Alexander III Of Macedon In The Golden Mean By Annabel Lyon

Alexander III of Macedon more commonly referred to by many as Alexander the great, is one of history’s more famous leaders for his brilliance and military genius having conquered the known world of his time. Alexander’s brilliance is attributed by many historians to Aristotle, his tutor in the more philosophical subjects of the time. “The Golden Mean” by Annabel Lyon captures Aristotle’s first person view of Alexander during his time as his tutor as well as some of Aristotle’s own upbringing. This book is fictional and uses this period of Aristotle and Alexander’s lives to create a drama. This book makes use of battles Alexander participated in and this essay will view the use of antiquity for these battles. Alexander was in the process of …show more content…
Lyon goes into more detail than can be confirmed by any known publication. Lyon describes Alexander’s place in the east wing of the battle and describes Philip’s use of Alexander to “‘overextend the enemy line, then work the cavalry in as a wedge. Use Alexander the scare the holy hell out of everybody’” (Lyon 204). It is not known for sure Philip’s reasoning for suddenly including his son in a battle but Lyon attributes it in the form of a characters dialogue to a need to scare his own troops into fighting harder and to dishearten his enemies. Not many texts exist that explain in detail as to be compared to Lyons account but Plutarch does commend Alexander “he is said to have been the first man that charged the Theban’s sacred band…This bravery made Philip so fond of him.” (Plutarch, Life of Alexander) Whether or not this is true or Plutarch’s opinion on how Philip felt about Alexander is unclear, Alexander’s bravery in both texts seems to be consistent in fiction and nonfiction. As stated previously Lyon describes Philips handle on the battle itself as one of drawing the enemy forward and then using Alexander and his troops to wedge between the stationary side of the enemy and the side that has advanced effectively flanking him. It seems that Lyons description of Philip’s strategy and …show more content…
It can be assumed that a majority of the dialogue between Aristotle and Alexander is fiction tied with some of what may have actually happened between the two men. Although the novel may be a good amount of fiction it appears that Lyon researched and incorporated the battles and significant events in Alexander’s life in the novel and created an almost perfect description of them. Not many battles or events occur in the novel as it is focused on the development as Alexander as a character not a historical figure, when Lyon did include antiquity in her novel she did it correctly and very rarely conjured anything false to add to the