Arthur Weigall (1880-1934) may be the best of all the archaeological writers. He once said, “It should be the goal of writers on archaeology to make the dead come alive, not to put the living to sleep.”
Bob Brier
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“...In this biography I shall endeavour to show, by a close study of his parentage and youth, how his self-assurance was rooted in his mother’s mystic beliefs in regard to him, and how much he owed to his father, Philip, who trained to perfection the troops which he used in his first victories. I shall try to explain how his schemes of conquest gradually developed, and how he was led on from one success to the next, inevitably, and without much forethought; but, when all is said, I hope I shall make it clear that, by reason of the vastness of his achievements and the still more gigantic grandeur of his schemes and ambitions, history is fully justified in designating him Alexander the Great. Yet his invincible belief that he could conquer and rule the whole earth and all mankind was an ambition which could never have been realized : it was, in fact, the stupendous dream of one whose thoughts throughout his life, had been detached from the security of real things and had been led perilously onwards by fortune towards that inevitable tragedy of disillusionment from which an early death alone saved him...”
“...I take as my starting-point the premise which is usually ignored, or denied, and which I have never seen properly presented, namely that from his birth he was regarded by those around him as the son of the Graeco-Egyptian god Zeus-Ammon; and with this I associate another fact which is generally overlooked, namely, that in the centuries after his death he became in legend a god-like being of great holiness. In many parts of the world he was regarded as an actual god; and even the Senate of Rome, following in deep sincerity the less sincere lead of Athens, decreed him to be the thirteenth of the Olympians. In Jewish folk-lore he was the servant of Jehovah, the precursor of the Messiah, the Master of the Throne of Solomon, and one of the mystical world-rulers of Daniel’s prophecy. In Islam he was a hero of the Mohammedan faith; and in certain Christian churches he was regarded, in forgetfulness of his date, as one of the Christian saints...”
“...He was brave to the point of utter recklessness; in battle he was temporarily demented; when he was excited he was foolhardy to an astonishing degree; in his impatience and lack of foresight he imperilled his army time and again; yet there was a dogged perseverance and tenacity in his character which sometimes caused him to waste far more time than was really necessary in completing tasks of secondary importance. In his anger he was unspeakably terrible; in his outbursts of generosity he was prodigal; when warmed by wine or by flattery he was a wild braggart; when his tongue was loosened he would sit up all night talking; when he knew that he had done wrong his self-abasement was abject. A martial tune would cause him to jump up and brandish his spear like an excited boy; an insult would make him throw a cup, or anything else that was handy, at the offender’s head; a good omen would elate him or a bad omen depress him; he could slaughter his enemies by the thousand without thought, or weep for pity of one man...”
Arthur E.P. Weigall
Bob Brier
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“...In this biography I shall endeavour to show, by a close study of his parentage and youth, how his self-assurance was rooted in his mother’s mystic beliefs in regard to him, and how much he owed to his father, Philip, who trained to perfection the troops which he used in his first victories. I shall try to explain how his schemes of conquest gradually developed, and how he was led on from one success to the next, inevitably, and without much forethought; but, when all is said, I hope I shall make it clear that, by reason of the vastness of his achievements and the still more gigantic grandeur of his schemes and ambitions, history is fully justified in designating him Alexander the Great. Yet his invincible belief that he could conquer and rule the whole earth and all mankind was an ambition which could never have been realized : it was, in fact, the stupendous dream of one whose thoughts throughout his life, had been detached from the security of real things and had been led perilously onwards by fortune towards that inevitable tragedy of disillusionment from which an early death alone saved him...”
“...I take as my starting-point the premise which is usually ignored, or denied, and which I have never seen properly presented, namely that from his birth he was regarded by those around him as the son of the Graeco-Egyptian god Zeus-Ammon; and with this I associate another fact which is generally overlooked, namely, that in the centuries after his death he became in legend a god-like being of great holiness. In many parts of the world he was regarded as an actual god; and even the Senate of Rome, following in deep sincerity the less sincere lead of Athens, decreed him to be the thirteenth of the Olympians. In Jewish folk-lore he was the servant of Jehovah, the precursor of the Messiah, the Master of the Throne of Solomon, and one of the mystical world-rulers of Daniel’s prophecy. In Islam he was a hero of the Mohammedan faith; and in certain Christian churches he was regarded, in forgetfulness of his date, as one of the Christian saints...”
“...He was brave to the point of utter recklessness; in battle he was temporarily demented; when he was excited he was foolhardy to an astonishing degree; in his impatience and lack of foresight he imperilled his army time and again; yet there was a dogged perseverance and tenacity in his character which sometimes caused him to waste far more time than was really necessary in completing tasks of secondary importance. In his anger he was unspeakably terrible; in his outbursts of generosity he was prodigal; when warmed by wine or by flattery he was a wild braggart; when his tongue was loosened he would sit up all night talking; when he knew that he had done wrong his self-abasement was abject. A martial tune would cause him to jump up and brandish his spear like an excited boy; an insult would make him throw a cup, or anything else that was handy, at the offender’s head; a good omen would elate him or a bad omen depress him; he could slaughter his enemies by the thousand without thought, or weep for pity of one man...”
Arthur E.P. Weigall
