Alexander The Great has been doubted whether or not he should be perceived as a hero or villain. When a hero comes to mind, many may think of words such as nobility and being known for their brave deeds and qualities (Webster). A “cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime” is the definition of a villain (Dictionary.com). This definition could also be used to describe the famous Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great. Alexander was a narcissistic conqueror who only desired himself and was extremely self absorbed. This negative trait can be traced back to his childhood growing up with his mother, Olympia constantly pushing him to be confident or vain and making him believe he was superior to all others. …show more content…
One of Alexander’s greatest atrocities occurred while he was intoxicated. A giant regret was when he killed Cleitus, a former best friend of his while Alexander was drunk (Biography 7). Indulging in alcohol was a large part of the macedonian culture or society but does not give an excuse for the atrocious acts done by Alexander during his lifetime. Alexander was in a drunken state at a party and began to boast about him surpassing his father. Alexander also gave Cleitus orders to go out to the steppe in central Asia in order to fight the nomads. Cleitus was angered by this and he stated to Alexander that he was only able to accomplish what he had because of the help of his father. This outraged Alexander, so he grabbed a javelin and threw it through Cleitus’ heart. Alexander came to his senses and realized what he had just done. In his grief, Alexander attempted to take his own life (Class Notes). Another dreadful act that occurred when Alexander was intoxicated was the burning of the Great Palace in Persepolis. “Alexander stolen, or plundered, the city’s great riches for himself. Then, in a drunken state, he allowed his men to burn down the Great Palace and its surrounding temples” (Ancient Greece 194). The Great Palace was built in 518 B.C.E by Darius the Great. The palace contained many riches and valuables such as art, literature, silver and gold. After all the riches were taken out of …show more content…
How Alexander got his power was the result of the assassination of his father. It is commonly believed that Alexander and his crazy mother had a hand in the assassination of King Philip II. This is believed because the assassin was killed by Alexander’s guards right after King Philip II had been killed instead of being kept alive for questioning and a proper execution. So no one truly knows what the motives of the assassin were. “News of Philip’s death then travelled to the league of Corinth, the federation of Greek city-states that Philip had assembled after he conquered all of Greece, The league members elected Alexander to be Philip’s successor as commander-in-chief” (Ancient Greece 185). Alexander was given the power to raise to troops from the mainland to make war with Persia which was the one of the most powerful nations at the time. Although he was given the leadership, not all the Greek city-states supported him. Thebes in particular had no interest in supporting because of their opinions of Macedonian rule in general. Many of the Thebans were bitter about the previous treatment they had received from Alexander’s father King Philip II. “When Philip conquered all of Greece in 338 B.C.E, he treated some cities more harshly than others. After defeating the Thebans, he held Theban prisoners for ransom or sold them into slavery” (Ancient Greece
Alexander the Great, born of King Philip of Macedonia, was one of the greatest conquerors of history. In my opinion, Alexander was a great leader and warrior. For example, in Document B, Alexander used strategy to win over a battle. The strategy he used was complicated, but well thought out; Alexander moved his troops in all different directions to keep Porus puzzled, and took his cavalry to various points along the river bank where he would create a war cry so that Porus would parallel the movements on the other sides of the river until he no longer responded. Now Porus elephants were boxed in, and the elephants trampled their own men because they had no driver's upon them. In this way Alexander won a battle, and through his cleverness, he
Alexander the Great was the king of Macedonia, conqueror of the Persian Empire, and one of the greatest military geniuses of all times. Even at an early age, Alexander had the promise to become a great leader. Through all his victories and conquests, he has become a great hero and has had a large impact on history. That is why I chose he book Alexander the Great, by J.R. Hamilton for my review. Hamilton does a very good job with the story of Alexander the Great.
Alexander slaughtered many people. According to Doc C, Alexander had lost many men trying to get into Tyre. When Alexander got into Tyre, he had ordered
For this reason he had no mercy but he was also extremely narcissistic which gives reasoning to his drastic choices. Alexander had a reputation to be narcissistic and to act like a spoiled brat. He considered himself a god and he stole 4.1 billion dollars worth of money from the Persian treasury. He also named 57 cities after himself when he ruled and it thought to have killed his own father to get the throne.
Alexander recognized he could not allow the barbarian nation neighboring him grow to independent so he quashed them with the might of his army. (Doc. 1) It became obvious that the author who was responsible for writing Document 1 was biased towards Alexander when the author wrote that ONLY thirty-four of Alexander's men were killed. Alexander said that he shared the labor with his men and would not have had them do anything he would not do. (Doc. 2) When Alexander took the Persian capital of Persepolis he took the treasure from the palace and burned it to the ground. With this move, he effectively cut down upon the Persian's supplies and stroke a crippling blow to the moral of Persia's army. (Doc. 4) When Alexander and his forces were marching through a desert one of his men found a little bit of water and offered it to Alexander, when he took it he promptly dumped it all on the ground so that he could suffer along with his
Alexander the Great was a successful leader and warrior, starting to lead around 336 BCE. While his name suggests that he was a great king, leader, and person, his choices were not always great. In order for him to be successful, he made many horrible decisions that led to many lives being lost. Because of his actions and all the choices he made, there were a lot of negative repercussions for others. Alexander the Great was not actually great because his choices led to many lives being lost for pointless reasons and for his personal gain.
