By the Spear: Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire

In this survey account of the rise and fall of the Macedonian Empire under Philip II & Alexander the Great, Worthington sets himself the problem of considering who was the superior statesman. Was it Philip, who turned a cultural & political backwater into a military powerhouse & hegemon of the Greek world. Or was it Alexander, who took the finely honed instrument that Philip had created and attempted to build an empire. Worthington tends to credit Philip with the greater achievement, in that whatever Alexander's exploits as a military leader he did not have the abilities as a political & diplomatic player to convert military victory into a lasting achievement.

Then again, it should be remembered that Philip was basically perfecting what show more it meant to be sovereign in one culture, whereas Alexander was essentially trying to transcend this. The question then becomes whether trying to become a proto-Augustus was even possible for Alexander, considering the cultural limitations that constrained a Macedonian monarch. At the very least Worthington concludes that Alexander's great mistake was learning to play the game of dynastic politics too late in the day. show less

This was another one of my OUP sale books. I found the Philip sections more interesting than the Alexander ones, probably because I knew less about Philip before. The comparisons between Philip and Alexander were interesting and on the whole this was a book I liked a lot.

Of the 165 odd books I have that relate to Alexander, this one takes more liberty with facts and opinion and abbreviates detail and should not be the first or only book you read on Alexander if interested in him. Interesting insight at times, if it is insight.