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Ghost on the throne : the death of Alexander the Great and the war for crown and empire / James Romm.

by Romm, James S.

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Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.

Alexander, the Great, 356 B.C.-323 B.C. -- Death and burial.

Greece -- History -- Macedonian Hegemony, 323-281 B.C.

Macedonia -- History -- Diadochi, 323-276 B.C.

9780307456601 (2012 Vintage pbk.)

xxii, 341 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: the opening of the tombs -- Bodyguards and companions -- The testing of Perdiccas -- The Athenians' last stand (I) -- Resistance, rebellion, reconquest -- The Athenians' last stand (II) -- A death on the Nile -- The fortunes of Eumenes -- The war comes home -- Duels to the death -- The closing of the tombs.

Alexander the Great united his empire and his army by the titanic force of his will. His death at the age of 32 spelled the end of that unity. The story of his conquests is known to many readers, but the saga of the empire's collapse remains virtually untold. Alexander bequeathed his power, legend has it, "to the strongest," leaving behind a mentally damaged half brother and a posthumously born son as his only heirs, who quickly became pawns fought over by the Macedonian generals. Meanwhile, Alexander's former secretary, Eumenes, a man full of tricks and connivances, became the determining factor in the precarious fortunes of the royal family. Classicist James Romm tells the story of the men who followed Alexander and found themselves incapable of preserving his empire--a world formerly united, now ripped apart into a nightmare of warring nation-states struggling for domination, the template of our own times.

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