Relying on four biographies of Alexander's contemporaries, combined with modern psychiatric and cultural studies, Cantor describes Alexander's relations with his parents, his Oedipal complex and his bisexuality. At the center of the book are Alexander's attempts to bridge the East and West, the Greek and Persian worlds, especially his using Achilles, the hero of the Trojan War, as his model. Finally, Cantor explores Alexander's view of himself in relation to the pagan gods of Greece and Egypt. The result is a psychological and cultural study of a great figure of the ancient world whose often puzzling personality had so much to do with his career.