In brilliant biography, Alex Rowson offers an astonishing new account of Alexander the Great – one of the most important figures of the ancient world, but whose earlier years have until now been a mystery.

Alexander the Great conquered land from Macedonia to Egypt to India, known now both for his accomplishments and his precocity – he achieved it all before dying abruptly at the age of thirty-two. But while much is known of his later years, almost nothing had survived of his first two decades – until now.

Since the astonishing discovery of the tomb of Macedon – that of Alexander’s father – in 1977, archaeologists have been scouring what is now northern Greece to uncover extraordinary details of life in ancient Macedonia.

In this book, Alex Rowson tells this story, drawing from new knowledge to portray the tempestuous relationship between Alexander’s parents, Philip and the Molossian princess Olympias, his education by Aristotle, and the strict military training which would serve him so well in later years.

In a rare explosion of fresh understanding of the ancient world, Rowson offers a new story about a figure we all thought we knew.