{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02672209026128266, 'fraction_numerical': 0.005344418052256532, 'mean_word_length': 4.871080139372823, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Notices of Books

to the fore. In a final assessment of his city foundations the author characterises Alexander's policy as marked by commercial and strategic concerns. These cities were carefully placed in key positions which were often those of his Achaemenid predecessors. Any cultural role for these cities is subordinated to a military role; it is as garrisons and centres of commerce rather than training centres for the next generations's troops that they are viewed. The notorious passage of Plutarch (Mor. 328) on the hellenising role of seventy city foundations is summarily dismissed as either irresponsible or anachronistic (188). To distinguish aim and result is not always easy; F.'s eye is on the location of these cities more perhaps than on their populations. In the epilogue the careful parameters of what is allowed are once more restated and different approaches (archaeological, numismatic and literary) outlined. In concluding that it is not possible to wipe the slate entirely clean (199), F. perhaps lets slip his optimal position. He is a supreme minimalist. It is, however, the final paragraph which causes the greatest disquiet. Why, in the end, only six of the earlier fourteen cities are allowed to Alexander as founder remains (to this reader) somewhat obscure. The two Nikaias have been dropped, as has Alexandria at the junction of the Akesines and Indus and others too; only (some of) those foundations that carried Alexander's name remain. Is this a further qualification for a city of Alexander? The final pessimism of the author may be over-bleak but any future assessment of Alexander's conquests must take serious account of this important study.