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Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age  By  cover art

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age

By: Jeremy McInerney, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Jeremy McInerney
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Publisher's summary

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

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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!

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12 people found this helpful

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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.

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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.

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Excellent and enjoyable

Wow really good! The lecturer has a great speaking voice, and is excellent at presenting a ton of information while making the subject interesting and engaging. This lecture covers so much! I went into it figuring I’d try it out, but I was worried given the very specific subject matter, that it would be boring and repetitive. Not at all! A great introduction Ancient Greece or supplement to the many other great courses on the ancient world.

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Engaging lectures

I love this historian who has several other courses on the Greeks, including Periclean Athens, but this Hellenistic transition period is especially well done. Jeremy provides interesting observations and advances some of his own informed judgments. He often leaves one lecture with a hook into the next or subsequent lectures. Excellent narrator with a pleasant accent too.

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    3 out of 5 stars

generally good, but has some problems

The presenter has a lot of good knowledge, but makes me doubt his conclusions by saying things that aren't true with conviction. Many could be him attempting to simplify for brevity, but it makes all of the rest of his points suspect. Examples are his rather 2 dimensional analysis of Alexander, ignoring large amounts of documents which give context to his actions, and then decrying him a villain for doing them. Another (minor) one is attributing the name Jupiter as little more than a corruption of Zeus, instead as coming from a common Indo European root. still, lots of interesting info about culture.

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A poor performer

This narrator may be a good scholar but he is a very poor performer. His um, ah, oh for I lost my place had me cringing. Also he was very repetitive throughout the lecture with a handful of words. If he were my professor, I'd have cut class frequently.l

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Insightful and interesting

A very interesting and profound review of the Hellenistic Age. It helps if you have some preliminary knowledge of Ancient Greece beforehand, though it's not absolutely necessary. I liked the lecturer. It was obvious that he enjoys his subject very much and his enthusiasm is quite contagious.

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the pre-history of western civilization

lectures take the student from Alexander's death to the conquering of Egypt by the Romans to officially end the Hellenistic age. in between are the stories of the rise and fall of the various empires within Alexander's conquered territory assigned to his military and familial descendants.

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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.

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