Alexander the Great Debate YES Foundations Ch 5

Did Alexander the Great deserve the distinction of being called “Great”? http://www.helium.com/debates/239609-alexander-the-great-military-genius-or-murderous- madman/side_by_side?page=1

Why is the Macedonian General and King, After the assassination of his father in 336 Alexander the Great, so great? An BC at his daughter’s wedding, Alexander intriguing question to say the least and one acquired the throne and set plans to take that can be answered revenge for his father’s death. by his sheer military His father’s death left him with genius. He alone a goal that set his sights on a pulled all of the Greek glory never achieved in man power he could ancient times. He set his and single handedly sights on the conquest of the conquered the Persian enemies of the Greeks, the Empire, the Egyptians, Persians. He spent two years and formed the largest planning and gathering empire the world had soldiers for his grand scheme ever seen connecting and set out for the first battle the Greeks to the in 334 BC. The most peculiar people of India. For thing though that still has his entire life he was historians wondering is if he bred to fight as a son planned for a grander scheme of the King of then just conquering the Macedonia, who was largest empire in the ancient King Philip II. world.

His childhood was one of being bred for With the army he took along botanists, war and basking in the glory of a great architects, engineers, as well as artists and King, which he was to become. His many historians. His first stop in the Persian teachers taught him Greek philosophy as Empire was that of the coast of Ionia, well as literature and military tactics. One which is the western coast of modern day of these teachers was none other then Turkey. He took his army to the site of the Aristotle. His father furthered his City of Troy as propaganda, because the knowledge in the areas of warfare and Greeks defeated the Asian Trojans in the politics. His mother, who was Olympias of Trojan War, so as to say that the Greeks Epirus, bred him psychologically to believe are here and ready to take more. His first that he was not the son of Philip but a major battle against the Persian in Asia demi-god and that of Zeus’ bloodline. In was at the river Granicus which ended in 337 BC Phillip was elected the leader of the victory of Alexander. He then led his the Greek invasion force that was to attack men swiftly through Asia Minor and took the Persian Empire the next year. the eastern coastal cities of Ionia. After the long and grueling campaign he conquered lands he set his sights on turned his sights onto Gordian and Babylon, the capital of the Persian Empire. attempted a try at the fabled Gordian knot. He led his army to the plains of The legend behind the knot was if a man Gaugamela, in modern day Iraq. could untie it he would conquer all of Asia. When he cut the rope instead of untying it, Darius had his army lead a spear attack he gained public appeal that gave him and divided the Macedonians and their many new recruits from the conquered allies into two and tried to destroy one wing cities now under his control. The next time at a time. Alexander led his cavalry to the he fought a Persian army was in the aid of the other wing when under general mountain pass at Issus in Northwestern Permenio when Darius was pressing on Syria. The Persian King, King Darius III, that side. Alexander thus won the battle by personally lead the army of about 600,000 driving Darius away yet again after Darius men easily outnumbering Alexander and separated the Macedonian wings. He then the Macedonians. rode on towards and occupied the city of Babylon and then took the capital of the Alexander and the Macedonians won Persians, Persepolis. through a well devised plan and Darius fled the field leaving his mother, wife, and To solidify the power he had now acquired children behind to be slaughtered. Alexander then married a Persian noble Alexander allowed them to live out of woman which politically made him part of respect of their royalty. He then swept into Persia. He then marched into India and the eastern edge of the Mediterranean fought against the natives of India. coastline and absorbed all major cities Alexander left the world at the age of 33 except for the island city of Tyre. He then from a severe fever in the year of 323 BC. set siege to the city and conquered it Alexander left us with a genuine style of several months later. He then swept farther military campaigning that was admired by down and took the city of Gaza after a two great military minds later after his death months siege. such as Julius Caesar and Hannibal. He also left the ancient world with an outbreak As Alexander marched his army into Egypt of Greek architecture and philosophy that he was seen as a liberator by the further developed the nations of the Middle Egyptians and met hardly any resistance. East today. The Egyptians began to call him a god and he turned this and asked them not to call him that. So instead they called him Alexander the Great and worshipped him. After solidifying his hold on his newly

