FSEM 154   Alexander the Great: Lives and After Lives

Faculty Profile for Professor Tober

By the time of his death in 323 BCE, Alexander III, the young king of Macedon, had expanded his realm from northern Greece to the borders of India, in the process transforming the Mediterranean world and much of the Middle East and earning himself unparalleled fame. Indeed, Alexander the Great, as he came to be known, has remained one of the most iconic and recognizable names of antiquity: he crops up not only in Greek and Roman literature but also in Egyptian, Persian, and Indian tradition and in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scripture; the so-called Alexander Romance, an early novelization of his exploits, was one of Medieval Europe’s best-selling books; and he was named by Time Magazine as one of the top ten “most significant figures in history”, outstripping Thomas Jefferson, Julius Caesar, and the Buddha. Students examine the life and afterlife of Alexander, not only what Alexander did, why he did it, and how, but also the ways in which his life and achievements have been interpreted, emulated, used, and abused over the past 2400 years. While the brunt of our attention will be on Greek and Latin histories, we will be working also with other material: literary, archaeological, epigraphical, and numismatic (we shall even have the opportunity to familiarize ourselves firsthand with the extraordinary coinage produced by Alexander and his successors). The course concludes with a unit on Alexander’s reception in twentieth-century literature and film (from Hollywood to Bollywood and beyond). Students who successfully complete this seminar earn credit for a 200-level CLAS course and can satisfy the human thought and expression areas of inquiry requirement or the artistic practice and interpretation liberal arts practice requirement.

Daniel Tober teaches ancient history and Greek and Latin language and literature in the Department of the Classics. His research focuses on Greek history and historiography, in particular in the Hellenistic period (i.e. the period following the death of Alexander the Great).