Alexander the Not So Great

1) Does Alexander deserve to be called “Great”? 

          Does "Alexander the Great" deserve his title? What does it truly mean to be great? My perception of great is a great person all around, not just a few great things within a person. Although he was thought to be a great military leader, his methods and motives were not so great. I don't think Alexander truly deserves to be called "Great." I'm sure there are people in this world that can justify his actions and see him as Alexander the Great but I am not one. Should someone be praised for being a selfish and paranoid alcoholic? Alexander did many great things during his years, but they weren't necessarily for the right reasons. 
          Alexander had many great qualities and accomplished many things in his life time, but also had many awful qualities and did many cruel things in his life. As a young boy, Alexander was educated by the Greek philosopher Aristotle and was thought to be a philosophical idealist. There's a famous story about Alexander taming a horse, at the age of just 13, that no one else could and was praised by everyone for it (Brophy, James M. Ch. 4). This showed the confidence and greatness within him, which is contradicted in his actions later on in his life. When Alexander became king at the young age of 20 and inherited the power over Macedon, he became consumed with his own power. He would sacrifice anyone and anything if it meant he was going to get what he wanted. He is responsible for bringing together Greece, Persia, Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, and India, but in doing this he was also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of his own men due to his selfish and reckless behavior. One man named Cleitus agreed with my opinion on Alexander and said to him that he was not great and that he turns his back to fighting himself but sacrifices his own men with no regret. This shows Alexander's cowardliness, and that he does not deserve to be called "Great" and definitely not a god. Alexander then proved everything Cleitus had said by going into a drunken rage and murdering him (Brophy, James M. Ch. 4). Do great people murder others? 

2) What can one learn about the values of society based on their views of greatness?

          People in society have different values and views of what is “great.” While some people who valued material things such as the money and land Alexander had to offer, others valued morals and saw that Alexander and his actions were not great. Cleitus is an example of someone who saw through Alexander’s so called “greatness” and realized that his actions were selfish (Brophy, James M. Ch. 4). The men who saw and praised Alexander as a god were the ones whose values were in the wrong place.
          One society will never agree on one specific opinion, there will always be at least one person who sees it a different way. In this case, people that were new to Alexander’s ruling just saw him as a great ruler who would help them and their society, but people who had been under his rule from the start were beginning to catch on to his megalomaniac personality and were becoming fed up with it. 

          I can honestly say that most peoples values today are not in the right place, and I wasn't around during Alexander's time but I can only infer that most of theirs weren't either. Although Alexander was a cruel leader, they put up with it because they saw what his leadership had to offer. I don't agree with Alexander's ruling techniques, but he did bring many cultures together and stayed very wealthy and powerful through his years. People's views of the greatness or non-greatness in Alexander shows what their true values were.            

3) Do time and distance impact someone’s popular perception?

          Yes, time and distance have an impact on people’s perception of Alexander because people that weren’t affected by his decisions might think he’s great while the people who suffered through his selfish decisions realized that he was not great. The people that lived under his control were hurt and angered by his unjust decisions that put them and their loved ones in danger, but the people who were not under his control had just heard how invincible his army was and the expansion he was making of his empire.

          Over time, I’m sure the stories of Alexander have been exaggerated to make him sound greater than he actually was. Also, if people were born in a time after Alexander, they would never actually experience what his ruling was like and would just have to trust what they hear. People that lived with and through Alexander’s time were definitely affected by him whether it was negative or positive, and their perception of him and his greatness will differ from those who didn’t live in the same place or time.  

1.     Salowey, Christina A. "Alexander the Great." Great Lives from History: The Ancient World: Prehistory - 476 C.E. Vol. 1. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem, 2004. 39-42. Print.

2.     Worthington, Ian, Professor. How "Great" Was Alexander? [P.1]. The Ancient History Bulletin, 1999. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.

3.     Brophy, James M. "Chapter 4 - The Greek World Expands - Plutarch." Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations. Fifth ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. 142-45. Print.

4.     Moulton, Carroll. "History of Greece." Ancient Greece and Rome: An Encyclopedia for Students. Vol. 2. New York: Scribner, 1998. 122-25. Print.

5.     Beck, Roger B., Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, and Dahia Ibo Shabaka. World History: Patterns of Interaction. United States: Holt McDougal, 2012. Print.

6.     Emmons, Jim Tschen. "Alexander the Great." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 30 Sept. 2014.