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Secondary sourceBook1902

The Life of Alexander the Great

John Williams · 1902

A nineteenth-century biography of Alexander the Great by John Williams, drawing on ancient sources.

A biography covering Alexander's life from birth to conquest, drawn from ancient historical sources.

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The Life of Alexander the GreatPDF · 440 pages
John Williams, The Life of Alexander the Great, A. L. Burt Company, New York, 1902.

About this source

What it is

This book is a biography of Alexander the Great written by the Reverend John Williams, with an introduction by Arthur M. Curteis and notes by Henry Ketcham. This edition was published in 1902 by A. L. Burt Company in New York.

Why it matters

Williams drew on ancient historians to retell Alexander's life, from his birth and education through his father's assassination and his conquest of Asia. Biographies like this shaped how English-speaking readers understood Alexander long after the ancient world.

Look closer

  • What choices did the author make about which parts of Alexander's life to cover?
  • How might a biography written in the 1800s reflect the ideas of its own time as much as Alexander's?
  • What ancient sources do you think Williams might have relied on?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Alexander the Great on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Detail of the Alexander Mosaic: a large ancient mosaic of a battle scene, with riders on horseback, spears raised, and fallen figures, in warm earth tones with a decorative border.Artifact

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Medieval manuscript page with a pen-and-ink drawing in a blue and red border of a crowned rider on a horse, holding a raised sword, with Latin text above, beside and below the image.Painting

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Silver Tetradrachm of Alexander the Great

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Oil painting of a reclining young man in a white tunic and red blanket, drinking from a gold cup held by an attendant. An older bearded man in a yellow cloak reads a scroll at left, and two standing men, one shirtless with a blue cloak, one in an orange tunic, look on. A spear, shield and helmet hang on the wall.Painting

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Alexander the Great on his Sickbed

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Secondary source

Anabasis of Alexander

Arrian · c. 150 AD

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