Alexander the Great: Lives and legacies Stephen Harrison
Event details
Learn more about Alexander the Great’s life, personality and impact as historian Stephen Harrison of Swansea University offers a fresh perspective on his reign.
Join Stephen as he re-examines Alexander’s military victories and personality, while also exploring the impact of his campaigns on the people he conquered. Alexander’s story, Stephen will argue, is one that includes the vital roles that other figures played in historical events. By considering the social and intellectual currents of the last two decades, he will highlight how changing contemporary experiences shape historical interpretations. Moving beyond polarised debates about Alexander, Stephen, author of Alexander the Great: Lives and Legacies, will provide a nuanced discussion of Alexander’s achievements and impact.
Discover an Alexander for the 21st century as Stephen offers new insights into how and why historical interpretations have changed.
Book sales
You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too.
About the speaker
Dr Stephen Harrison is Lecturer in Ancient History at Swansea University. His research focuses on the sixth to second centuries BCE, the era of the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic kingdoms. He examines the interplay between these empires, challenging traditional periodisation and crossing disciplinary boundaries. Stephen is particularly interested in the interaction between Greece and the Near East in this period and he uses kingship to explore this relationship. More generally, he is interested in the representation of power and in interdisciplinary approaches to monarchy and empire. He is the author of Alexander the Great: Lives and Legacies (Reaktion Books 2025).
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