Alexander the Great

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• Alexander the Great
• Main References
• Adams, W. L. Alexander the Great Legacy of a
  Conqueror. New York Longman, 2005.
• Ashley, James R. The Macedonian Empire the Era
  of Warfare under Philip II and Alexander the
  Great, 359-323 B.C. Jefferson McFarland, 1998.
• Bose, Partha. Alexander the Greats Art of
  Strategy the Timeless Leadership lessons of
  Historys Greatest Empire Builder. New York
  Gotham, 2003.

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• Bosworth, A.B. Conquest and Empire the Reign of
  Alexander the Great. Cambridge Cambridge U.
  Press, 1988.
• ------------------. Alexander and the East the
  Tragedy of Triumph. Oxford Clarendon, 1998.
• ------------------, et al., eds. Alexander the
  Great in Fact and Fiction. Oxford Oxford U.
  Press, 2000.
• Carney, Elizabeth. Olympias Mother of Alexander
  the Great. New York Routledge, 2006.
• Dahmen, Karsten. The Legend of Alexander the
  Great on Greek and Roman Coins. New York
  Routledge, 2007.

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• Fildes, Alan. Alexander the Great Son of the
  Gods. Los Angeles J. Paul Getty Museum, 2002.
• Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the Great. London
  Penguin, 1973.
• Fraser, P.M. Cities of Alexander the Great.
  Oxford Clarendon, 1996.
• Grainger, John D. Alexander the Great Failure
  the Collapse of the Macedonian Empire. London
  Hambledon, 2007.
• Hammond, N.G.L. The Genius of Alexander the
  Great. Chapel Hill U. of North Carolina Press,
  1997.

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• Heckel, Waldemar. The Wars of Alexander the
  Great, 336-323 B.C. New York Routledge, 2003.
• ----------------------. The Conquests of
  Alexander the Great. Cambridge Cambridge U.
  Press, 2008.
• ----------------------. Whos Who in the Age of
  Alexander the Great Prosopography of Alexanders
  Empire. Oxford Blackwell, 2006.
• ----------------------, et al., eds. Alexander
  the Great Historical Sources in Translation.
  Oxford Blackwell, 2004.
• ----------------------, et al., eds. Alexanders
  Empire Formulation to Decay. Claremont Regina,
  2007.
• Holt, Frank Lee. Alexander the Great and the
  Mystery of the Elephant Medallions.
• Berkeley U. of California Press, 2003.

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• Kurke, Lance B. The Wisdom of Alexander the
  Great Enduring Leadership Lessons from the Man
  Who Created an Empire. New York American
  Management Association, 2004.
• Lonsdale, David J. Alexander the Great Lessons
  in Strategy. New York Routledge, 2007.
• Roisman, Joseph, ed. Alexander the Great
  Ancient and Modern Perspectives. Lexington,
  Mass. D.C.Heath, 1995.
• -------------------------. Brills Companion to
  Alexander the Great. Leiden Brill, 2003.
• Saunders, Nicholas. Alexanders Tomb the Two
  Thousand Year Obsession to Find the Lost
  Conqueror. New York Basic, 2006.

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• Skelton, Debra. Empire of Alexander the Great.
  New York Facts on File, 2005.
• Stoneman, Richard. Alexander the Great a Life
  in Legend. New Haven Yale U. Press, 2008.
• -----------------------. Alexander the Great.
  New York Rougledge, 1997.
• Tarn, W.W. Alexander the Great. Vol. I
  Narrative Vol. II Sources and Studies.
  Cambridge Cambridge U. Press, 1948.
• Thomas, Carol. Alexander the Great in His World.
  Malden, M.A. Blackwell, 2007.
• Wood, Michael. In the Footsteps of Alexander the
  Great a Journey from Greece to Asia. Berkeley
  U. of California Press, 1997.
• Worthington, Ian, ed. Alexander the Great a
  Reader. New York Routledge, 2003.

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• Heroes and Heroic Worship
• The Great Men Theory by Thomas Carlyle,
  (1795-1881)
• The history of mankind is but the biographies of
  great men.
• (Cf. Tseng Kuo-fan)
• Great men were just products of history (cf. Karl
  Marxs communist theory the historical current
  cannot be rejected)
• Great men made history created new era
• Perhaps, both sparkplug and fuel

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• Historical Background
• Rise of Macedonia (in the far north)
• 359 B.C. Philip (II) King of Macedonia, a
  brilliant soldier, a fine speaker, a man of much
  personal charm with wit, a tactful diplomat
  learnt some skill such as the phalanx from
  Thebes as hostage (as a young prince)
• Athens, Sparta, and Thebes -- all tried but
  failed to dominating the Greek world -- now all
  worn out

