The Rise of the Hellenistic Kingdoms 336–250 BC by Philip Matyszak (PDF)

Description

When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, he left an empire that stretched from the shores of the Adriatic to the mountains of Afghanistan. This empire did not survive Alexander’s death, and rapidly broke into several successor states. These states, substantial kingdoms in their own right, dominated Asia Minor, Greece, the Levant and Egypt for the next three hundred years.While Philip Matyszak’s narrative covers their remarkable contribution of the Eastern Greeks in fields such as philosophy, science and culture, the main focus is on the rivalry, politics and wars, both civil and foreign, which the Hellenistic rulers constantly fought among themselves. As in other fields, the Successor Kingdoms were innovators in the military and diplomatic field. Indeed, their wars and diplomatic skirmishes closely presage those of eighteenth century Europe and the superpower rivalries of the twentieth century. The complex interaction of these different kingdoms, each with its own character and evolving military systems, combined geopolitics and grand strategy with diplomatic duplicity, and relentless warfare. The epic story of the successor states is full of flawed heroes, palace intrigue, murder, treachery, incest, rebellion and conquest.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author PHILIP ‘MATY’ MATYSZAK holds a doctorate in Ancient History from St John’s College, Oxford University, and has been studying, teaching and writing on the subject for over twenty years. He specializes in the history of Classical Greece and of the Late Republic and Early Imperial periods of Rome. Maty has personal military experience both as a conscript in Rhodesia and with the Territorial Army in Britain. These days he splits his time between writing in his home in Canada’s Monashee Mountains and providing e-learning courses for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐An interesting, succinct book, but one with a number of historical errors which the learned reader will find distracting. For example, Phillip of Macedon (the father of Alexander the Great) was assassinated at his own wedding, not that of his daughter, as the author states.Further, I found some of the historical omissions, perhaps for the purpose of brevity, to be quite glaring as well. For example, the rather important Diadochi, Antigonus Monophthalmus and Lysimachus, are barely mentioned, glossed over really, while an inordinate amount of time is devoted to the short-lived Ptolemy Ceraunus.Overall, not a terrible book for the novice, as it provides a brief, if not entirely accurate, primer on the Hellenistic age. In all fairness to the author, this is a difficult topic to delve into, specifically with regards to the complexity of the period. The author mitigated some of this complexity by the use of his humorous insight and his fun to read prose.

⭐A nice light review of the early part of the era. More detail about the major events would have been helpful and an extension into the next Hellenistic generation and its relationship with Rome, but still a good book overall.

⭐As someone with a keen amateur interest in the Hellenistic Period, I found Matyszak’s book largely pointless. It’s largely a series of summaries of other, far more interesting works. The majority of the narrative is expropriated wholesale from Grainger’s far more rigorous Rise of the Seleukid Empire and Mike Roberts & Bob Bennet’s Wars of Alexander’s Successors, along with a bowlderised summary of Bezalel Bar-Kovcha’s The Seleucid Army. Matyszak’s political analyses and insights into the region are similarly superficial, including some dubious conclusions about the structure of the Ptolemaic state based largely on his own desire to project a one-size-fits-all cultural conclusion across the Hellenistic worldMatyszak’s prose is readable, but beyond that it has little to recommend it over the two books mentioned above, both of which are superior accounts of the period.

Keywords

Free Download The Rise of the Hellenistic Kingdoms 336–250 BC in PDF format
The Rise of the Hellenistic Kingdoms 336–250 BC PDF Free Download
Download The Rise of the Hellenistic Kingdoms 336–250 BC 2019 PDF Free
The Rise of the Hellenistic Kingdoms 336–250 BC 2019 PDF Free Download
Download The Rise of the Hellenistic Kingdoms 336–250 BC PDF
Free Download Ebook The Rise of the Hellenistic Kingdoms 336–250 BC