Soldier, Priest, and God: A Life of Alexander the Great

by F.S. Naiden

Whatever we may think of Alexander--whether Great or only lucky, a civilizer or a sociopath--most people do not regard him as a religious leader. And yet religion permeated all aspects of his career. When he used religion astutely, he and his army prospered. In Egypt, he performed the ceremonies needed to be pharaoh, and thus became a god as well as a priest. Babylon surrendered to him partly because he agreed to become a sacred king. When Alexander disregarded religion, he and his army suffered. In Iran, for instance, where he refused to be crowned and even destroyed a shrine, resistance against him mounted. In India, he killed Buddhists, Jains, and Hindus by the hundreds of thousands until his officers, men he regarded as religious companians, rebelled against him and forced him to abandon his campaign of conquest. Although he never fully recovered from this last disappointment, he continued to perform his priestly duties in the rest of his empire. As far as we know, the last time he rose from his bed was to perform a sacrifice.

Ancient writers knew little about Near Eastern religions, no doubt due to the difficulty of travel to Babylon, India, and the interior of Egypt. Yet details of these exotic religions can be found in other ancient sources, including Greek, and in the last thirty years, knowledge of Alexander's time in the Near East has increased. Egyptologists and Assyriologists have written the first thorough accounts of Alexander's religious doings in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Recent archaeological work has also allowed scholars to uncover new aspects of Macedonian religious policy. Soldier, Priest, and God, the first religious biography of Alexander, incorporates this recent scholarship to provide a vivid and unique portrait of a remarkable leader.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Historical, Ancient History, Ancient, Greece

424 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 2018

About the author

Fred Naiden is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He studies ancient Greek law, religion, and warfare, including Near-Eastern parallels, especially among the Western Semites. Chief periods of interest are the Archaic and Classical. The early Roman Republic is a secondary interest.

Reviews

[Sylvie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A biography of Alexander the Great, done by thoroughly analyzing the existing resources and old writings, legends and stories told about this complex personality. It is a heavy book to read for a past time, you need to be really passionate about this historical figure otherwise you will get bored with it. I personally enjoyed it because I was looking for historical data and researches on what we know about Alexander the Great rather than a romanticized version of his life. I recommend it to historians and Alexander's fans, not if you are looking some light readying about him. There are other books out there that are more digestible :)

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

On Alexander there are some legend fragments of which most of it probably it is just myth. Here's a governmental bureaucrat that desires a better pension plan so anything goes and anything is real, after all his channeling skills are as good as the next paper pusher at the next door humanities department.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a great, digestible narrative of Alexander’s life that puts emphasis on his skill with religious practice. I’ve had Naiden as a professor and he is a skilled lecturer. I think this skill translates well into this book, which has humorous asides.

[Scriptor Ignotus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the premise of this biography, which purports to look at Alexander’s life through a religious lens and to imagine him as a great priest and religious innovator as well as one of the great military captains of history. It is fascinating to imagine the world of Alexander not only as a patchwork of territories under strictly-political forms of control, but also as a grand arena of greater and lesser divinities and the political dimensions of their embodiment in the sacred rituals and traditions of the people who worshipped them.

Naiden contends, likely with justification, that Alexander’s military fortunes were bound up with his success in navigating, harmonizing, and syncretizing the religious worlds of the Greeks, Semites, Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Persians, and Indians he encountered during his legendary expedition from the Hellespont to the Indus. Alexander wrested control over the Persian Empire from Darius III not only by defeating him on the battlefield, but also by undermining the king’s legitimacy by fashioning himself as a restorer of neglected regional cults that mediated the political cohesion of the empire and contributed to its stability by rooting political authority in sacred myth and tradition.

Darius, though a devoted Zoroastrian, neglected his priestly responsibilities in the other religious subsystems of the empire, which made the various satrapies more loosely-confederated and vulnerable to annexation and rendered Darius’ own authority largely arbitrary. Conversely, Alexander welded the Greeks of Anatolia to his cause by honoring Zeus and the heroes of the Trojan War, syncretized the sky gods of the levant with Macedonian henotheism and did obeisance to both, became the 467th Pharaoh and by consequence the son of Amon-Re, and revived the cult of Marduk in Mesopotamia. Each of these moves represented a seizure of political legitimacy from Darius by Alexander; it is thus unsurprising that once the main Persian army was routed at Issus and Gaugamela and the hapless king lost his life, Alexander simply replaced him at the helm of the empire’s religious structure.

Alexander’s lack of knowledge about Zoroastrianism and the religions of India made him less adept at securing religiously-sanctified legitimacy and more reliant on brute force; and this may have been a significant factor in the stalling of Alexander’s army in the Indus valley. Thus, Alexander’s capacities as a conqueror were circumscribed by his limitations as a priest and god.

