ABSTRACT
The study of Alexander is challenging and frustrating because of the source material. We have only a small number of inscriptions,1 numismatic evidence, and occasional comments in some of the later Greek orators2 that are contemporaneous. Although much was written about Alexander during his reign (336-323) and in the generation or two after his death (what may be called primary sources), these works have not survived in their entirety to the present day.3 What remains of their works are to be found quoted by much later authors in their own histories of Alexander – what are called secondary works (see below). Of those primary sources, we have the most number of fragments from works by Aristobulus of Cassandria (FGrH 139), Callisthenes of Olynthus (FGrH 124), Chares of Mytilene (FGrH 125), Cleitarchus of Alexandria (FGrH 137), Nearchus of Crete (FGrH 133), Onesicritus of Astypalaea (FGrH 134), and Alexander’s general Ptolemy, son of Lagus (FGrH 138). All the primary authors raise problems: did each one deal with the reign in full or did some concentrate on aspects of it or on the person of the king, for example? We cannot answer this question, but just because what we have quoted from, say, Baeton’s work (FGrH 119) does not mean that he was only concerned with geographical and social matters.
