Darius in the Shadow of Alexander by Pierre Briant

Description

The sympathy of ancient authors with Alexander the Great makes it extremely difficult to reveal the character of his rival, Darius III, because even when they refer to Darius, they still speak of Alexander. What we "know" about the last Achaemenid king and his life can be summarized in a few words. In this book, the author tried to describe how Western classical writers and historians described Darius and came to the conclusion that they not only made Alexander a myth, but also described Darius as just a failed Achaemenid king, and his characteristics are often the opposite of Alexander.