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When you think of someone great, who comes to mind? Many important people in history have been defined as "great", but what does greatness really mean, as it varies depending on different points of views, and who really defines greatness? Was it Julius Caesar, Malala Yousafzai, or Abraham Lincoln? Your mom? For each different person, greatness has a different title, a marker to be remembered by, passed down in history. One particular historical figure stood out from the rest of "great" people in history, and he lived more than 2,500 years ago.
His name was Alexander of Macedonia, and he was born in 356 BCE in Pella, Greece. He was destined to be defined as great from the very beginning when his parents, King Philip and Queen Olympia of Macedonia, hired Aristotle, a great philosopher, to teach him everything he could possibly need to know to rule and conquer lands. King Philip was later assassinated in 336 BCE, and Alexander was given a chance to inherit the throne and set a goal to conquer the Persian Empire during his reign.
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“ She followed all my directions. It was really easy to contact her and respond very fast as well. ”
Alexander III of Macedonia had characteristics that proved he definitely deserved the legendary title and legacy of Alexander the Great.
For starters, Alexander had outstanding military intelligence that was really shown through combat. One of the reasons Alexander conquered so many lands after a few years of fighting was because so many armies surrendered at the mere sight of his army, as word of Alexander's army had spread so fast through the Persian Empire, which contributed to Alexander's plan to intimidate all the armies so they would surrender their lands to him instead of having to fight his army and tire them out.
As stated in "Document B: Alexander's Battle Against Porus" by The DBQ Project, Alexander was able to trick Porus, an ancient Indian king whose territory was spread along a great river in India, at the banks of the Hydaspes River by faking battle cries from across the river so that Porus would think that they were crossing. Eventually, he grew tired and stopped going after them in the dead of night, giving Alexander's army a chance to cross the river, floating them across on rafts in the midst of a thunderstorm in order to mask the sound, then caught Porus' army by surprise on the other side of the river and conquered them. Later, in the battle against Porus, Alexander was able to turn the army's elephants against them so that they did not only kill his men by killing the drivers of the elephants, leaving them free to parade around, stepping on any unlucky warrior and leaving Porus' army unarmed and vulnerable, an act that no other army had ever achieved before. Alexander's military creativity and intelligence greatly helped the Greek empire, Alexander's people, because he had the ability to conquer unbeatable armies by just using his military skill, giving more and more lands to the ever-growing Greek empire.
In addition, Alexander's legacy was so great that it lived on for hundreds of years after Alexander passed away, and it was noticed by many important people. According to the "Background Essay: How Great Was Alexander the Great" by The DBQ Project on page 245, "(Julius Caesar) encounters a statue of Alexander and is said to have wept, overcome by the thought that Alexander achieved so much at such a young age." This proves that people as important as Julius Caesar, a historian, Roman politician, and a military general, looked up to and honored Alexander the Great for all he had achieved for the ancient world, influencing his legacy for years to come. 540 years after Alexander died, a Roman emperor named Marcus Macrinus had images of Alexander sewn into his clothing so that he would remember Alexander with dignity and pass on the legacy to his empire. During his conquerings, Alexander founded at least 70 cities and named some "Alexandria" because he wanted something for the world remember him by, which worked because the Greek language remained the official language of the Jordan for 1, 000 years after Alexander shared the Greek culture with them. Since Alexander spread Greek culture everywhere he went with his army, including the lands of Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Babylon, and most of the Persian Empire, he was remembered, feared, and had his legacy passed down after he and his army marched through several different towns.
As a conclusion, some people may believe that Alexander was an insufficient leader because he had no concern for others and was simply power hungry; however, Alexander stood by his men and lead them through the ancient world. The author of the section"Document C: The Destruction of Tyre", states that Alexander led his army into many battles such as the Battle of Tyre, an "unconquerable" island, and even though they sustained him for 7 months, he does not give up and built a land bridge to reach the island, then lead his army to victory, and defeated Tyre, after a lot of building. One time, as Alexander and his men were crossing the desert, two scouts returned with just enough water for Alexander; however, as he did not want to drink in front of his troops, he dumped all the water out and continued to lead them across the desert, sharing their difficult sufferings. Alexander was also a skilled leader because it took him only 11 years to start a huge empire; however, the Romans took 489 years to create an empire just a little bigger than Alexander's, only because Alexander was relentless and a remarkable leader. Because of Alexander's exceptional leadership, the Greek empire would have never been built, impacting everyday Grecians because, without Alexander, the Greek language and the legacy of Alexander would have never begun.
Alexander III of Macedonia earned his way towards the title and legacy through astounding characteristics, proving he was worthy of the title "Alexander the Great". Alexander had a cutting- edge military genius mind, which helped him come to the great idea of intimidating all the armies so that his men would not have to fight them, rather whenever they were coming across armies they needed to conquer, they tried to intimidate them with all the conquerings they had already had. Alexander's legacy lived on in many ways, including being sewn into clothing, which was exactly what the Roman emperor Marcus Macrinus did 540 years after Alexander the Great's death. Alexander conquered 2,000,000 miles of land in 11 years with determination and persistent energy; however, the great Roman Empire took 489 years to form an empire 2,200,000 miles. Even thousands of years after he died, we still feel the influence of his achievements living on today, so what will your remarkable achievement or lasting influence be?
Alexander The Great: Empire & Death. (2024, Feb 02). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/alexander-the-great-empire-death-essay
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