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Homework research help: Need a primary source

RichardE

Banned
I need a primary source related to Alexandre the great conquests and how they ultimately brought down the empire. So, I am not asking for a specific source, but where would I find primary sources regarding this event/time period?

Thanks in advance 🙂


Clarifying further...the closet I have come is "The Campaigns of Alexander"
 
There aren't many true primary sources for Alexander--the ancient sources we have, the best of which is Arrian's Anabais, which you've found as The Campaigns of Alexander, was written centuries afterward. Arrian's work is taken from contemporary accounts that are now lost to us. This link takes you to a discussion of the better sources such as Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, and Q. Curtius.

If you are looking for military aspects, stick with Arrian, who was a Romanized Greek general who held an important command in the east. He brings an officer's understanding to the discussion of Alexander's generalship and command decisions. His flaw is that he unabashedly admires Alexander, and thus gives some of AG's controversial acts a positive spin they may not deserve. I personally wouldn't write a paper without reference to Arrian's work.

If you need secondary source guidance to understanding Alexander, the Selincourt translation of Arrian has excellent footnotes. The Genius of Alexander, by N.G.L Hammond is a superb work for looking at all aspects of Alexander. For the military aspects, look to The Generalship of Alexander by J.F.C Fuller, the Alexander chapter from John Keegan's The Mask of Command, or relevant passages from Archer Jones' Warfare in the Western World. Not aimed at a scholarly audience but useful as well is John Warry's Warfare in the Classical World.

Avoid the Oliver Stone movie, and good luck!
 
I would think that most books available would be secondary sources. You might be able to find people's letters written in that time period that were found and translated (and still be considered primary sources).

A good place to start is Wikipedia - it has a list of its sources at the end of the articles. The next step would be to go to a library and look through some books. If you can, maybe see if you can access to a historical journal database, as that would greatly bolster the number and quality of your sources. It would also be easier to search for specific information compared with a book.
 
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