By the Spear

Alexander the Great is arguably one of the best known and most exciting figures from antiquity. He waged war as a Homeric hero and lived as one, conquering native peoples and territories on a superhuman scale. From the time he invaded Asia in 334 to his death in 323, he expanded the Macedonian empire from Greece in the west to Asia Minor, the Levant, Egypt, Central Asia and "India" (Pakistan and Kashmir) in the east. Although numerous other kings and generals forged empires, Alexander produced an empire that was without parallel, if only for a moment. And yet, Alexander could not have achieved what he did without the accomplishments of his father, Philip II (r. 359-336). Long after Philip‘s death and Alexander‘s invasion of Asia, Philip remained a constant presence in Alexander‘s life and decisions. It was Philip who truly changed the course of Macedonian history, transforming a weak, disunited, and economically backward kingdom into a military powerhouse. A warrior king par excellence, Philip left Alexander with the greatest army in the Greek world, a centralized monarchy, economic prosperity, and a plan to invade Asia. For the first time, By the Spear offers an exhilarating military narrative of the reigns of these two larger-than-life figures in one volume. Ian Worthington give full breadth to the careers of father and son, showing how Philip was the architect of the Macedonian empire, which reached its zenith under Alexander, only to disintegrate upon his death. By the Spear also discusses how armies in this period were used as avatars of social and cultural change, and how the problems Alexander faced in dealing with a multi-cultural subject population, the strategies he took to what might be called nation building, shed light on contemporary problems in culturally dissimilar regions of the world. The end result is a gripping account of the role these kings played in creating a vast empire and of the enduring legacy they left behind. By the Spear‘s twofold approach of military narrative and social and cultural influence will set it apart from all previous histories of Philip and Alexander.