Valerio Manfredi Books In Order

Publication Order of Alexander Books

Publication Order of Odysseus Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Valerio Manfredi is a bestselling Italian novelist, journalist, historian, archaeologist, essayist, and writer. He is well known for writing historical fiction stories and his most popular work is the Alexander trilogy series. Manfredi was born as Valerio Massimo Manfredi on March 08, 1942, in Piumazzo di Castelfranco Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He obtained a degree in the subject of Classical Arts from the Bologna University and started working as an archaeologist. Manfredi was employed at Milan’s Catholic University and specialized in the Ancient World’s topography. For a period of 6 years between 1980 and 1986, Manfredi was involved in teaching archaeology at the Cattolica del Sacro University. In 1987, he joined the Venice University for an academic career. Later, he also worked at Chicago’s Loyola University, Paris’ Sorbonne University, and Milan’s Bocconi University. After a few years in the teaching profession, Manfredi’s national and international commitments grew so much that he could not continue to lecture full time.

Manfredi took the role of a visiting professor and continues to do so even today. Between the 1970s and 1980s, Manfredi undertook the Anabasis expedition for reconstructing the itinerary of the retreat of Ten Thousand. During this expedition, he covered a total area of 18,000 km and took 2,000 photographs. Manfredi also undertook and led various other expeditions such as Lavinium, Forte Urbano, Forum Gallorum, Tucume, Har Karkom, and a few other locations abroad. Throughout his career as an archaeologist and historian, he has held seminars and conferences at various national and foreign universities like California University, Bilbao University, Oxford University, Menedez Pelayo International University, Antiochia University, Canberra University, etc. Also, Manfredi has written and published a number of academic articles and essays. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists and have sold about eight million printed copies in total all over the world.

As a scientific journalist, Manfredi writes for magazines and newspapers in Spain and Italy. Manfredi’s book, The Last Legion, was adapted into a film of the same name and released in 2007. The film featured Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth in the lead roles. Universal Pictures has bought the film adaptation rights for Manfredi’s Alexander Trilogy. Manfredi has written screenplays for Gilgamesh and Marco d’Aviano and has also worked on the cinematic adaptation of Le Memorie di Adriano. Manfredi has even served as the host of numerous TV series, the most prominent one being Stargate, which he hosted for 3 seasons on a TV channel in Italy called LA7. He is also set to host Impero on the same channel. Manfredi is quite happy with the way his multiple careers have progressed so far. He wishes to continue doing good work for many more years to come. Manfredi is grateful to his fans, followers, and students, who have always supported his works and believed in him. He hopes to remain associated with the various universities in different countries as a visiting faculty. He has planned to focus on his novel writing in the spare times from his other commitments.

The Alexander Trilogy series written by author Valerio Manfredi is comprised of a total of 3 books, all of which were released in 1998. This series is based on the life of Alexander the Great and describes the different phases of his life. Manfredi has mentioned a number of historically important characters, such as King Philip, Aristotle, Zeus, Queen Olympias, Hephaestion, Leonnatus, Craterus, Seleucus, Perdiccas, Ptolemy, Philotas, Leonidas, Lysimachus, Cleopatra, Darius III, etc. The debut book of this series is entitled ‘Child of a Dream’. It deals with Alexander’s childhood and describes his tutoring by Aristotle until he reached 16 years of age. The plot also shows his close friendship with Ptolemy and Hephaestion that leads him to become a mighty and charismatic warrior and lead the expansion of his empire after his father’s assassination.

Before he was born, the omens had foretold that he is destined to become a great ruler. When he was a prince, Alexander was trained under the guidance of the mightiest soldiers and finest scholars. He attained an extraordinary strength of spirit and body. With the intention of surpassing the honor and heroism of his ancestors, Alexander trained very hard and chose his companions wisely. As a young man, he completed deeds that were unequaled. In his very first battle, Alexander defeated the mighty army of the Sacred Band. As Alexander grew up, he overcame intrigue and deadly plots and always had the support of his loyal friends. His might transformed conquest dreams into reality and conquered Persia and numerous other Eastern cities. As Alexander’s empire spread far and wide, his glory also increased to a much greater extent.

The second installment of the series is known as ‘The Sands of Ammon’. It continues to depict Alexander’s epic story and narrates his quest to take control of Asia. First, Alexander’s men storm to conquer the harbors and towns of Persia and then go on to defeat the legendary Halicarnassus town. Following on his victories, Alexander marches with his army and conquers the snow-clad Anatolia. Alexander had already defeated king Darius III, but Gaza and Tyre provide resistance by forming a large army. However, they ultimately surrender before the mighty Macedonian army. After this, Alexander’s army heads south to raid Egypt’s epic and mysterious land. It is in this sandy land that Alexander finds the divine Oracle of Ammon that reveals to him something that goes on to change the course of his life forever.

The revelation that Alexander is Zeus’ son completely change the meaning of life for him. During his victorious journey, Alexander learns about Memnon’s death by poisoning. He takes in his beautiful wife named Barsine and the two begin to grow close. When Leptine becomes aware of this, he becomes jealous, but is unable to do anything. This novel attracted a large number of readers and became widely successful. The critics praised Manfredi’s effort in providing a detailed description of Alexander’s quest to conquer the world. Even his fellow historians and authors appreciated his work and praised it with motivating words. The success of this novel enabled author Manfredi to move on and develop the third book of the series in which he has described the last years of Alexander’s life.