian city of Pella in the north of the Greek peninsula in 356 BCE. Following the assassination of his father Philip II of Macedon in 336, he took up the cause of an attack on the Persian Empire, which his father was planning, and in spring 334 crossed the Hellespont into Persian territory with an army of at least 30,000 infantry and 5000 cavalry"--