Alexander The "Great"?

Question

Hi, tommorow on an essay through a test, I have to prove why Alexander The "Great", is considered great. I appreciate any help thank you. I'm studying for it.

Answer 1

Well what makes a person great? Typically the world frowns upon conquerors. Genghis Khan, Hitler, Napoleon, etc. They performed large feats, but these involved killing a lot of people and subduing a lot of nations. If that is the measure of greatness, I would rather be "Good" and not "Great".

But anyway, you might not get a good grade saying that, so consider

1) He conquered much of the known world in his lifetime
2) He invented the Koine (Common) Greek language since before the Greeks all had their native dialects, now they all had a common language and he spread that language throughout the world and it became a global language that EVERYONE spoke on the streets. The only time people would speak in their native tongue was either during religious festivals or in their homes, but on the streets, they spoke Greek.

3) Building on the second point, by spreading Hellenistic culture, or Greek culture, the people had their first taste of globalism. For once they thought that the world could be controlled by just a few men, or even one person.

Answer 2

One thing that comes to my mind is that Alexander never lost a single battle in his military career. There is no other known militant at this level who has ever achieved that - even Napoleon lost a battle in the end. But Alexander's main feat is that he united all city-states of Greece and went to conquer 9/10th of the then known world. I think that's more than enough to call him Great!

Answer 3

At the age of 20 Alexander succeeded his father, Philip of Macedon, and fulfilled his father's plans for freeing the Greeks of Asia Minor from Persian rule. He invaded Persian with 30,000 infantry and 5,000 calvary, and he defeated the Persian leader Darius in a series of dazzling campaigns. He was then proclaimed King of Asia. His men resisted his plans to conquer India, and only his death stopped him from further conquests. He was the model for Caesar and Napoleon, and his campaigns are still studied in military academies today.