Alexander- Great or Not Great?

Impressive military skill

Generalship

Strategy

Decision-making (Granicus)

Unconventional/ ambitious strategy- Gaugamela

“I suspect (...) Alexander foresaw that whole chain of events when he ordered the initial move to the right.” (James Romm)

Outflanked Darius, outnumbered ~50,000 to ~250,000 (modern)

Persia had 1000-2500 losses, Macedonia had 30-85 (Arrian)

The battle won because of Alexander (Diodorus,Siculus)

Cleitus at Granicus

Alexander fell off his horse and was almost stabbed, Cleitus saved him (Arrian)

Persian empire in decline

Back-to-back losses from the 5th century BCE (Herodotus)

Xerxes/ Darius depleted nation; overspending, failed campaign to Greece

Biased sources, hired by alexander

“We are all at the mercy of the available sources here” (Cartledge)

Morale

Refused water in Gedrosian, only enough for him (Arrian)

Tended soldiers, fought among them --> cultivated loyalty

Conquered Persia, immense merit needed

Gedrosian Desert, too ambitious

“he did not bring back from India so much as a quarter of his fighting force” (Plutarch)

Son of Philip

Appointed/ trained the generals under Alexander

Phalanx formation

Conquered/ centralised Greece

“Philip, should really be (...) called ‘The Great’” (Romm)

Deification

Accepted title 'Pharaoh'

Believed he was Zeus' son, related himself to Achilles

Pleased Egyptians

Greeks see arrogance

Proskynesis- Persians bow for kings

Greeks see arrogance/ pleases persians

Homonoia

Respects indigenous lifestyle

maintains governmental structures, integrates Greeks

rebuilt Bel-Marduk, offering to Apis at Memphis

Strategic move or ideological move?

Empire Administration

Reasoning for Persia fed into ruling Greece as a 'barbaric' Macedonian

“He’s bought these warring and very fractured city-states and he has to give them a nice, big, meaty enemy to deal with” (Ali Ansari)

Respects Persians in marriage ceremony

Alexander and soldiers marry locals, in marriage ceremony

Upsets Macedonians/Greeks; dissonance in hating, then marrying Persians

Pleases Persians

Influence on Hellenistic/ wider world

Founded 70 cities in Mediterranean

Destroyed parts of Persian culture

“He became a model for other conquerors, for example the Mongols, when they conquered Persia they claimed themselves as descendents from Alexander the Great” (Manteghi)

Greeks saw Macedonians as barbaric "Tribe of impoverished vagabonds" (Arrian)

prevented revolution

Burnt Persepolis (Arrian)

Adopts Persian dress (Arrian)