It should be stated at the outset that the book under review is not a traditional biography of Alexander III of Macedon (for such volumes already proliferate in contemporary scholarship), but rather "seeks to look deeply into the circumstances of his world in the belief that we cannot understand individuals apart from the cultures that condition their lives" (p.
Yet Akbar was far from alone in his extensions of knowledge, curiosities, passions, power, and stature--stories about Alexander III of Macedon claiming divine stature are but one other example.