By the time of his death in 323 BC, Alexander III of Macedonia had built an empire that stretched from the eastern Mediterranean coast through Asia minor and into the Indus Valley. A former student of the philosopher Aristotle, Alexander succeeded Philip the second as king of Macedonia in 336 BC and spent the next 13 years subduing and consolidating the lands of the Persian Empire. Even before his sudden death at the age of 32, Alexander had achieved mythical status throughout his kingdom, and in the centuries that followed, his life became the subject of countless chronicles and biographies. N.G.L. Hammond, the foremost expert on ancient Macedonian history, here presents a new account of Alexander's fabled career. Through a careful analysis of ancient sources -- the writings of Diodorus, Justin, Curtius, Plutarch, and Arrian -- Hammond has effectively separated the work of reliable contemporaries from fictional reports of Alexander's accomplishments. The resulting narrative, enriched by a lifetime of research, pronounces the Macedonian conqueror a man truly deserving of the title Alexander the Great. - Jacket flap.