Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age

By: Jeremy McInerney, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Jeremy McInerney

This series of 24 lectures examines a crucial period in the history of the ancient world, the age ushered in by the extraordinary conquests of Alexander the Great. In all the annals of the ancient world, few stories are more gripping than those from this era.

In the opening lectures, you'll explore the enigma of Alexander, son of a brilliant father, yet always at odds with the man whom he succeeded. You'll trace his early campaigns against the Persians and follow him to Egypt, where he was acclaimed as the son of god. You'll then look at his career after this and find in him a blend of greatness and madness as he strove to replace the Persian empire of the Achaemenid dynasty with a new, mixed ruling class of Macedonians and Persians.

From there, you'll delve into the catastrophic period after Alexander's death in 323 B.C., which ushered in a period of catastrophic change as ambitious warlords carved up Alexander's realm into their own separate empires. You'll learn about each of the three kingdoms that resulted: Ptolemaic Egypt, Seleucid Syria, and the Attalid Empire in Asia Minor. Just as important to these lectures are the in-depth discussions of the bounties of Hellenistic culture, which contributed landmark ideas in everything from philosophy (which became more academic), art and architecture (with its excessive, naked emotions), and religion (especially the growing popularity of cult movements). Taken all together, these lectures are an engrossing and riveting journey into ancient history-and the life and times of the man who left an indelible mark on everything that would come after.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2000 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2000 The Great Courses

Fantastic Historical Insight

This book has such a historical insight. I listened to this for hours at a time. There's a lot of historical events and perspectives that wasn't even addressed in college. The focus on this book is the period Alexander the Great ruled in was during the Macedonian Empire, leading to the Hellenistic Period. As Alexander was conquering one location to the next, and this audible book gives you step by step insight on conquering Syria, Egypt, Greece, etc. This book was addressed factually with the occasional personal perspective. There wasn't the bombardment of how to think and what to think. It was more of here's the historical events that took place, come up with your own perspective.

There was some discussion on the societal life practices from 'back in the day'. What people were writing about, societal acceptances, religious practices, artwork, politics, etc. There's a chapter focus on the myth v. reality. Just like in modern culture, there's something that happens and the media over hypes what really happened. There's also the discussion of creating the kingdoms, the involvement with the famous library, the stoics perspective, Maccabean Revolt, the prosperous economy, and more.

beautifully presented ; the speaker was flawless!

beautifully presented ; the speaker was flawles. an amazing overview hitting very important highlights and going into detail when needed.

An exceptional lecture series with a misleading title.

This course was fantastic, and offered great insights into a period of history I had a simplistic understanding of. However I feel it is titled incorrectly. The title would suggest that this series is about Alexander the Great, when only the first two lectures summarize his life and death. Instead the course focuses on the Hellenistic world established by his conquest and successors after his death. Regardless, this series was genuinely wonderful.

If you are looking for a course about Alexander’s life and conquest with a more biographical focus I would recommend Professor Keneth Harl’s course on Alexander also from this company.

Excellent Survey of Alexander and his Age

What made the experience of listening to Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age the most enjoyable?

The professor did an excellent job presenting both a historical narrative and thematic content. He takes you through the history in a way that give a great feeling on how it evolved, and returns to provide ways to understand why things happened as they did (and he is not afraid to say when we don't know).

What about Professor Jeremy McInerney’s performance did you like?

His style is engaging. The pace of presentation is excellent. There is just enough fun put into the descriptions that it is never dry.

outstanding detail

McInerney keeps the listener engaged by recapping puebl5os episodes and making the story relevant and its impact on modern society

Good Background on the Hellenistic Kingdoms

This was a better course than I anticipated. I had taken Professor McInerney's "Ancient Greek Civilization" course and was left unimpressed so I shied away from this one for way too long. The allure of learning more about the Hellenistic kingdoms was too strong so I caved in and purchased this course and I'm glad I did. Most of his lectures were much more engaging than his other course. He did a good job of covering all aspects of this age.

Admittedly the lectures on social life (poetry, sculpture, religion, etc.) didn't get me jazzed up but that isn't a fault of the professor: I've always been more interested in political histories. And he delivers in that arena: lectures 5-10 and 22-24 are tops. The last three lectures focused on the Hellenistic kingdoms' interactions with Rome and were riveting.

The first four lectures focus on Alexander the Great and the Professor does a good job of getting us thinking: what if Alexander hadn't run out of time and died young? In fact he has a good knack of concluding lectures on a contemplative note (lecture 7 ends on the invention of the discipline of literature criticism in Ptolemaic Egypt and got me thinking: do we have the definitive versions of Shakespeare because the interest in such an activity started in this period?).

My only real negative feedback is the lack of info on the Macedonian empire post Alexander. Its battles with Rome are covered at the course's conclusion but not much else on it for about 200 years.

If you're interested more in Alexander I'd recommend Professor Harl's "Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire" course since it delves much deeper into his years but Professor McInerney's course is your choice if you're interest lies with the Hellenistic kingdoms that followed Alexander. Well done.

Alexander The Great

Everything was terrific except for the lack of chapter titles in the GUI. That is a problem easily solved by audible but for some reason is not done, leaving us to cycle through chapter by chaper, previewing the first 0 seconds while the scholar introduces that lecture.

WOW

Alexander the Great, just wow. This is a great story, i know its a lecture but it is taught as a story and that is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to teach history. There is so much that is not covered in schools, and A LOT of drama that some people dont think of as a part of the age.

these lectures were very engaging and informative.

these were great. I learned a ton and can't wait to listen to them again.

Good Overview of Alexander and Hellenistic Empires

Any additional comments?

This book is a good overview of the rise and conquests of Alexander the Great, his Macedonian Empire, and the Hellenistic empires that took over his conquests after his death. The lectures go from Alexander's rise to the fall of the final Hellenistic kingdom with the conquest of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt by the Romans. The lecturer covers the major kingdoms of the Seleucids in Syria, the Ptolemies in Egypt, and Antigonids in Greece as well as some of the smaller Hellenistic kingdoms to rise during this age. He follows a relatively chronological pattern.

One strength of this professor is his ability to cover not just the political history but also other parts of culture, including social, intellectual, and artistic changes. The only thing that prevents me from giving this series a five star rating is this author's thoroughness. I like listening to history books that leave me feeling like I have had a comprehensive overview on a topic (within reason) and also knowing that the author covered any major well-known sub-topics that deserve attention. Having listened to this lecturer a few times, I know he has a tendency to skip over content in his effort to focus in on specifics or controversies. So for anyone coming to the topic for the first time, there are probably important things he will skip over or not mention. I felt this way particularly in his section on Alexander the Great. There were so many well known events and stories that he skipped or barely talked about, which left me disappointed. So if you are buying this book to learn mainly about Alexander, look elsewhere.

Overall I would recommend this series to anyone interested in the topic. I believe you will learn something and enjoy it!