Paul Cartledge

Paul Cartledge patří mezi přední světové odborníky na starověké Řecko. V této knize se mu podařilo skvěle vykreslit politické a vojenské úspěchy Alexanda Velikého, a ukázal tak proč byl tento panovník tak výborným vůdcem. Poutavý portrét muže, který fascinoval a inspiroval řadu jeho nejen politických následovníků, vyvažuje a obohacuje o mýty a legendy, které často pokřivují historii i reálnou postavu Alexandra.

At eighteen, Alexander had conquered mainland Greece, was crowned King of Macedonia at twenty and by twenty-six he had made himself master of the once mighty Persian Empire. By the time of his death, aged only thirty-three, in 323BCE he was ruler of the known world and was being worshipped as a god by the Greeks, both at Babylon, where he died, and further west, among the Greek cities of the Asiatic seaboard. The fruit of a lifetime's scholarship and meticulous research, this is an outstanding b iography of one of the most remarkable rulers in history. "A hugely impressive portrait of a towering but enigmatic figure" - Saul David, "Sunday Telegraph". "A revealing, often enthralling search ...[a] restless, exhilarating book" - "Observer". "Fa scinating...blends all the pleasures of Hollywood epic with those of a subtle and deeply intriguing detective tale" - Tom Holland, author of "Rubicon". ""Alexander the Great" provides an endless fount both of amazement and of speculation. This grippi ng book examines the legends as well as the life. Most interestingly, it invites the reader to participate in the difficult task of separating the fact from the fiction" - Norman Davies.

Kniha Sparta, kterou napsal profesor historie na univerzitě v Cambridgi Paul Cartledge, jehož životopis Alexandra Velikého znají i čeští čtenáři (Academia 2007), podává poutavý výklad dějin mocného řeckého státu, který díky své neobyčejné vojenské sí le a pevné organizaci zaujal již v 6. století př. n. l. dominantní postavení mezi ostatními městskými státy klasického Řecka, stál v čele Peloponnéského spolku a proslavil se se v obranné řecko-perské válce známý je především hrdinný boj spartského krále Leónida a jeho tří set mužů při marné obraně Thermopyl. V 5. století př. n. l. se rozpory mezi Spartou, která reprezentovala oligarchii, vládu několik málo příslušníků aristokracie, a demokratickými Athénami vyhrotily v peloponnéskou válku. V následujících stoletích vliv a moc Sparty postupně klesaly. Cartledge poutavě vypráví o dramatické, především vojenské historii Sparty, ale pojednává také o politickém uspořádání tohoto státu a zvláštnostech života spartské společnosti.

Unquestionably the best English translation of Herodotus to have appearedin the past half-century. "The Times Literary Supplement" In Tom Holland s vibrant translation, one of the great masterpieces of Western history springs to life. Herodotus of Halicarnassus hailed by Cicero as the Father of History composed his histories around 440 BC. The earliest surviving work of nonfiction, "The Histories "works its way from the Trojan War through an epic account of the war between the Persian empire and the Greek city-states in the fifth century BC, recording landmark events that ensured the development of Western culture and still capture our modern imagination. Beautifully packaged in a Penguin Classics Deluxe edition with a comprehensive array of tools to guide first-time readers and experts alike, this accessible translation makes Herodotus fresh and irresistible once more. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators."

Continuously inhabited for five millennia, and at one point the most powerful city in Ancient Greece, Thebes has been overshadowed by its better-known rivals, Athens and Sparta. According to myth, the city was founded when Kadmos sowed dragon's teeth into the ground and warriors sprang forth, ready not only to build the fledgling city but to defend it from all-comers. It was Hercules' birthplace and the home of the Sphinx, whose riddle Oedipus solved, winning the Theban crown and the king's widow in marriage, little knowing that the widow was his mother, Jocasta. The city's history is every bit as rich as its mythic origins, from siding with the Persian invaders when their emperor, Xerxes, set out to conquer Aegean Greece, to siding with Sparta - like Thebes an oligarchy - to defeat Pericles' democratic Athens, to being utterly destroyed on the orders of Alexander the Great. In Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece, the acclaimed classical historian Paul Cartledge brings the city vividly to life, and argues that it is central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks' achievements - whether politically or culturally - and thus to our own culture and civilization.