Envy Of The Gods By John Prevas

Alexander the Great is the most famous conqueror in the history of the world. His legacy and conquest has shaped the world we know today. Many leaders after him have looked to him as an example of what a good leader should be. “Alexander the Great’s tomb was one of the biggest tourist attractions of the ancient world. Roman emperors, including Pompey, Julius Caesar, and Caligula traveled to Alexandria to pay their respects.” It all started at the age of 18 when Alexander took charge of the Companion Cavalry and helped his father in defeating the Athenian and Theban armies. Starting from such a young age Alexander has been already shaping the empire he would create. At the age of twenty he became king, then by the age of twenty-six he conquered the Persian Empire and at age thirty explored the Indian frontier. He was an unstoppable force conquering the world. Alexander the Great is the greatest conqueror of the known world, because of the personal teachings of Aristotle of Stagira, his innovated military genius and multicultural integration methods.

Many people fail to realize that Alexander has had a definite affect on us today, although not as great as he would have had on people of the past. In most parts the world today, Alexander The Great is considered a legend; however, in some places, Alexander is considered a god. One of the most notable people in history, Alexander has reached an iconic status in our world today. He possibly may have even been referred to in the Quran (Surah 18:89-98). There are still many stories told about him including folktales, and movies. In modern Iran, Alexander is still known as an evil king who nearly destroyed the ancient Persian culture and religion. Although the effect of “Alexander Mania” has died down since the time of his reign, you can still see the mark that he has left on today’s world.

Great men have lived on the face of the earth and left marks of their prowess and legacy that men of the present and even the future find it hard to emulate; a good example of such men is Alexander the Great. This paper seeks to explain further Alexander’s military genius and its positive impact on military impact over the past centuries. The paper also gives a well thought analysis why Alexander was so much successful in his wars and conquests. His big empire spread all the way from Gibraltar to the Punjab and in his leadership made Greek the lingua franca of his new World (Cary, M, 1932).

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority” (Acton Institute 1). Alexander the Great was and absolute ruler that had both influence and authority; he abused both which is why many of his subjects followed him out of fear and not loyalty. Rulers are defined by how they use their power, the decisions’ they make; and how those decisions will affect the people. In my essay, I will analyze two viewpoints’ made by two professors and their viewpoints about Alexander III and whether or not he was deserving of the title “The Great”.

The establishment of the magnificent city of Persepolis was of great importance to Persia from 500 BCE to 330 BCE. This city, built by Darius was so important to the Persians because it was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid empire, a sacred and symbolic region for the Persians and also because it was dedicated to hold official audiences. Through an exploration of both primary and secondary sources, the reason behind why the establishment of Persepolis is of such importance to the Persians gas becomes much clearer.

Alexander the so-called ‘Great’ was a legendary conqueror who in his short lifetime was able to overthrow the Persian Empire, the most powerful kingdom at that time. He was born in 356 BCE to King Philip and Queen Olympia of Macedonia. Alexander’s warring career jumpstarted at the age of 20 in the year 336 BCE, due to the assassination of his father in which he inherited his father’s kingdom. Over the span of 11 years, Alexander and his small fleet of men of about 40,000 took over and ruthlessly conquered the Persian Empire. Sadly, this conquest was short-lived by Alexander’s sudden death in the year 323 BCE, in which his unstable kingdom with a lack of a structured governmental system quickly broke apart in the period of 10 years. Therefore, because of the cruel and the disorganized nature of the way Alexander the ‘Great’ conquered and maintained the Persian Empire, he does not deserve to be referred as ‘Great’.

Alexander the Great was the Macedonian king whose conquests of the Persian Empire and Egypt created a new Hellenistic world (Cole, Symes, Coffin, Stacey, 2012, p. A18). After Phillip the II was assassinated during a festival at Pella. The kingship now fell to Alexander. Among the Greeks, he would be known as Alex ander, the Sacker of Cities. To the Romans, he was Alexander the Great. (Cole, Symes, Coffin, Stacey, 2012, p. 89). There were accomplishments many of this leader. By the time of Alexander’s early death at the age of 32, a monumental legend had already built up around him.

