Joseph Roisman

Alexander’s Veterans and the Early Wars of the Successors
by Joseph Roisman. Narrated by John Burlinson
Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

This text is Professor Roisman’s attempt to harmonize, distinguish, criticize, and add his own conclusions to those of the ancient historians, such as Plutarch, and Diodorus, and later historians such as A. B. Bosworth, regarding the wars of succession among the generals, and others, who served under Alexander the Great. In particular though, Prof. Roisman centered his attention on these matters from the point of view of the veteran soldiers; how they were affected by their leaders’ political and military decisions, and what effect, if any, their wants and needs had on those decisions.
Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, likely poisoned, and his generals, Cassander, Ptolemy, Antigonus, and Seleucus known as the Diadochs or Diadocchi, and particularly the generals, Eumenes, Perdiccas, Kraturas, and Antigonus’ son, Demetrius all participated in the struggles for succession. Alexander’s wife, Roxanne, Alexander’s sister, Cleopatra, and his half-brother Arrhydarhis, who became Philip the Second, also participated in the struggle to determine who was going to rule as successor to Alexander.

The second part of this book’s title tells you that events deteriorated quickly into war among them, and given how Prof. Roisman describes the alliances, deals, betrayals of deals, oath making and oath breaking, assassinations, assassination attempts, and out-right murder, among these people, I am surprised Alexander ever got out of Macedonia, much less to India.

Prof. Roisman’s first two chapters set the story by describing Alexander’s relationship to his generals and to his regular troops, which is essential to understand the later struggles and relationships among the Diadochs and their men. All was not brotherhood and good will. At the time of its first battle in India, which they won, the army was exhausted and did not want to continue the campaign. They wanted to go home. Moreover, they resented Alexanders’s mode of Persian dress and adoption of Persian customs. They resented his inclusion of Persian calvary men into the regular calvary. Alexander was going native and his followers did not like it. Alexander met these complaints with manipulation, through the use of gifts, honors, and flattery, and the judicious use of violence, i.e., executing the leaders of the disenchanted.

The subsequent chapters detail the particular efforts of such men as Perdiccas, Kraturas, and Eumenes to control a portion or all of Alexander’s former empire. I won’t reveal too much, but I can say that few of the participants in this struggle for the empire died of old age.

There is wonderful material here to make a dramatic TV series to rival any aired.

Now, a little feedback regarding the audio book itself. I’ve had to look up the spelling of many of these names. A list of dramatis personae [showing off my few latin phrases] and an occasional map would have been a great help in following the narrator. So I went to YouTube and found a series of short videos on the Kings and Generals channel about the wars between the Diadochs. Here maps of the region and orders of battle were shown that were helpful to following the narrator of Prof. Rosiman’s text. After seeing these videos, I listened to most of the book a second time and gained more understanding of the history presented.
If you are interested in Alexander and his empire, I would recommend this book, because without knowing what happened to his empire after his death, you don’t have the whole story.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.… (more)