I welcome Professor Toby Wilkinson. His new book, The Last Dynasty: Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra, is a sweeping presentation of two worlds: the Macedonian from Alexander and the Egyptian from the pharaohs. It's a blend that leaves it too late for Egyptologists and too early for Roman historians.
These 300 years tell us everything about the Mediterranean world as Rome was gathering its might before it conquers everything.
We begin, however, with Alexander. Alexander conquers the world, but when he gets to Egypt, there are moments where he thinks about why and how he got to be so powerful.
We go to Alexander's decision to conquer Gaza before he marched on Egypt.
The decision the professor presents is that Alexander wanted to show that he was all powerful and there was no resisting him. He built up a wall around Gaza, the same Gaza we're talking about today: the same piece of land, the sandy beaches, the Mediterranean.
Alexander uses his siege engines and conquers the city. But there's a moment here where Alexander shows he has an imagination. He carries around a copy of Homer, and he knows what happened once they got into the Homeric story of conquering Troy. It was a moment where a decision was made to drag a man to death around the city.
Who was it that Alexander perpetrated that on, and why? Why did Alexander become so cruel that he wanted the wrath of Achilles? Why did he want to live that scene out?
Watch the full conversation above, or listen to an audio version below:
LINKS:
The Last Dynasty: Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra by Toby Wilkinson on Amazon
The John Batchelor Show on Apple Podcasts:
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