and there you are. the grand will-use-up-valuble-time-until-i-forget-about-it-and-it-is-never-seen-again plan!! woohoo! New Style of Writing: Now I'm stretching it with this one, I know, because anyone who has studied literature knows Shakespeare wasn't the first to use Iambic Pentameter, however I believe he was the first to make it popular. You ask anyone to tell you the first author that comes to mind when you say Iambic Pentameter and they're not going to say Chaucer, they're going to say Shakespeare. The Buik of Alexander, anonymous, attributed to John Barbour, dates to 1438 according to its first printed edition from 1580. Book III begins with the campaign against the Indian king Porus, whom Alexander defeats in single combat. He then encounters the Naked Philosophers of Taxila and interviews them about their customs. A inserts at this point the whole of Palladius’ monograph, “On the Life of the Brahmans” (III.7–16) 4 and then the “Letter to Aristotle about India” (III. 17) in abridged and mangled form. In A, the lacunose text focuses on strange beasts and the “Night of Terrors” and culminates in a visit to the oracular trees of the sun and moon, which predict Alexander’s early death.

The first plays I read were the most popular ones, and were the ones I enjoyes the most. The tragedies worked better for me than the comedies, with the exception of Romeo and Juliet, which I did not despise but didn't love either. My favourite ones are probably Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and A Midsummer's Night Dream. Alexander now proceeded farther with the policy of replacing senior officials and executing defaulting governors on which he had already embarked before leaving India. Between 326 and 324 over a third of his satraps were superseded and six were put to death, including the Persian satraps of Persis, Susiana, Carmania, and Paraetacene; three generals in Media, including Cleander, the brother of Coenus (who had died a little earlier), were accused of extortion and summoned to Carmania, where they were arrested, tried, and executed. How far the rigour that from now onward Alexander displayed against his governors represents exemplary punishment for gross maladministration during his absence and how far the elimination of men he had come to distrust (as in the case of Philotas and Parmenio) is debatable; but the ancient sources generally favourable to him comment adversely on his severity. Evangelos Venetis, The Persian Alexander: The First Complete English Translation of the Iskandarnama, Bloomsbury 2017.Alexander now occupied Babylon, city and province; Mazaeus, who surrendered it, was confirmed as satrap in conjunction with a Macedonian troop commander, and quite exceptionally was granted the right to coin. As in Egypt, the local priesthood was encouraged. Susa, the capital, also surrendered, releasing huge treasures amounting to 50,000 gold talents; here Alexander established Darius’s family in comfort. Crushing the mountain tribe of the Ouxians, he now pressed on over the Zagros range into Persia proper and, successfully turning the Pass of the Persian Gates, held by the satrap Ariobarzanes, he entered Persepolis and Pasargadae. At Persepolis he ceremonially burned down the palace of Xerxes, as a symbol that the Panhellenic war of revenge was at an end; for such seems the probable significance of an act that tradition later explained as a drunken frolic inspired by Thaïs, an Athenian courtesan. In spring 330 Alexander marched north into Media and occupied its capital. The Thessalians and Greek allies were sent home; henceforward he was waging a purely personal war. Nawotka, Krzysztof (2018). "Syriac and Persian Versions of the Alexander Romance". Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great. Brill. pp.525–542. ISBN 978-90-04-35993-2.

There exist two later Persian varieties which are the Iskandarnameh and the A’ina-yi Sikanderi of Amir Khusrow. [13] See also [ edit ] Southgate, Minoo (translator). Iskandarnamah: a Persian medieval Alexander-romance. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1978. ISBN 0-231-04416-X. In conclusion, the only reason I did not give this great book five stars is because my old eyes had some trouble reading the small print, even with my reading glasses on; however, those with the eyes of youth will find this an excellent volume of the complete works of William Shakespeare.People note exceptional verbal wit, psychological depth, and emotional range of English playwright and poet William Shakespeare, who included such historical works as Richard II, comedies like Much Ado about Nothing, and such tragedies as Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear and also composed 154 sonnets before people published posthumously First Folio, which collected and contained edition of 36 plays in 1623. About the historical plays, I can say they were harder to read because the tone was more serious and they were not meant to entertain, but they were worth reading all the same. I think the best ones here were the ones about Richard II and III. A literal and slightly abridged translation from the original Greek is found in the manuscript Parma, Bibliotheca I. B. de Rossi, MS Heb. 1087. This version was also partially interpolated into the Sefer Yosippon in the 10th century. [9]