Drawing from the major writings of Alexander's contemporaries as well as contemporary psychological and cultural studies, this is distinguished scholar and historian Norman Cantor's full-bodied portrait of Alexander: a legend in the ancient world whose puzzling personality fueled his military accomplishments. Cantor probes Alexander's ambiguous relationship with his father, Philip II of Macedon, his oedipal involvement with his mother, Olympias, and his bisexuality. He traces Alexander's attempts to bridge the Greek and Persian worlds, using Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, as his model. Finally, Cantor explores Alexander's view of himself in relation to the pagan gods of Greece and Egypt. Going beyond standard biographies, Alexander the Great is a psychological rendering of a man of his time.