Though the central thesis of the book is powerful and probably correct, Naiden’s account is largely conjectural; mostly due to the sheer paucity of solid primary source material on the subject. Additionally, even though the book was written for a general audience, the narratives presented in each chapter are often plodding and lacking in thematic focus. Readers will need to be equipped with a lot of enthusiasm to avoid being put off.

[Tristram · Rating 2 out of 5]

Naiden claims to present a work based on the religious life and actions of Alexander, which he believes nobody has really delved into before. That sounds very interesting seeing as Alexander had an incredible ego when it came to religious practices, and it could be an incredibly fascinating study. Unfortunately, Naiden does in fact not succeed in his task. For a book supposedly focused on religion and religious practice there was hardly anything written on said themes. I don't think I learnt anything about Macedonian religious life. I don't really understand how this could have happened, that somebody would write a book and not actually write about the topic?

I find it ironic how the author also name drops several other famous Alexander scholars in an almost snide manner, saying that they have neglected an important part of his life. But then he does the exact same thing, and proceeds to produce an unknown book of considerably less impact than any mentioned writers.

Something else that was frustrating was that there was no clarification on the trustworthiness of sources surrounding Alexander, seeing as there are barely any primary accounts remaining in the modern day. Everything is presented as definite fact when in many circumstances that is probably not going to be the case.

It was readable, and I can tell despite the flaws that Naiden has done lots of research, but it left much to be desired and kind of just reiterated everything that has been said before. Not the best. For me, it was mainly useful just to solidify information that I have already learnt before.

[Lynnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A biography of Alexander which presumes as a central premise that Alexander was an earnestly religious man. This is to say that while he acknowledges when it seems most likely that religion was an advantageous performance for Alexander, he still largely supposes that the religiousness was sincere but convenient. By spending the proper time to establish the religious culture of Macedonia where he was raised, and especially the religiousness of his father Philip, Naiden makes a strong case for Alexander’s spiritual credulity as he describes it. An exciting frame for an Alexander biography whether Alexander truly was a devout man truly convinced of his demigod status or not. One appreciates Naiden continuation of the story into the future, beyond Alexander’s death, and thus his project’s completeness.

[Conner Crowder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book on Alexander the Great and I loved it. It was the perfect introduction for me to his life. I found it very interesting how Alexander was able to manipulate the religious beliefs of his men and conquered enemies to accomplish what he set out to do. Overall, this is a solid introduction and I look forward to reading The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian as my next book about Alexander the Great.

[Esoteric Grimoire · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Soldier, Priest, and God: A Life of Alexander the Great” by F.S. Naiden is the story of the mighty conqueror and propagator of Hellenistic society, Alexander the Great. The twist with Naiden’s work is that the text is an examination of Alexander’s spiritual life. Naiden details Alexander’s participation and leadership of the Cult of the Companion the focal point of his military’s officer corps. The membership of the Companions would change and shift and was centered around the idea of Alexander a priest in addition to being a general. Naiden traces Alexander’s apotheosis as he first interacted with and integrated Egyptian beliefs such as his patronage by the god Amun-Re. Naiden even explores the Alexander’s interactions with Hinduism and Jainism in his conquest of Northern India and the Punjab. The stories that jumped off the page for me were the stories of Alexander’s interactions with the world of the Babylonians and the strangeness he found in the oldest city in the world. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a fresh take on Alexander’s life.

[Jessica McFarland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating material, poorly written.

[Paul Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, well researched, footnoted. I just couldn't get into it, I had no interest in the subject, so I didn't finish it.

[Shortsman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting, and a good starting point for reading about Alexander.

[Rosie]

"A civilizer, or a sociopath"

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of Alexander the Great.

[Vlad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soldier, Priest, and God by F.S. Naiden is absolutely outstanding. I honestly couldn’t be happier with it. The level of detail, the precision of the research, and the way Naiden manages to bring Alexander the Great’s world to life is just incredible. You can really tell how much thought and care went into every chapter — nothing feels rushed or shallow.

What impresses me most is how the book captures not just the historical events, but the deeper layers behind Alexander’s character — his religious mindset, his political strategies, and the sacred kingship he built around himself. It doesn’t just tell you what happened; it shows you why it mattered. It’s rare to find a history book that’s this rich but still so readable.

Honestly, I’m very, very impressed. This is exactly the kind of work I was hoping for, and it even surpassed my expectations. It’s a serious, professional piece of scholarship, but it’s also genuinely enjoyable to read.