A Cambridge University classicist peels off the many layers of legend from the glorious stories of the heroes of ancient Greece, particularly Alexander the Great and the Spartans of Thermopylae. Michael Scott, in his recently released book
From Democrats to Kings, presents new-found evidence that Alexander was actually a mama’s boy who infuriated his generals with his endless stream of letters from the battlefield to his mother Olympias.
Even more damaging to Alexander’s much-vaunted reputation as a warrior, Dr. Scott propounds the idea that Olympias was more fearless and violent in battle than her son, and that she was even suspected of murdering her husband, Philip of Macedon. As to the Spartans, Dr. Scott dismisses them as nothing more than a “bunch of bullying tugs,” war-mongerers who policed Athens with near-mindless violence.
Dr. Scott thinks the truth about ancient Greece is a cautionary tale for us in the modern world. “If history can provide a map of where we have been, a mirror to where we are right now and perhaps even a guide to what we should do next, the story of this period is perfectly suited to do that in our times,” he says.
Read Paul Bignell’s review of From Democrats to Kings in the Independent UK now!The author responds to the Independent UK’s review of his bookIn his personal blog last October 5, however, Michael Scott says that Paul Bignell’s review of
From Democrats to Kings—along with those of two other London newspapers—misrepresented the central arguments he made in the book. “My book doesn’t ‘threaten’ ancient myths and I am not ‘shattering’ ancient legends—my point is to explore them!” he explains. “From reading these articles you would feel that I was single-handedly bringing down ancient Greece and grinding it into the dust under my heel! Nothing could be further from the truth—by writing about it, I want to build up its reputation and importance, not destroy it!”
Read Michael Scott’s October 5, 2009 blogspot for From Democrats to Kings About the Author: Michael Scott, 27, is currently Moses and Mary Finley Fellow in Ancient History at Darwin College, Cambridge. During 2007 and 2008 he was a guest lecturer aboard the easyCruise tour of Classical Greece. He is an on-screen historical consultant for the History Channel’s new 2009 series of
Ancient Discoveries.
From Democrats to Kings is his first book.
