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Robin Lane Fox's The Classical World

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In the novel, The Classical World: an Epic History of Greece and Rome by Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great conquered the vast majority of the populated Ancient World from what is known today as Turkey to Pakistan. He was one of the greatest warlords of all time and there are multiple motives throughout Alexander’s life that prompted his success. Growing up under the success of his father, inheriting a strong and built empire, as well as viewing Philip as a powerful role model to surpass, became the motives that prompted Alexander’s many achievements. Alexander’s complicated relationship with his father Philip provided the primary motivation for his conquests. Alexander, growing up in the shadow of his father’s success, wished to expand the success and wealth that his father’s conquest brought the Greek kingdom. The power and material value witnessed by Alexander brought by his father’s successful conquests, pushed Alexander to capitalize upon this concept and follow in his father’s footsteps. “The more …show more content…

Alexander’s tremendous ambition was fueled by the desire to excel beyond his father’s achievements and greatness. “The role-model of a hero and the parentage of a god supported Alexander’s innate energy and boundless ambition. No doubt his edgy relationship with his own father, Philip, also accentuated his own endless wish to excel.” (Fox, para. 3, 235) It is without a doubt that the thought of merit-based supersession over his own father was a significant motive to Alexander’s conquests. Only by achieving a level of dominance dwarfing his father’s, Alexander could satisfy his psychological need to greatly advance on his father’s legacy. Alexander was always in the public eye and as time went on Alexander began to outgrow Philip on the battlefield and started to excel far beyond his

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