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)