Is Alexander the Great REALLY great?

Question

Has Alexander the Great in some way REALLY contributed our modern civilization?
What do you think personally about Alexander the Great?

PS: NO link or copy-paste from WIKIPEDIA, please!! I've read all about Alexander the Great from WIKIPEDIA and I REALLY want to know the second opinion here... in this case, you!!

Answer 1

I pasted this from another question asking basicaly the same thing.
Ceasar gave him the title "Great" when visiting Alexander's tomb (location now lost) and Alexander was never called that in his life time at least non of his historians ever mention it.

Why he can be considered great.:

He took what he and his father started and refined it to do the following.

1.He created set roles for members of his army.
2.Refined the weapons to be used by each person.
3.He for the first time in history provided ALL members of his army with what they needed for batttle. (provision and weapons and armor)
4. Established a standard for education for children to learn in school to make them ready for the army when they were of age.
5.He payed his troops for every day as enlisted men, not random civil regements.
6.He opened endless trade routs and founded / rebuilt more then 40 cities.
7.He in the late portion of his short life begain to merge all races together.
8.Founded the great Library in Alexandria Egypt.
9.Proved use of a profetional army was the best way to wage war. Not civil draft (peasant) armies.

Contribution to today

1.We have basic training for military that is still based on what he did nearly 2400 years ago.
2.We still teach and use his tacts of battle today in our military. West point teaches his tactics.
3.Our school systems have a set critiria of subject all people must learn.


There is plenty more to be listed but I hope you will read more for yourself.

Answer 2

tissapharnes has provided an excellent answer! Let me give you some more information!
It is important to understand that Alexander manage to unite Greece and used all of its resources for his campaign! This task was not repeated until the Byzantine Greeks!
As it was said he was a military genius and he didn't lose a battle!! That is considered , even today as great!
Notice that he was considered by the various nations of the Persian empire a liberator and not a conqueror! The Egyptians considered him son of God and proclaimed him Pharaoh!
But the most important achievement was the goal of spreading the Greek culture and language! He manage to make the known world a Greek World!
Notice that he didn't force the various nations to accept the Greek culture but instead he fused Greek with Asian elements and he created the new Hellenistic Greek culture!
He made the word a homogenized Greek world with an international language(Greek ) which was later used as a tool for the Gospels and thus ideal for the spreading of Christianity!
{Note please not to confuse the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia or Macedon (which was the birth place of Alexander) with the modern state of Makedonija (or FYROM or Slav-Macedonia as they are not related at all). The confusion has started a few years ago because that small state started to use the name “Republic of Macedonia” causing a great confusion with real Macedonia in Greece.}

Answer 3

To Zoroastrians Alexander of Macedon isn't known as Alexander the Great, but as Alexander the Accursed. This is because in the course of conquering the Achemenid Empire, Alexander destroyed the libraries of Persepolis (which was burned to the ground at the order of the drunken Alexander), and also caused the murder of large numbers of Magi. Both these caused the loss of huge amounts of Zoroastrian learning and scripture.

Answer 4

Hello dear!
Alexandre the III, the Great, was a genius military general, combining all the necessary ingredients to be called the greatest general ever! He never lost a battle!
Further, he was accepted by his "enemies" as a friend and liberator, as an example: When the mother of Darius was informed about the death of Alexandre, she sat on her throne covered herself with a veil and did not take food, until she died!
Invading the East, he founded more than 70 cities, restored all the ruined temples and building and founded hundreds of Universities and libraries, there most of the books and documents existed were copied. Thus, even though the Christians burn and destroyed them there were safe in those places and thus we now know all the great philosophers, scientists, engineers, doctors, musicians, etc.
Personally, I would admit that others were greater, but Alexandre definitely contributed a lot in the existing world. Without his existence humanity would be still in the dark ages!

Answer 5

Alexander conquered more land than anyone but Genghis Kahn. He was also one of the most educated leaders--his tutor was Aristotle. He helped spread Greek influence throughout the Mediterranean, and all the way to India. He founded Alexandria, in Egypt, which was one of the most metropolitan cities of the ancient world. After he died, his generals divided up the land he'd conquered and governed it by region. Cleopatra's father was one of them.

And for the person above who thought Alexander the Great spread Christianity, I think he's got him mixed up with Constantine the Great--Alexander lived before Christ was born!

