Julius Valère. Roman d'Alexandre

Alexander the Great’s exploits have a timeless appeal, thanks to their flair and exoticism, and they have provoked reflection on the meaning of history and on the exercise of power. This book offers a rich perspective on this cultural memory, in the form of a complete and coherent corpus of works, centred on the Roman world of the fourth century AD. The History of Alexander of Macedonia by Julius Valerius is given in Latin and in French, with a commentary. Four supplementary texts, also devoted to Alexander, are given in an appendix. These texts have never been translated before.

Julius Valerius transports his readers back to the Greece of Demosthenes and Aristotle. He gives spectacular accounts of all kinds of battles and describes cunning military stratagems and nocturnal getaways on horseback, interspersed with the founding of cities, encounters with beautiful princesses, as well as descriptions of works of art and of voyages to fantastic lands.

Rhetoric and religion have key parts to play in this schema, be they part of discourses, dialogues, letters, marvels, astrological calculations, sacrifices, oracles, prayers or mystical revelations. Julius Valerius’s History of Alexander provides vital evidence for the study of ancient religious rhetoric.

Jean-Pierre Callu, Member of the Institut de France, Emeritus Professor of the University of Paris- Sorbonne, is a leading French specialist of Greco-Roman civilization, and in particular of Roman history and literature of the imperial period. He has published on numismatics, archaeology, philology, and has edited the Augustan History as well as the works of Symmachus.