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• The Macedonians were considered the northern
  barbarians
• Philip said, Yes, we the Macedonians are crude
  people. We call a spade a spade. that is, not
  flowery
• appeasement atmosphere among the Greek poleis.
• Philip, d. 336 -- political assassination?
• Queen Olympias

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• Alexander the Great, r. 336-323 B.C. (age 20 --
  33 d.) 13 years of reign
• During his expedition to the east, two things
  were always with Alexander the Great
• (1) Homers Iliad (Achilles was said to be
  Alexanders hero or idol), and
• (2) A dagger under his pillow
• Symbolized his passionate yet warlike
  nature/character

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• Similarities with Achilles, yet with wit, for
  instance, he used wit to tame a newly caught wild
  horse

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• The impetuous ambitions of Alexander the Great
• 1. Charging across the river to fight the Persian
  army without his own main army to back up
• 2. Whenever he heard Philip, his father, had
  taken any town of importance, or won any
  significant victory instead of rejoicing at it
  altogether, he would tell his companions that his
  father would anticipate everything, and leave him
  and them no opportunities of performing great
  illustrious actions.

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• Alexanders conquest of Persia (334-332 B.C.)
• In 333 B.C., after Alexander defeated the Persian
  army in a battle, the Persian king sent an envoy
  to ask for peace, giving Alexander half of the
  empire his only daughter, the heiress/princess
  to be wife of Alexander yet, when Alexander
  read the letter to his council, his general
  Parmenio said that if he were Alexander, he would
  accept. So would I, replied Alexander, if I
  were you Parmenio, and rejected the
  compromise.

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• In 332 B.C., Alexander took Egypt, and was
  greeted as the son of Zeus (that is, a living
  god), and built Alexandria.
• 330 B.C. invaded Afghanistan
• 327 B.C. invaded India (war elephant)
• 323 B.C. (June 10) on his return trip, died of
  swamp fever in Babylon

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• Arguments
• Negative Alexander the Great might have caused
  the decline and fall of the Greek polis -- by
  exhausting the energy of Greece and his
  foundation (military power and troops) might have
  been laid by his father, Philip II of Macedon.
• Positive On the other hand, Alexander
  definitely witnessed the rise of Macedonia, and
  he has started the idea of cosmopolitanism, and
  the Hellenistic cf. Hellenic Age.

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• Negative Alexander the Great was opposite to
  Aristotle, his mentor. Aristotle loved the polis
  to be small, but Alexander built a big empire.
  Aristotle preferred the cultured Greek to rule
  over the foreigners, but Alexanders satrapy was
  highly autonomous with foreigners ruling.
• Neutral Arrian, a Roman historian, thought
  that Alexander the Great was a warrior king, and
  his military achievements were great. But Arrian
  thought that Alexanders eastern expedition was
  wrong, which got the eastern problems instead.

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• On the other hand, Plutarch, another Roman
  historian, believed that there were two broader
  meanings in Alexanders eastern expedition 1.
  Alexander the Great was a philosopher-king 2.
  The goals for expedition made Alexander a
  philosopher -- that he was not for his own
  luxurious glory or wealth, but for the peaceful
  cosmopolitan society of human beings.

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• Negative 20th century historians A.R. Burn, E.
  Badian, and Ulrich Wilcken believed that
  Alexander did not aim at cosmopolitanism. He was
  only an ambitious adventurer.
• Positive On the contrary, W.W. Tarn and J.F.C.
  Fuller believed that Alexander the Great was a
  philosopher-king, and he was an ideal believer in
  cosmopolitanism.

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• Alexander as a traitor
• Alexander destroyed the small polis
• Alexanders aim in the eastern Expedition was
  ambitious, impetuous, adventurous
• Consequence mutually affected with the east, but
  to some historians, the highly cultured Greeks
  were barbarized

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• Alexander as an innovator
• Alexander united Greece and created an
  unprecedented empire (over 3 continents), and
  started the Hellenistic Age
• Alexanders aim was related to the
  philosopher-king ideal, cosmopolitanism, and
  necessity
• Hellenized the world, that is why Greek history
  was from Hellenic to Hellenistic then

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• Significance
• Positive
• 1. Created a big empire ruling over 3 continents
• 2. A break-through in the idea of cosmopolitanism
  (including the satrapy, etc.), at least, it was a
  kind of fusion
• 3. Greek influence over the east (all the way to
  India his coins were found in India), thus,
  Hellenistic
• 4. According to W.W. Tarn, Alexander the Great
  was a contributor or promoter of the unity of
  mankind

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• Negative
• 1. Even though he won on horseback by
  conquests, he could not rule the empire for long
  soon he died, and his empire scattered
• 2. Alexander by draining off so much Greek
  man-power so far into the east, Alexander
  weakened Greece, and ultimately even Greek
  resistance at home to Roman aggression later
• 3. Alexander destroyed the spirit (small,
  exclusive, oneness, etc.) of the polis