Julius Caesar: The Alexandrian War
07/27/2016
The Alexandrian War (Latin: De Bello Alexandrino or Bellum Alexandrinum) is a sequel to Caesar's Commentaries on the Civil War, and is generally thought to have been ghostwritten by his lieutenant Aulus Hirtius. The book opens after the battle of Pharsalus, with Caesar pursuing the defeated Pompey to Alexandria, only to find his enemy had been murdered by the Egyptians. Caesar subsequently chose to ally himself with Cleopatra, sister of the Pharoah, Ptolemy XIII, enduring a siege which, according to Plutarch, caused the infamous burning of the library of Alexandria.
After victory in the Battle of the Nile in 47 BC, Caesar turned his attention to Asia. The book concludes with victory over Pontus at the battle of Zena, which prompted Caesar's famous remark 'veni, vidi, vici' (I came, I saw, I conquered).
The Alexandrian War at Amazon: United States | Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | Italy
Free online texts
Internet Classics Archive: The Alexandrian Wars, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. HTML and TXT formats.
LacusCurtius: Hirtius - The Alexandrian War, translated by A.G. Way. HTML format.
Latin Library: De Bello Alexandrino. Latin text, HTML format.
Wikisource: Julius Caesar: The Alexandrian War. (attributed; possibly written by Aulus Hirtius or Gaius Oppius), translated by William Alexander McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. Online with PDF/MOBI/EPUB downloads available.
Other Resources
Wikipedia: De Bello Alexandrino.
The Great Conversation: Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes
Caesar: Commentaries on The Gallic War.
Caesar: Commentaries on the Civil War.
Caesar: The African War.
Caesar: The Spanish War.
Plutarch: Life of Caesar in the Parallel Lives.
Suetonius: Life of Caesar in Lives of the Twelve Caesars.
Samuel Butler: Atlas of Ancient Geography, particularly Asia Minor (3.9 MB) | Egypt (3.3 MB) | Syria, Mesopotamia, and Assyria (3.0 MB)
Latin Resources: Online materials for learning Latin.
Comments