Alexander III of Macedon is well known as Alexander the Great throughout the world. According to the standards and beliefs of the ancient historians, numerous elements contribute to recognize him as the “great.” Michael Wood’s Alexander the Great, encompasses narratives by Alexander’s biographers: Arrian, Plutarch, and Quintus Curtis Rufus. Arrian’s The Campaigns of Alexander, Plutarch’s Alexander, and Quintus Curtius Rufus’ The History of Alexander reveal brilliant episodes of the third century history and tale of adventures, defeats, and establishments by Alexander. Throughout the reading, some of the components that structure

Alexander III of Macedon, or as commonly known by the infamous name of Alexander the Great, had a dream of circumnavigating the world to finally see the ocean from both sides of the world. There were obstacles that were in between the objective of his conquest, other civilizations that were very foreign to his people. As commonly done in this current era of the world, the civilizations were conquered in order to improve on to the current state of another one’s empire. Alexander the Great had intentions that were simple, to civilize the foreign nations and to leave a long lasting legacy under his name. This task was not easy where he had to explore the middle east, encounter the challenges that he had to go through, and exchange his model of a perfect society to the conquered nations.

Alexander, son of King Philip II of Macedon, is known as Alexander the Great. However, was he truly great? One may look at his many accomplishments to decide if he deserves the title. Sometimes character is the test of determining if a man is great. Alexander meets both standards with his philosophic background, conquering abilities, victories in battle, and outstanding accomplishments; therefore, he truly meets his title as Alexander the Great

Stairways and porticos, trail off into the bustling streets of Persepolis, a divine center of trade and culture, throughout the Persian Empire. Now, it is but rubble and rock, a former remnant of itś glory(Odyssey, Why Darius Built Persepolis 26). “In Persian eyes, Alexander, is far from great” (Ali Ansari 1). As well as being a brilliant strategist, Alexander also was brutal to many of the cultures he conquered, such as the Persian Empire. First, he destroyed the Persian capital of that era, killing many innocent lives, and destroying the center of culture in the Middle East. All artifacts, all technologies, all conveniences available to the people of Persepolis, all the people themselves, were destroyed by a merciless fire, which was homogenous to Alexander, because of it’s cunning skill, and ruthless attitude to consume anything in it’s path(Ali Ansari 1-2). A whole city, lost quicker than it took all the Kings of Persia to build, a civilization destroyed by one man, Alexander the Great. This shows that Alexander was merciless enough to burn tons of people and their homes, to destroy their life that they have worked so hard to fabricate, just to retaliate at Persia for what they had done 200 years ago to Athens. But, Egypt, just as Persia did, believed itself protected from Alexanderś army, because a seemingly invincible city, called Gaza, stood in itś path. Alexander crushed the city, as though it was a fly in the hand of a frenetic child. And the free people of Gaza were slaughtered, with the rest sold into lives of slavery, with little hope of leading a happy life ever again. In addition to this, Alexander also killed Batis, the governor of Gaza. He was killed by having himself dragged from a chariot,

Statement of Intent: The purpose of this essay based on Alexander the Great is to showcase the qualities and abilities of this important figure and to educate on why Alexander is deserving of his extravagant title. Focusing on just one significant battle carried out by Alexander, his most notable features are demonstrated, both positive and negative. This essay will provide evidence as to why Alexander the Great was such a crucial person in the development of history. ALEXANDER THE GREAT

It was to a significant extent that Alexander earned his title ‘great’ because of how he ruled as a King and how he acted as an individual. Alexander inherited many traits from his father including his ability to make quick decisions, his logical perception, and his courage and leadership skills. Alexander was thought to be generous, have a deep affection for intimate friends and consideration for women. Though, sometimes, his violence went beyond what was necessary and

Alexander the Great is remembered as a conquering man who built one of the largest empires. Some describe him as a man with a vision of world harmony. Others see him as a blood thirsty man with a mental illness. One thing that cannot be argued is that he and his empire are fascinating studies. From his rise to power to his mysterious death is interesting, but even after he died the story is fascinating. Due to his death, his empire was divided and a long power-struggle began starting with his generals. Each account has its own story of war and betrayal. These days must have been hard for those in power; they never knew who they could trust. Only the ones who were skilled in the strategy of war and ruthless enough to maintain their power

Alexander III of Macedon, widely known as Alexander the Great, is opinioned by some people to have been a ruthless man who only had a thirst for conquest , but according to others he was a man of intellect and “statesmanlike vision” (Hammond Preface). In N.G.L. Hammond’s book The Genius of Alexander the Great, as stated in the preface, he tries to refrain from writing based on his own opinion of Alexander, and instead analyzes the few surviving narratives on Alexander’s achievements in an unbiased manner. He portrays the conquests, struggles, and greatest achievements of Alexander’s career, such as the building of his empire that stretched from the eastern Mediterranean coast through Asia Minor and the