The Persian Boy

The Persian Boy"It takes skill to depict, as Miss Renault has done, this half man, half Courtesan who is so deeply in love with the warrior." The Atlantic Monthly The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander's life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas was sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but found freedom with Alexander after the Macedon army conquered his homeland. Their relationship sustains Alexander as he

"It takes skill to depict, as Miss Renault has done, this half-man, half Courtesan who is so deeply in love with the warrior."-The Atlantic Monthly

The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander's life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas was sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but found freedom with Alexander after the Macedon army conquered his homeland. Their relationship sustains Alexander as he weathers assassination plots, the demands of two foreign wives, a sometimes-mutinous army, and his own ferocious temper. After Alexander's mysterious death, we are left wondering if this Persian boy understood the great warrior and his ambitions better than anyone.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 02/12/1988
ISBN: 9780394751016
Pages: 432
Weight: 0.72lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 0.90d

Review Citations: Booklist 04/01/2000 pg. 1443
Booklist 05/15/2002 pg. 1586
Library Journal 06/01/2012 pg. 98