The Cunning of the Dove by Alfred Duggan

He ended his days in a palace in the Seleucid empire where he gorged himself to death La Grande Bouffestyle.Īt times Elephants and Castles can be a little dry compared to Duggan’s other books. Anthony was a tragic figure, but Demetrius was too wily for that.

Most telling of all are the set scenes of feasts on board ship. There is a family resemblance, especially in both figures debauches and their reign over paper empires.

Plutarch wrote short biographies of famous Greeks and Romans and compared them together in pairs, one Greek and one Roman. Much of what we know about Demetrius comes from Plutarch. Faced with the uncertainty of life in a technologically militarised society, he lives for wine, women and culture. He holds himself aloof from the old values and moral codes of an earlier period. He has a cynical contempt for religion and the gods. Uniquely in historical fiction which loves walk on parts by historical figures, in Elephants and Castles sculpture of the time also has walk on parts. It is a world that Duggan richly conjures. Again this was not new, but it happened at a time when wealthy warlords were willing to pay a premium for political prestige. The period also saw the emergence of new styles of art which married the oriental and Greek. The libraries of Pergamon and Alexandria had strategic roles in a cultural cold war to develop ever larger libraries. Antioch and Alexandria both date from this period. Many of the generals built cities for themselves. This was the period when war elephants were first used in the Mediterranean and when war ships were built larger and larger. This was through a combination of military power and also soft power. There were of course connections between these countries before Alexander but this sped up following his conquest.Īlexander died young and following his death, his generals fought amongst themselves for power. It covers the ups and downs of Demetrius I in the wars for supremacy amongst Alexander the Great’s generals.Īlexander’s campaigns against the east (especially Persia and India), opened up new influences to the Greek world. A new ageĮlephants and Castles is the punultimate novel written by Alfred Duggan, the erstwhile libertine, archaeologist and historical novelist. Demetrius Poliorcetes is one of the great characters of historical fiction.

The Cunning of the Dove by Alfred Duggan