Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Nikos Kazantzakis

Alexander the Great / In the Time of Alexander the Great [Μέγας Αλέξανδρος / Στα χρόνια του Μεγαλέξανδρου (Mégas Aléxandros / Sta chrónia tou Megaléxandrou)]

The novel covers Alexander the Great’s life, beginning with his famous taming of the wild horse Bucephalas at fifteen and ending with his death in Babylon in 323 BCE. The novel focuses primarily on Alexander’s twin ambitions, to unite Greece and to conquer Asia and how he made them a reality. He shared these aspirations with his father Philip II of Macedon, who is an important character in the early part of the book. This covers Alexander’s early life at his father’s cour(...)

literary

YEAR: 1940

COUNTRY: Greece

TAGS: Achilles Alexander the Great Aristotle Athens Callisthenes Darius III Demosthenes Greece Hellenism Heracles Hercules Homer Kleos (Glory / Good reputation) Macedonia Olympias Persian Empire Philip II of Macedonia Zeus

Ingri and Edggar, Per Ola and Nils M. P. D’Aulaires

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths

This is a revised edition of a 1962 book. The writing and illustrations appear to be the same as in the original. The book covers mainly the genealogy and myths related to the Olympian gods, adapted for children (Gaia “falls in love with Uranus”, Zeus “marries” mortals etc.). It is a very detailed book that covers a large and varied range of stories, relating to the gods and mortals. It gives a description of the different traits of the gods as well as individual myths ab(...)

literary

YEAR: 1962

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Argonauts Heracles Hercules Olympias Titans Trojan War

Andrew Thomson, Kathryn Waterfield , Robin Waterfield

Who Was Alexander the Great?

Introduction: Who Was Alexander the Great? begins the work with a novelistic retelling of Alexander's taming of Bucephalus, written in the present tense. King Philip says that Alexander needs a kingdom bigger than Macedon and Alexander goes on to conquer the known world in just 13 years, "No wonder he becomes known as Alexander the Great!" (p. 6). The Son of his Father. A map of Greece and Macedon can be seen at the beginning of chapter 1. It is explained that Alexander was bo(...)

literary

YEAR: 2016

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Alexander the Great Architecture Aristotle Darius III Egypt Gods Graeco-Persian Wars Greek History Greek Philosophy Homer Iliad Macedonia Olympias Persians Philip II of Macedonia Ptolemy Sirens Zeus