The Nature of Alexander by Mary Renault

The Nature of Alexander by Mary Renault (ISBN 0-394-73825-X) is not a historical novel like her bestsellers Firefrom Heaven and The Persian Boy but rather a biography of Alexander the Great in as far as the story of his life can be told as such.

During his lifetime Alexander was a legend and after his death the legend only grew to such an extend that it is very difficult to paint a true portrait of the world conqueror some 2,500 years afterwards. Whoever writes or talks about Alexander from antiquity onward has his/her own tainted version for it is utterly impossible to be impartial – the figure of Alexander is just too complex for that.

In order to write her two above-mentioned historical novels, Mary Renault made an in-depth study of the authors from antiquity, the closest we can come to lifetime information. This biography recounts the Alexander figure as it transpires through her research and is evidently not the one and only facet of his personality. Pushing her book aside as unfit for a serious student of Alexander is underrating her personal approach to the world conqueror. Beyond being a general, a leader of men (and what a leader!), a king, he is also a man with great visions and far ahead of his time. His ambitions were not understood by his Macedonian commanders and soldiers, nor were they accepted by the conquered Persians, Sogdians or Indians. I share Mary Renault’s viewpoint that the only person who truly understood Alexander was his lifetime friend Hephaistion.

The great merit of Mary Renault is that she underscores this private side of Alexander and examines his thoughts and considerations as daily events and life in general unfold. It is one thing to write about the conqueror Alexander and his generalship, but it is another – and far more challenging – to write about the great man he was, a genius as the world has never seen since.