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*In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great*
In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great
Genre	Documentary
Written by	Michael Wood
Directed by	David Wallace
Presented by	Michael Wood
Composer	John Eacott
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producers	Leo Eaton (PBS); Laurence Rees (BBC)
Producer	Rebecca Dobbs
Cinematography	Peter Harvey; Linette Frewin; Alistair Cameron; Peter Jeuvenal
Running time	57-60 minutes
Production company	Maya Vision International
Original release
Network	BBC2
Release	14 July –; 4 August 1998

In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great is a BBC documentary television series, first shown in 1998. Written and presented by historian and broadcaster Michael Wood,^[1] it retraced the travels of Alexander the Great, from Macedonia to the borders of India and back to Mesopotamia.^[2]^[3]

Production

Wood was prevented by the government of Greece from interviewing Eugene N. Borza, a professor specializing in the history of Macedonia, anywhere within Greece, apparently because of Borza's controversial^[4] views on the ethnic differences between the Greeks and Macedonians in ancient times.^[5]

Episodes

Episode one: Son of God

Macedonia to Turkey

First broadcast on BBC2 on 14 July 1998^[6]

Episode two: Lord of Asia

Zagros to Persepolis

First broadcast on BBC2 on 21 July 1998^[7]

Episode three: Across the Hindu Kush

The golden road to Samarkand

First broadcast on BBC2 on 28 July 1998^[8]^[9]

Episode four: To The Ends of the Earth

Pakistan to Babylon

First broadcast on BBC2 on 4 August 1998

Broadcast and release

The series was broadcast in the United States on PBS on 4 and 5 May 1998.^[10]

The series was released on DVD by BBC Worldwide,^[11] and on DVD by PBS Home Video in 2004.^[12]

Reception

In an article published in Summer 1998, Eugene N. Borza expressed approval of the series but was unhappy with the accompanying book.^[13]

Book

The book In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: A Journey from Greece to Asia, by Michael Wood, is a companion to the television series. It was published, by the University of California Press in Berkeley and Los Angeles, by Routledge in New York, in 1997.^[14]

The book was ranked fifth in the original non-fiction section of the Bookwatch bestsellers list published in The Independent on 14 August 1998, and was included in the lists published on 28 August and 18 September 1998.^[15]

References

K R Moore (ed). Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great. (Brill's Companions to Classical Reception, vol 14). Brill. Leiden and Boston. 2018. pp 707 & 708
John Leonard, "Smart Alex", New York Magazine, 4 May 1998
Don Heckman, "PBS Deftly Traces Epic Life of Alexander the Great", Los Angeles Times, 4 May 1998
Tom Huntington, "Multi-Media Review: In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great", HistoryNet, 19 August 2000
"In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great", Weekend Edition Sunday, NPR, 3 May 1998

^ Top Documentaries: In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. Accessed 17 February 2013
^ Michael Wood: In the Footsteps of Alexander The Great - A Journey from Greece to Asia
^ Amazon. Accessed 18 February 2013
^ Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (7 July 2011). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. John Wiley & Sons. p. 586. ISBN 978-1-4443-5163-7.
^ Joseph Roisman (16 December 2002). Brill's Companion to Alexander the Great. BRILL. p. 359. ISBN 978-90-04-21755-3.
^ For reviews of this episode, see Peter Waymark, "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great" in "Television Choice: Of tears and somersaults", The Times, 14 July 1998, p 46; and Peter Barnard, "Some talk of Alexander, some of Cecil Gee", The Times, 15 July 1998, p 47.
^ The Times, 21 July 1998, p 43. The Independent, 21 July 1998, "The Tuesday Review" section, 21 July 1998, p 20
^ For a review of this episode, see Nancy Banks-Smith, "Well, that's poetry that is", The Guardian Weekly, Volume 159, Number 6, 9 August 1998, p 26.
^ The Times, 28 July 1998, p 47
^ Walter Goodman, "Traveling Many Miles to Ask What Made Alexander Great", The New York Times, 4 May 1998, Section E, p 8
^ For a review of the DVD, see Casey Burchby, "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great", DVD Talk, 25 May 2010
^ Skelton and Dell. Empire of Alexander the Great. Revised Edition. Chelsea House. 2009. p 143
^ (1998) 75 The Classical Outlook 139 (No 4, Summer 1998) (American Classical League, New York University)
^ For reviews of this book see, Janet Grossman, "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great", Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 4 May 1998; Andrea Berlin, "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great" in "Reviews" (1999) 62 Near Eastern Archaeology 58 (No 1); P Green, "Book Reviews" (1999) Current Contents 132; E N Borza, "Book Reviews" (1999) Current Contents 60; (1999) JACT Review 24; and "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great", Publishers Weekly; "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great", Kirkus. For other commentary on this book, see Rupert Matthews, Alexander the Great at the Battle of Granicus, Spellmount, 2008, p 249.
^ "Books: Bestsellers", The Independent, 14 August 1998; "Books: Best-sellers", The Independent, 28 August 1998; "Books: Best-sellers", The Independent, 18 September 1998.