Answer 6

Alexander was great for many reasons. Others have done a good job of outlining on this thread those reasons. However, for us the most important is he made our world possible. By defeating the Persians at Gaugamela he changed the tide of history to flow into the direction of the West. We each owe him for that.

Answer 7

They call him great because every war leader since Him has been compared to him. But far as we know his wife yelled Alexander the Great at night under the sheets.

Answer 8

I think Alexander the Great was an excellent warrior/strategist, but war is not something to be proud of, to me. I suppose if you can figure out how NOT to kill people tha twould be good.
He spread his culture for hundreds of miles in all directions, and that is an unparalleled feat. Did the conquered want his culture?
I think Alexander, the Blood-thirsty Greek Megalo-maniac, doesn't have quite the same flair.
Since our culture claims some rights to the Greek heritage of beauty, justice, war, democracy, and architecture, he gets noticed.

Answer 9

To write a critique on Alexander is most difficult, I doubt that anybody could find faults with his military tactics and it is all good in hindsight to say less blood could be shed. Therefore we can speculate on his infrastructural prowess. Firstly a note on a few of the Sources, Arrian - Alexander is the GREATEST guy in the world, Plutarch - I actually like Plutarch as an overview (based on Arrian), but his aim is to compare Alexander to Caesar. Cleitarchus (diodorus gives us the text- vulgate- cf Rufus, Justin) presents a more negative view of Alexander, and probably a better reference for those wishing to write a critique.

Alexander to his credit did not alter the Infrastructure of the Persian Empire, and left the Satrapys more or less intact. He also founded several cities, or several cities were founded in his name (and his horse) a inheirated trait though. The Persepolis example as mentioned has several versions, Arrian glosses over it. One version it was Alexander - dio. and another points to a Athenian Harlot, either way one can expect accidents or over zealous troops entering persepolis, should these actions go against Alexander?
To be honest Alexander found a very vulnerable Persian empire, Darius III had barely been able to retain his position, Bessus is evidence of that little proble, also one could speculate the movement of his family in Issus away from court problems. Darius III needed triumphs and they were not meet, thus he was extinguished. Alexander capitalised on this. To his credit Alexander set himself up as the new Great King and adopted Persian dress and custom, as Arrian and Cleitus episode contest. (I should note dio/cleit. may have lied on this point, drawing attention to Pausanias (Spartan - earlier, not Alex's general) alledged Persian dress adoption -doubtful).
Diodorus/ Cleitarchus provides the "best juicy gossip" on Alexander blessed by good fortune he becomes corrupt and goes on a spiral downwards, his alcoholism and his uberis (arrogance)- though is the son of Zeus. He seemed to be a great commander but in the end, maybe to much bloodshed, or dissapointment or even the death of his friend, it shows he lost interest as a intrical part of a ruling body.
Another instance is that of the massacare at Malli, the butchering of its inhabitants, I believe this is common practice more than we would like to admit in war (Tyre), however Arrian, Rufus gloss over , while Dio. gives a full account.
Lastly, Alexander was a General and not a saint, we have to look at reality and sometimes Arrian does not provide this, Cleit/ Dio is the more negative source.
So negative points can be best seen in his later life, the conquest of (North) India resulted in more or less a stalemate, it is true Alexander won, but it seemed he did not have the troop capacity nor the will of the army to continue.

Alexander was a God among mortals, he commanded the world. This I believe makes one quite arrogant and sometimes a bit touchy, perhaps Plutarch is right to add him in his great lives, but he is just a mortal with faults and alot of power. On that note Cleit/ Dio is a bit harsh and Arrian is a bit Rosy, so we are best to settle on analysis of both texts.
As for the main question I believe that he certainly will be remebered and without the application of criteria for greatness I will refrain from a precise answer rather than info above. As for his achievements, the fact we have this discussion attests to the legacy he left.

Thanks Ragzeus

Answer 10

Yes, Alexander the Great made an immense contribution to modern civilization by spreading Greek culture and knowledge throughout his vast eastern empire.
Remember that Greek culture was lost to western civilization after the decline of the Roman Empire, but this knowledge was kept by the people of Arabia and Persia (former Alexandrian Empire) and brought back to Europe by the Crusaders and Italian merchants, thanks to this knowledge the Renaissance was possible.