Envy Of The Gods By John Prevas - 2404 Words

Envy of the Gods Envy of the Gods is a book written by John Prevas about Alexander the Great’s journey after he conquered Persia. The author has a degree in history, psychology, forensics, and political science. He has worked as a professor for the last fifteen years and has written two books, Hannibal Crosses the Alps and Xenophon’s March. Alexander the Great has always been a fascinating topic, but something that had always bothered me is the fact that even though I know his name, I had no idea what he had done, why he was famous, and why he is called â€Å"Great†, therefore I chose this book to know what Alexander did, what made him famous, and why he is important. The first chapter begins by describing Persepolis right before it was conquered by Alexander the Great (330 BCE). The city was a relatively new, magnificent capital of the Persian Empire. The city’s original name was Parsa, but the Greeks changed it to Persepolis, which means Persian City. The city was created by the two kings that the Greeks hated the most, Darius I and Xerxes (they were responsible for the burning of Athens in the fifth century. When Alexander took over Persepolis he had already taken over Babylon and Susa, two of the most important cities in ancient Persia. Persepolis surrendered very quickly and the king of Persia, Darius III had run away. In the past, Alexander had been very lenient with his prisoners of captured cities, that is why it was so odd that he treated Persepolis with such awful