ABSTRACT
The preface addresses the monograph’s central theme: the fact that following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC he became the object of emulation for generations of monarchs, heroes and generals over the course of two millennia, and this cultural phenomenon flourished above all in the Renaissance while extending into the nineteenth century. Early modern monarchs’ identification with Alexander also gave rise to other comparisons being drawn, such as to ideas of kingly wisdom. Yet this admiration waned on occasions. Of all the statesmen and generals who venerated antiquity, and despite having had the greatest historical impact of them all, it was Napoleon who was Alexander of Macedonia’s most ardent critic. The preface also analyses the first propagandistic references to Alexander in the work of Plutarch, and in particular the important role played by art in conferring an immortal status upon the image of Alexander, which was, nonetheless, revived by Napoleon. Subsequently, the nineteenth-century Romantic and Historicist movements revived and enriched the myth of Alexander, which endures today in popular culture. The preface also addresses the need to examine early modern princes and artists’ fascination with Alexander and the impressive number of artworks that reflect this.