Alexander the Great Debate NO Foundations Ch 5

Did Alexander the Great deserve the distinction of

being called “Great”? http://www.helium.com/debates/239609-alexander-the-great-military-genius-or-murderous- madman/side_by_side?page=1

Reading with interest the biography and rational plan; most likely, in fact, of Alexander the Great, I realize that, he would have never begun such first of all, he wasn't a military genius enterprise if he had known how large and that he had committed various and hostile was Asia. He followed crimes in war and even against his only a great, crazy dream of glory best friends and co-workers, during and ambition to accomplish what his his incredible conquest of the whole father, Philip II, had only projected Middle East that features the largest until the day of his assassination, in part of his short 336 B.C.. reign. His many biographers and However, the most admirers were often important reason for impressed by his which Alexander great, inexhaustible wasn't a military energy and genius is that his courage, when he invincible army had defeated the already been Persian army that created by his counted 1 million father Philip II with soldiers with not the invention of the more than 25- phalanx. With this 30,000 Macedonian massive attack and Greek soldiers, front-line, Philip but I think they could easily defeat underrated his the coalition of the many weak points Greek towns at at the base of the Chaeronea (338 fast dissolution of B.C.) and expand his empire after his the reign of death. Macedonia northward, until the He was an exceptional commander Danube. Alexander never changed with a magnetic appeal on his men, this model, but he transformed it in a but his strong determination in legendary invincible army thanks to conquering the Persian Empire as a his courage at the limits of madness. revenge for its attempted invasion of He was proud of his glory, but he Greece during the previous century had a deep inferiority complex and the whole Asia wasn't a strategic toward his father, whom he had to overcome at any cost. For this history. Moreover, Alexander had reason, he frequently claimed that killed the doctor who couldn't avoid his achievements were much greater the death of his lover, a boy named than his father's ones and he didn't Hephestion and he appeared tolerate critiques on this argument, devastated by this loss. as better shown below. In war, Alexander alternated One day, in fact, at a banquet in clemency with great cruelty; he had which (as usual during his last years) just taken the throne, which he Alexander and most of his court repressed a riot of the Greek towns were drunk, his faithful lieutenant deleting totally Thebes, but he saved Cleitos (who had saved Alexander's Athens, for which he had a great life in the Battle of the Granicus, in respect due to the great culture of 334 B.C. and was one of his best this town (another inferiority friends) quarreled with Alexander complex). Moreover, he totally because the latter intended to send destroyed Persepolis the capital of him to fight the nomads in the the Persian Empire, already desolate steeps of Russia, where he conquered, due to his rage for would have been forgotten while having discovered in this town some Alexander got the best of glory. Greek prisoners taken by the Persians with their hands cut. Cleitus tried to oppose this decision and Alexander answered with His decision to proceed against arrogance that his decision was right India, with the same little and tired because the glory he had just army he had with him, was conquered was much more than that something similar to a delirium of of his father. At this point, Cleitus lost omnipotence, so that his soldiers, his temper and said that Alexander although they had always loved him, wasn't a legitimate king and that the refused to proceed further and force of his army was due to his Alexander had to get back across father. At that point, Alexander, the desert in a dramatic retreat, drunk and furious (alcohol reduces losing thousands of soldiers. most inhibitions and eases violent reactions), killed Cleitos on the spot At the end of his conquest, when he with a sword. came back in Babylon, he proclaimed to be a god (it was the Alexander also executed Parmenius, first time for a Greek king!), son of the general he appreciated the best Zeus and Amon, arousing the and his son Philotas, suspecting surprise of his soldiers and he them of a plot against him. celebrated a lot of marriages between his generals and as many He killed Callistenes (a writer who Persian princesses, in the illusion of was Aristotles' nephew) who said unifying better his new empire. that Alexander would have become famous only after the same As we can see, from these episodes, Callistenes will have written his Alexander followed a dream at the limits of madness or even beyond. For all these facts and considering He was extremely emotive, that every king of that time had an inconstant and superstitious, (always absolute power and could decide consulting fortune tellers before what he wanted, I think Alexander taking his decisions) and he followed was an extremely courageous leader more his instinct than a rational and military commander, but not a strategy, as Julius Caesar or military genius and that his mind Hannibal would have done. What mustn't have been totally healthy worsened his violent reactions was because he didn't know what the huge intake of alcohol; he drank moderation and prudence were, more and more frequently at his obsessed by his pride and need of banquets. On these occasions, he glory at any cost, ready to kill even made real drinking competitions with his best friends if they dared criticize his generals that he wanted to win at him. every cost because he wanted to be always the winner. This was one of Not by chance, his empire, his obsessions. conquered following his crazy glory dreams, dissolved immediately after Just the physical weakening caused his death, divided between his by alcohol and insomnia could generals. Alexander had not the explain the disease which lead him least spark of wisdom to designate to death in 323 B.C., although some his successor. historians suspect a murder.

