This week, we venture into the weird, weird world of 2004's Alexander. Join us for a discussion of mystery cults, Roxana, eunuchs, Jamie's sincere apology for choosing this movie, Aristotle, and more!

Sources:

Production and Background:

Scott Tobias review: https://film.avclub.com/alexander-1798200224

Rotten Tomatoes Box Office: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/alexander

BBC Review: http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2004/12/14/alexander_review_2004_review.shtml

Robin Lane Fox, Making of Alexander, available at https://www.amazon.com/Making-Alexander-Official-Guide-Epic/dp/0951139215

"I Have Let Alexander Down," available at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3634344/I-have-let-Alexander-down.html

AO Scott Review, NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/movies/a-territory-alexander-couldnt-conquer.html

Interview with Rosario Dawson, Esquire: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a1351/esq0406rosario-152/

Mystery Cults:

The Met: Mystery Cults in the Greek and Roman World, available at https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/myst/hd_myst.htm

Livy, History of Rome, Book 1: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0166%3Abook%3D39%3Achapter%3D14

Albert Henrichs, "Greek Maenadism from Olympias to Messalina," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 82 (1978)

Plutarch, Alexander, available at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0243%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D5

Lowell Edmunds, "The Religiosity of Alexander"

Eric Csapo, "Riding the Phallus for Dionysus" Phoenix 51, 3-4 (1997)

Ross Kraemer, "Ecstasy and Possession: The Attraction of Women to the Cult of Dionysus," Harvard Theological Review 72, 1-2 (1978)

Roxane:

Cilliers & Retief, "The death of Alexander the Great," Acta Academica 31(3), (1991), 63-76. https://scholar.ufs.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11660/10263/academ_v31_n1_a3.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Alexander the Great, In Our Time: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06d9bkx

History of the World in 100 Objects: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00sbryz

Worthington, Ian, ed. 2012. Alexander the Great : A Reader. Florence: Taylor & Francis Group. Accessed July 12, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Thomas, Carol G. Alexander the Great in His World. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. Blackwell Ancient Lives. Web.

Plutarch, Moralia: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Fortuna_Alexandri*/1.html

The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46976/46976-h/46976-h.htm#Page_241 

Eunuchs:

Pierre Briant, Darius in the Shadow of Alexander. Harvard University Press, 2015.

Michael Charles, "The Chiliarchs of Achaemenid Persia," Phoenix 69, 3-4 (2015)

Judith Herrin, Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire. Princeton University Press, 2008.

Walter Stevenson, "The Rise of Eunuchs in Greco-Roman Antiquity," Journal of the History of Sexuality 5, 4 (1995)

Aristotle and Barbarians:

Sarah Pruitt, "Where Did the Word Barbarian Come From?" Available at https://www.history.com/news/where-did-the-word-barbarian-come-from

Mark, Joshua J. "Aristotle." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified May 22, 2019. https://www.ancient.eu/aristotle/. Also, Dictionary of the Social Sciences entry (ed. Craig Calhoun)

"These Were History's Deadliest Events," National Geographic, available at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/06/graphic-wwii-and-the-100-deadliest-events-in-history-feature/

"The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (1 ed.)
Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth ALSO https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/alexander-great/ "