While this book was originally published in 1969, the subject matter makes it timeless. Alexander the Great is a little boy at the start, riding a horse, handling a house- snake, learning from his half-brother Ptolemy. King Philip of Macedonia is a jealous, warlike ruler - he has to be - and his son must grow up fighting.

FIRE FROM HEAVEN recalls the days when the gods might send blessings or curses to mortals, might lie with mortal women and give them sons, or send the Furies to drive sinners mad. Macedonian Greeks considered everyone else barbarians, and Persian envoys are described as wearing trousers, the notorious sign of a barbarian. For their part the envoys consider the kingdom to be small and provincial; the king drills soldiers himself! "Gold is the mother of armies," Philip tells his son when he gets around to discussing wars and diplomacy. Philip has captured gold mines and invented the sarissa, or extra-long spear, which held by a massed troop provided the hedgehog defence.

Aged seven Alexander is sent to begin training, running, carrying weights and ordered by Leonidas the Spartan to speak better Greek than the Macedonian barrack-room talk. Meanwhile his mother is outraged by the succession of girls that Philip enjoys. Through their eyes we see life in Greek times; theatre, clothing, food and drink, music on kithara and lyre, with incessant references to the gods, to the fall of Troy and the labours of Hercules. The jigsaw of kingdoms and alliances, armies paid by looting and melting down temple treasures, weapons of war in a culture where manhood is reached by killing a boar and a man.

As a young man, Alexander meets and tames the spirited black horse Boukephalos or Oxhead, in accordance with the writings of the first horsemaster Xenophon. Aristotle teaches him science and statecraft. As Philip marches out to war Alexander is left to manage the lines of communication, promised a cavalry regiment as soon as he is old enough. The lad knows all the soldiers well, their strengths and failings, and cannot be manipulated for promotion. FIRE FROM HEAVEN ends with the death of King Philip, and there is a taster of the second book, 'The Persian Boy' as well as notes from the respected author Mary Renault and photos of her. This reissued series will now bring to a new readership one of the greatest stories of the ancient world.