Alexander the Great
Haleigh Armstrong 
A map of Alexander's Empire.
The dawn of Alexander’s legacy began when his father Philip II died at his sister’s wedding in 336 B.C. Alexander was the successor to the throne at just twenty years old. He started to strategize, thus kicking off the start of the forthcoming title “great”. He had a plan to carry out his father’s legacy, defeat Persia, and go onto conquer vast lands and have people write incredible stories about him. While Alexander conquered expansive territories in his thirteen year reign and set up the basis for the Hellenistic culture, he also was the catalyst that killed hundreds of thousands of men. Alexander was Great because of said feats, but because of his absence and evidence supporting the fact that he was an alcoholic, his greatness is dimmed.
After Philip II abolished Greek independence in 338 B.C., he decided that he wanted to invade and overthrow Persia. He was never able to witness this happen because of his death. Alexander picked up right where his father left off. His invasion of Persia launched in 334 B.C. Alexander lead 35,000 soldiers across the Hellespont into Anatolia where 40,000 common Persians met him. As stated from World History: Ancient and Medieval Era, Alexander “[..] possessed a wide strategic vision, along with a talent for the tiny details of warfare”(ABC-CLIO). The two forces crashed. Within a short time, the Persian men fell to Alexander’s mercy. Multiple other battles were fought between Macedonia and Persia. Alexander finally ended Persian power two years later. He awarded his soldiers with the treasures of Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. After the cities were rampaged of all their value, Alexander burned the Persian royal city of Persepolis to the ground. The fact that he felt the need to scorch the city demonstrates his unyielding mercy and his negligence regarding the welfare of other human-beings. Other evidence in support of this conclusion is that by this time, the men had been fighting for 11 years and marched 11,000 miles. His men were tired and Alexander wanted to fight the state of Magadha. He again demonstrated his selfishness. His army boycotted the mission so Alexander sulked in his tent for three days. He finally called the army’s bluff and they continued to march to the Gedrosian Desert. The climate was arid and hot. The men had little water and many starved and were reduced to eat the horses used for battle and riding. The size of the army plummeted and another mutiny took place at Opis. This time, Alexander ordered a new recruitment of troops and discharged all injured and veteran soldiers. Insulted and infuriated, most all of his soldiers left. Alexander sulked in his tent again for another two days. Finally, Alexander agreed to turn back. He and the remainder of his army arrived in Babylon the spring of 323 B.C. He was finally ready to start to unify and organize his massive empire.
Once Alexander reached Babylon, he devised a plan to unite his expansive empire by building new roads, harbors, and new cities like the one of Alexandria. At the beginning of Alexander’s march in 332 B.C., he went to Egypt (a Persian territory) and the people crowned him as a Pharaoh. They claimed that he was their liberator. He then created the city of Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile River. He was finally establishing a sense of community in the decision to consolidate his empire. Unfortunately, Alexander never got the chance to see his plans executed. He died at the age thirty-two when he became gravely ill.The empire erupted into chaos. Alexander did not have a successor to carry out his legacy.
Map of the divided kingdoms.
Three men, however, felt that they deserved the kingdom. They disputed over who should get what land. They finally came to a consensus that Antigonus would be the King of Macedon. Ptolemy would become the Pharaoh of Egypt. Lastly, Selecus would rule the old Persian Empire. It would be called the Seleucid Empire. All three governed with complete power rather than the Greek philosophy, democracy. All of the ways of life melded together to create the Hellenistic Culture. It was a mix of Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian. A common dialect of Greek called Koine was now implemented. It was often spoken in Alexandria, the center of commerce and the Hellenistic civilization. In the 3rd century B.C. Alexandria developed into an international community. Alexander’s glass coffin was located there. Royal palaces adorned the streets as well as a museum and library. Science and technology developed there along with philosophy and art. People were attracted to the city of Alexandria like moths to a flame. There was a swelling population of 500,000 people. All of this was possible because Alexander left it behind, but some aspects of his life were not so bright. He harbored a very dark side.