Alexander the Great Debate Foundations Ch 5 JUDGES

Did Alexander the Great deserve the distinction of being called “Great”? http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/alexander_the_great_01.shtml Many-sided hero hunting game - human as well as It seems there have been animal, and the bigger and more many Alexander the Greats - as dangerous the better. Such macho many as there have been serious feats offered him the chance to students of him as man, hero and/or enhance his standing in the eyes of god. There are two main reasons for his subjects, as well as to ensure an this multiplicity and plasticity. First, impressive reputation into posterity. and more poetically, the great leader's achievements - both in his Image of the hunt lifetime and posthumously (the One of the earliest clues to Alexander myth or legend) - are this aspect of his character is an simply staggering. Second, the image - thought to be probably of original narrative sources that Alexander - painted in fresco above survive for Alexander are mostly the front entrance to what we usually either very non-contemporary (eg call the 'Tomb of Philip' (whether or Plutarch's biography of c.100 AD, not we believe it to be actually the and Arrian's narrative history of a tomb of Alexander's father, King little later in the second century AD), Philip II). This monumental tomb was or very skewed by partisanship - pro erected at the ancient Macedonian or con, or both. ceremonial capital of Aegae (modern In the past there have been Vergina), some time within the last those who saw him as essentially third or so of the fourth century BC. reasonable and gentlemanly, or The fresco depicts hunting scenes, dynamic and titanic, or Homerically and it is natural to identify the central heroic. But the recent trend has been figure as a young Alexander decidedly negative, emphasising engaged, with his father, in what we variously his conquering bloodlust, know to have been one of his megalomania, or alleged Alexander's favourite pastimes. alcoholism. Except that to call it a 'pastime' may Here I hope not to err on the give a misleading impression, since side of gratuitous mudslinging, in my hunting in Macedon - as in some search for clues to the mainsprings other ancient societies, such as of Alexander's character. But I do lay Sparta - was actually an important stress on his grand passion for culturally coded marker of social and Persian empire. During the 11 years political status. of his almost non-stop campaigning in Asia (334-323), periods of rest and Testing manhood recreation were infrequent as he In Macedon, you did not strove to achieve his ambitious aims, become fully a man until you had to the undoubted chagrin of his passed the key manhood test of officers and troops; but one of his hunting and killing, without a net, one favourite means of relaxation was of the ferocious wild boar that hunting. roamed the heights of upper As his biographer Plutarch put (western) Macedonia. Only then it, 'When he had time on his hands, could you recline - as opposed to sit he would get up and sacrifice to the - when participating in the daily ritual gods ... then he would go on to of the symposium. This was the spend the day hunting ...' . For regular evening drinking party, at example, in a safari park near which and through which the Maracanda (Samarkand in Macedonian elite celebrated together Uzbekistan) in the early 320s, a bag and mutually confirmed their of no fewer than 4,000 wild game, elevated social and political status. including lions, is reported. That was Another kind of hunting - the the reward for the capture of the killing of an fearsome Sogdian enemy in battle - Rock. entitled a To illustrate Macedonian to this, at the Pella wear a special Archaeological kind of belt, as a Museum in visual reminder of Macedonia there is his attainment. a beautiful pebble Alexander had mosaic, which is passed both those thought to depict tests triumphantly Alexander in pursuit by the age of 16 of danger and (in 340 BC), when excitement - a his father thought mosaic that him already originally adorned a sufficiently mature floor in a luxurious to act as regent of Hellenistic-period Macedon. house, the so-called Campaigner and hunter House of Dionysus. According to the In 336 Alexander became favoured interpretation, this may well king not only of Macedon, but also of be modelled on a bronze statue- most of mainland Greece. He group in the round executed by inherited the mantle of his late father, Alexander's court sculptor, Lysippus, as leader of a pan-hellenic and shows his leading companion, expedition of holy revenge and Craterus, famously