Iskander, A romance of the court of Philipp of Macedon and Alexander the Great

The closing years of Philip of Macedon and the rise of Alexander the Great are among the most remarkable in the history of the world, and it is amid the startling events and savage tragedies of this transition period that the story is laid. It was an age of great men – of Philip, Alexander, Demosthenes and Aristotle; an age of fair women: of intrigue, force, dramatic happenings; of crimes innumerable; and, through Alexander’s love attachment for Roxana, a period of romantic interest. The year in which our story opens was the twenty-first of the reign of Philip of Macedon and the three hundred and thirty-eighth before the Christian Era. Pella, the capital of Macedonia, that had so often resounded with the thunder of the Companion Cavalry and the tread of the embattled Phalanx, now made no sign of life save where some sentinel stood erect and motionless, or noisy children disturbed the quietude of the street.