Alexander the Great Theme (including works cited)

There are many people that are considered great. Our president, for example, war heroes, maybe even our parents, and a common example, Alexander the Great. He even has the word “Great” in the title, but the real question is not “who?” but “what?” and “why?” What makes a hero great? Why is Alexander the Great considered great? Was it because of his military success? His total domination of the Eastern empires? If only a man’s success is taken into account, Alexander is most definitely great, but if greatness is simply judged by success, Hitler, a Nazi tyrant, is also great. He managed to control some large areas of Europe and succeed in the “purification” of Germany. He got exactly what he wanted, as did Alexander. As Plutarch brilliantly stated, though, “...often a man’s most brilliant actions prove nothing as to his true character...” (Plutarch. pg. 300) Even though Alexander had many brilliant actions, that does not mean that Alexander was a great person.

Alexander is not to be denied his great actions. When he was only sixteen years old “He defeated and subdued the Maedian rebels, took their city, ejected its barbarian inhabitants, and reconstituted it as a Grecian colony, to which he gave the name of Alexandropolis.” (Plutarch. pg. 307) Even when he wasn’t officially ruling over Macedonia, he still managed to stop a rebellion and conquer other lands. Alexander was trained from a young age to maintain a good military and create a strong empire. Also, Alexander did not necessarily have an easy beginning, he had to build up his country. He had to fight the odds of being a “...young king of a small country that had been a great power for less than thirty years. He had inherited an empty treasury and a throne surrounded by would-be traitors.” (Strauss and Ober, The Anatomy of Error; Darius III of Persia: Why he Lost and made Alexander Great. pg. 105-106) Alexander not only made a great empire, he fought, you could say, fate itself for it. Another example of his great achievements, after he got his empire rolling, was when Alexander became “the king of the Greeks, which was something that no Spartan or Athenian hero had ever managed to pull off.” ( Bauer. Alexander and the Wars of the Successors. pg. 592) Finally, what Alexander is most famously know for and one of the most influential things he did was his change of the culture in the Mediterranean world. “His role as an agent of Greek culture changed the Mediterranean world in a multitude of ways, ushering in what historians have come to call the Hellenistic period.” ("Alexander the Great." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2011.) It would be fair to say that Alexander single-handedly brought about the Hellenistic period. He would conquer a territory and then he would bring the Greek culture into it and it would slowly spread in proportion to how far his empire spread. If the “definition of greatness” would be solely based off of Alexander’s actions, he would more than qualified, but the definition does not solely rest on actions, but on other “requirements.”

To “define greatness” is a nearly impossible task because there are many things that could be taken into account, but the “checklist for greatness” can be narrowed down to a persons character, courage and bravery, confidence and independence. Great people have to have independence, if they are dependent on someone else, they will never do anything on their own and to be great, you have to do something great. Though, at first, independence may not seem that important to being great, it is. To put it simply, independence is “freedom from the control of others.” If you are being controlled by others, it is not your actions that you are committing, it is theirs. Doing what someone tells you to do without question is in no way great, it is a sign of a weak will. Making your own decisions and acting off of them is an important quality of greatness. Independence shows that you have the ability to make decisions, and not only that, but have the confidence to act off of them. To be great, you have to have the confidence to be great. If you are doubting your decision the whole time, you will not be able to put in everything you have and will go in halfheartedly. A great person must be confident in what they are doing, because if a person does not believe in what they are doing, they will not do it. Also, a great person needs the bravery and courage to be great. It takes bravery to charge into the thick of battle, not knowing what is in front of you and not knowing if there is anyone still behind you. Courage and bravery are not only confined to the battle field, though. It takes bravery to speak your mind, and speak it to people who will not always agree with what is said. The final component of greatness is good character. Someone can be independent, have unlimited confidence and be the bravest person in the world, but if his character is cruel, he can never be great. To have a good character, you must think of others, be kind, have humility and good moral values, for example. Greatness is rooted in the very core of a human being.

There is a fine line between having the right amount of confidence and having too much confidence. Having too much confidence can often lead to rash and foolish actions, that will hurt you and the others around you. Alexander had over-excessive confidence. One time “His friends wished him to enter the foot races at Olympia; he answered that he would be willing, if his opponents were kings.” ( Alexander. Durant. pg. 538) Alexander’s egotistical action could be interpreted as confidence, but it reality it was his self-centered ways that kept him out of the footrace. Alexander may have appeared to have independence, but he just did what his father wanted him to do. Even at a young age, Alexander was easily controlled. “ Philip, seeing that his son was easily led,... used always to manage him by persuasion, ...” ( Life of Alexander. Plutarch. pg. 305) A truly independent person would not have been able to be led so easily. Alexander, through out his whole childhood, had been manipulated into doing what his father wanted him to do instead of making his own decisions. When his father died, he still continued to do what his father wanted by completing his work of conquering the know land. It does indeed take courage to charge into battle as the first person, with a white plume on your head to distinguish yourself as a target, but where does it change from courage and bravery to bloodlust and foolishness? Alexander had been conforming to some of the other countries practices and some of his generals were resenting him for this. “This resentment boiled out at a drunken dinner late in 328, when the very same Cleitus who had saved Alexander’s life at Granicus accused him of taking credit for victories for victories won by the blood of loyal Macedonians... Alexander grabbed a spear from his bodyguard and spitted his countrymen.” (Bauer.Alexander and the Wars of the Successors. pg. 597) Alexander had gotten such a lust for blood and such a temper that he killed several of his own countrymen. Finally, Alexander has been described as “...fond of drinking, and fiery in disposition.” (Plutarch, Life of Alexander. pg. 303) He was prone to getting drunk and, as in the case of killing his own men, did foolish and rash acts based off his temper. Also, when he was younger “...he was exiled for insulting his father, King Philip II of Macedon,...”(Cheshire, Keyne. "Was Alexander Really Great?: The "Great"-ness of Alexander III of Macedon.") His character was far from acceptable; it was rash and foolish. Alexander the Great, though his conquest may have been great, was not, as a person, great.

Though Alexander has been described as “great” for all of history, he is not great. He did many foolish and rash things that a leader, being and example for all to follow, should never do. In the case of Alexander, his great actions in no way resembled his true character. The saying “Actions speak louder than words” may be true, but only if all of the actions are taken into account.

Works Cited

1. Bauer. Alexander and the Wars of the Successors.
2. Durant. Alexander
3. Plutarch. Life of Alexander.

4. Strauss, Barry S., and Josiah Ober. The Anatomy of Error: Ancient Military Disasters and Their Lessons for Modern Strategists. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.

1. World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2011.
2. Cheshire, Keyne. "Was Alexander Really Great?: The "Great"-ness of Alexander III of Macedon." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.