There are stories of Alexander’s great escapades and “Some had come to think of him as divine, an idea fostered, and perhaps entertained, by Alexander himself”(James Romm). Alexander was great in that he knew how to organize an army and pick out the flaccid divisions in his opponent’s army. His fault was when it came to dealing with people. Alexander was evident in his will to pursue as much land as he could rather than being concerned with how he would govern them. He was a distant ruler that was financially sound but money with no direction only got Alexander so far. He still needed to connect with his people but he never was able to because he was more concerned with himself and of course he thought of himself as a divine. He most likely had this idea of himself because he was an alcoholic. Many a time, Alexander is said to have been “[...] ever more megalomaniacal, pronounced himself a god and had more of his subordinates put to death, usually during drunken sprees,” (Clark G. Reynolds). Time and time again he proves to be obsessive in his own image and on top of that, he was an alcoholic. Often when he was drinking, it would lead to someone’s death and “These were so frequent in his last seven years that there is every reason to believe he had become a chronic alcoholic” (Clark G. Reynolds). All of this information exposes the real integrity of Alexander and the light in which he is perceived.
The moral ground that Alexander was standing on was unpredictable and his drunken sprees highlight his lack of sanity challenges his credibility as a ruler. While he obtained numerous amounts of land during his time, many men died at his expense. To be fair though, they were loyal to his cause. Alexander also formed the basis for innovation through the legacy of the Hellenistic culture. Despite his the lack of governance and is inability of sobriety, he was still great. Considering that his reign only lasted for thirteen years, he conquered on a superhuman scale. He was a formidable force throughout his entire reign from 332 B.C. to 323 B.C. The entirety of his empire encompassed Persia, Asia Minor, Macedonia, and India. There have been others after him that have tried to expand their territories but have failed. He was unsurpassed in his time of relevance and he is still talked about to this day.
MLA Works Cited
Badian, E. "Alexander the Great and the Creation of an Empire, Part 1." History Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. <http://www.historytoday.com/e-badian/alexander-great-and-creation-empire-part-i>.
Cartledge, Paul. "Alexander the Great: Hunting for a New Past?" History Today. N.p., 7 July 2004. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. <http://www.historytoday.com/paul-cartledge/alexander-great-hunting-new-past>.
Holt McDougal Online Textbook. N.p.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co, n.d. Print.
Plutarch. "Plutarch, The Parallel Lives." Leob Classical Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2015. <http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/3.html>.
Romm, James. "Who Killed Alexander?" History Today. N.p., 4 Apr. 2012. Web. 16 Sept. 2015. <http://www.historytoday.com/james-romm/who-killed-alexander-great>.
Woodcock, George. "Legendary Alexander." History Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. <http://www.historytoday.com/george-woodcock/legendary-alexander>.
Worthington, Ian. "How 'Great' Was Alexander?" Ancient History Bulletin: 1+. Print.
Emmons, Jim Tschen. "Hellenistic science." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 15 Sept. 2015.
"Battle of the Granicus." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
Reynolds, Clark G. "Alexander the Great." Great Lives from History: The Ancient World, Prehistory-476 c.e.. Ed. Christina A. Salowey. Hackensack: Salem, 2004. n. pag. Salem Online. Web. 17 Sep. 2015. <http://online.salempress.com>.
Pictures
http://etc.usf.edu/maps/pages/800/849/849.htm
https://deadliestblogpage.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/diodachi-310bce-1.jpg?w=640&h=418
Pope Assignment
The Pope spoke about Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton. I agree that Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day are all great. Abraham Lincoln was great to me because he abolished slavery and stood up for what was right. Martin Luther King Jr. was great because he spoke about what he believed in and started a revolution to integrate blacks and whites into a biracial community. Thomas Merton is admirable because of his openness to not only his sole faith but also other faiths and develop books and practices to celebrate his studies. I also believe that Dorothy day was great because she was a Women's Rights Activist and that took a lot of courage considering the time period that she was born (1897). If I were the Pope, I would talk about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She is from Nigeria and she is a feminist. She stands up for women's rights all over the world and I believe that that is great because there is a lot of female shaming of all forms in modern day society and to be able to speak out and influence people about that problem is amazing.
