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Demetrius

Sacker of Cities

James Romm

$39.95

Hardback

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English
Yale University
14 November 2022
Series: Ancient Lives
A portrait of one of the ancient world’s first political celebrities, who veered from failure to success and back again

The life of Demetrius (337–283 BCE) serves as a through-line to the forty years following the death of Alexander (323–282 BCE), a time of unparalleled turbulence and instability in the ancient world. With no monarch able to take Alexander’s place, his empire fragmented into five pieces.

 

Capitalizing on good looks, youth, and sexual prowess, Demetrius sought to weld those pieces together and recover the dream of a single world-state, with a new Alexander—himself—at its head. He succeeded temporarily, but in crucial, colossal engagements—a massive invasion of Egypt, a siege of Rhodes that went on a full year, and the Battle of Ipsus—he came up just short. He ended his career in a rash invasion of Asia, and he became the target of a desperate manhunt only to be captured and destroyed by his own son-in-law.

By:  
Imprint:   Yale University
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 216mm,  Width: 140mm, 
ISBN:   9780300259070
ISBN 10:   0300259077
Series:   Ancient Lives
Pages:   224
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print

James Romm is an author, a reviewer, and the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College. His reviews and essays appear regularly in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Review of Books.

Reviews for Demetrius: Sacker of Cities

With great erudition and elegance, Romm tells the story of the years after the death of Alexander the Great, revealing an ancient world whose politics, intrigue, and penchant for war will seem familiar to modern readers. -Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard University Romm brilliantly sketches the life, character, and achievements of Demetrius the Besieger, the most charismatic and unstable of the Successors of Alexander the Great-and one of the most formidable. -Robin Waterfield, author of Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens: A History of Ancient Greece Romm's gripping, sensitive biography traces the zigzagging career of Demetrius, cavalry commander at nineteen and notorious besieger of cities, as he strives to seize power as Alexander's successor but ultimately languishes in luxury as a royal captive. -Adrienne Mayor, author of The Poison King and The Amazons


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