In conclusion, Alexander was great as a general, not great as a person, and therefore, is a little bit of both. He could keep his troops going in times of trial and hold grudges with the best of them. However, he can't be defined by just one thing. When writing about Alexander the Great, the Basileus of Macedonia, the Hegemon of the Hellenic League, you have to look at all sides of
Alexander had been taught many things from a very young age such as academic subjects, politics, sports, and warfare which made him think very highly of himself. His father Philip of Macedonia made an extremely strong army and took over many Greek polises and wanted to take over the Persian Empire. This struck Alexander’s aspiration to take over the Persian Empire as well. Alexander then inherited his father’s kingdom at the age of 18 after his father
Alexander the Great: A villain “If you have not been a villain at a certain point in time, then you will never be a hero. And they day you become a hero, you may become a villain the next day” ~Carlos Ghosn. Alexander the Great would give a civilization a chance to surrender and if they didn’t he would build up an army so strong and quick that the civilization does not get a chance to build up their own army. What happened to Alexander that made him do so many bad things?To be a hero you need to protect people and save the people when they are in trouble.
The difference between a hero and a villain should be obvious, the hero defeats the villain and saves the land, however what happens when someone decides to conquer other lands for the benefit of his own, that is in fact a villainous act. Alexander the Great is an example of this, there are multiple forms of evidence explaining how he conquered lands, and showed no mercy. Not only did he take over ⅓ of the known world, but he gave his enemies no chance for discussion and he forced them to either change or die. he had no intention of stopping, even his main generals had to refuse his orders for him to realize what he’s doing is unnecessary, and he still planned to only postpone it. Alexander could be considered a hero, but in a general aspect, he was a villain.
Throughout the history of humanity, there have been countless leaders, conquerors, kings, or people of note. They are all noteworthy because of their achievements, or maybe their lack of achievements in a time where history was being made. These men and women are remembered because they accomplished something worth remembering. One of the most polarizing characters of the ancient world is Alexander of Macedonia, better known as simply Alexander the Great. With a name like that, one knows that Alexander must have done something during his lifetime that would still be remembered centuries later. What made Alexander so extraordinary is just how driven he was, how he conquered most of the known world by the time he was thirty-two. Alexander wanted to seize the Macedonian throne, unite many people under one rule, exact revenge on Persia, and to take more land for his nation. He may not have achieved all his goals before his untimely death, but he accomplished so much that his legacy has lived on for thousands of years, and will continue to live on for thousands more.
Alexander grew up to conquer the world regardless the cost. Alexander’s military successes was beyond believe, because he conquered Asian minor and Egypt in a decade. The size of the army led by Alexander it vary in different books but according to Arrian (Ptolemy) , there was 32,000 infantry and 5100 cavalry, agree by Diodorus (17.17)(page 34). Even though with this small army Alexander the Great smashed the Persian with less difficulty. ”Alexander, therefore, while the enemy’s attention was engaged by the siege engines and the attempted assault within their sector , order the Guards, the archer, the Agrianes, and his personal guard to hold themselves in readiness, and himself, with a few men only, crept unobserved by the dried-up water-course, under the wall, into the town. Once inside he broke open the nearest gates and admitted the rest of the troops without difficulty” (Page 204). First, Alexander order to his siege engine was to build batter defense and force an entrance through the breaches, soon something has changed his tactics. There were a stream, under the bed, Alexander soldiers pass under the town and opened the gate. While the Cyropolis were engaged in the front. Alexander the great took the town and killed about 8,000, the rest surrounded. Alexander brought down the greatest empire in the world at that period, without difficulty and most
There were many events that lead to the death of Alexander, one including the passing of his best friend Hephaestion, which caused Alexander to fast and lay in grief for two days (Hammond 196). Before he died, he believed that if he gave thanks to the gods and prayed, they would hear his thoughts and grant him salvation. Because of this, he did not arrange a transition of power (Hammond 200). However, Alexander did not have the gods on his side as much as he thought he did because on June 10th, 323 B.C.E. he died at the age of thirty-two (Hammond 198). He had obtained a fever and later lost his power of speech (Hammond 197). Soldiers came into his room and “as the men filed past he was unable to speak but greeted them with his eyes” (Hammond 198). It was suggested that he died of malaria tropica, and other reports said he died of poisoning or alcoholism (Hammond 198).
At the battle of Chaeronea, Philip defeated the allied Greek states of the Sacred Band of Thebes in September 338 BC. At that time, Alexander was only 18 and having been placed in command of the left wing of Philip's cavalry, he demonstrated personal courage when he broke the band. It is said he was the first man to charge against the Thebans. Although Philip's army was greatly outnumbered by the Athenian and Theban troops, the Macedonian phalanxes triumphed over them. Athens and Thebes also came under Philip's rule. Sparta remained the only Greek state not under Macedonian control. The courage demonstrated by Alexander made Philip very proud. The subjects started to call him their king before he even took the throne.
Alexander was a complex, inscrutable man of passion and iron-will . The King possessed a keen intellect, with an ability to make quick decisions. He had supreme courage and excellent leadership skills , which contributed significantly to his greatness as a