supporting liberation against the once mighty Alexander as he hunted lions in a muzzle. It was alleged that only game park in Syria. Alexander had been able to break Sometimes, though, it was not the horse in, and he became so only wild game that was the object of attached to the animal over the next Alexander's hotheaded attention. two decades or so that he actually More than once, a leading named a city - Bucephala - after him, Macedonian made the mistake of in an area now part of modern intercepting the major quarry and Pakistan (site unidentified). robbing Alexander of the pleasure The scenes on the short sides of the and pride of making the kill. Alexander Sarcophagus depict the In one of these incidents, the hunting of lions and panthers. offender was a member of Traditionally, the coffin has been Alexander's own royal retinue, one attributed to Abdalonymus, king of Dimnus, who received humiliating Sidon, and the sources record that punishment for his supposed Abdalonymus received his presumptuousness. It has been said appointment from Alexander through that there was a direct connection the good offices of another of between this punishment and Alexander's most devoted Dimnus's alleged plotting against companions, his friend from boyhood Alexander's life in 327 BC. and alter-ego, Hephaestion. But an Public image alternative interpretation attributes Throughout his life Alexander the sarcophagus rather to the much was exceptionally preoccupied with more important Mazaeus. his image, both literally and This man was a noble metaphorically. One of his non- Persian, whom Alexander appointed Greek protégés appreciated this very to govern Babylon after he had well and had himself buried in a transferred his allegiance from the stone coffin, now in the defeated Persian great king Darius Archaeological Museum, Istanbul, III, following the decisive battle of adorned with images showing Gaugamela (331 BC). Whichever Alexander hunting either a human or interpretation is correct, the relatives animal prey. and friends of the dead occupant The strikingly well preserved knew well how best to honour a artefact is known as the 'Alexander close lifetime association with the Sarcophagus', for the good reason Nimrod of ancient Greece, the that on one long side a figure mighty hunter Alexander. unambiguously meant to be The Alexander Romance Alexander is depicted on horseback, Alexander himself died at in vigorous and deadly combat Babylon in June 323 BC, at the age against a Persian. of only 32. The circumstances of his The horse in question was death are almost as unclear as those Bucephalas (the name means Ox- of his father, though it probably Head), a magnificent - and smacks too much of the historical prodigiously expensive - Thessalian novel to suggest that Alexander was stallion, probably named for the assassinated, possibly by poison. shape of the white blaze on his Rather, he is most likely to have caught a deadly fever, probably chauvinistic illustration of the fact malarial, after years of pushing that Alexander has featured in the himself beyond reasonable limits. literature of some 80 countries, His passing was greeted very stretching from our own Britannic differently in different parts of his islands (as Arrian, called them) to vastly enlarged empire. The the Malay peninsula - by way of traditional enemies of Macedon in Kazakhstan. Greece were thrilled to bits, whereas That is another way of saying those Greeks and non-Greeks who that Alexander is probably the most had gladly worshipped him as a famous of the few individuals in living god felt genuinely bereft. human history whose bright light has Whatever is thought of his lifetime shot across the firmament to mark achievements, there is no the end of one era and the beginning questioning the impact of his of another. posthumous fame. One of our best sources on Thanks above all to the Alexander, Arrian, focused on one literary text known as the Alexander particular quality of Alexander, his Romance, created originally at the pothos or overmastering desire to great leader's most famous achieve or experience the humanly - foundation - the city of Alexandria, in and divinely - unprecedented. Egypt - Alexander has featured Alexander's hunt for what was in the internationally as a hero, a quasi- end unattainable by him in his holy man, a Christian saint, a new lifetime provides us with the chance, Achilles, a philosopher, a scientist, a and the motive, to conduct a new prophet, and a visionary. The more hunt to try to capture the daunting earthy musings of the hero of immensity of his achievement. Shakespeare's Hamlet, in the graveyard scene, are just one