“Written with her usual vigor and imagination...Mary Renault has a great talent.”– The New York Times Book Review

Alexander’s beauty, strength, and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son’s loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle’s tutoring provoked his mind and Homer’s Iliad fueled his aspirations. Killing his first man in battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon’s cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his father was murdered, Alexander’s skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.

瑪麗·瑞瑙特（Mary Renault，1905—1983），以描寫古希臘的曆史小說享有世界性的聲譽，其作品傳神地展現瞭忒修斯、蘇格拉底、柏拉圖和亞曆山大大帝等名人的生平。

瑞瑙特齣生於倫敦，畢業於牛津大學，大學時的老師包括著名希臘學教授吉爾伯特·默雷（Gilbert Murray），和後來以《魔戒》成為一代文豪的語言學教授托爾金（J. R. R.Tolkien）。大學之後，她在牛津的拉德剋利夫醫院（Radcliffe Infirmary）學習護理，並跟日後的終身伴侶硃莉·穆拉德相遇。二戰期間兩人曾專職照料傷兵。

瑞瑙特第一本小說發錶於1939年。1948年以《歸於夜晚》贏得高額文學奬金後，攜硃莉移居南非。其後的寫作生涯中，瑞瑙特先以同性愛情故事《禦者》震撼文壇，繼而轉入一嚮令她癡迷的古希臘曆史，共寫齣八部考據翔實、想象馳騁的大師之作，包括《殘酒》《國王必須死去》《海裏來的公牛》《阿波羅麵具》《頌詩人》與“亞曆山大三部麯”（《天堂之火》《波斯少年》《葬禮競技會》），至今廣受喜愛，長銷不衰。