Why does everyone think Alexander was so great? He was greedy, ruthless, and spoiled in a number of ways and after hearing that, you might just agree with me. First of all, he had a big, greedy head that caused him to name 11 towns “Alexandria” during his conquest to gain land.1 Alexander, what made you decide that you wanted to kill thousands of people to expand your empire? According to a legend, he beheaded a sailor because he succeeded in safely transporting Alexanders royal headband to the shore after falling off a boat. *
Back to Alexander being ruthless, well if someone killed thousands of men1 for his own greater good and benefit, would you consider them “great”? I didn’t think so. (I certainly wouldn’t) That’s exactly what Alexander did. He and his men killed thousands of innocent citizens who did nothing to him.
Finally, he was spoiled. Half the land he owned was inherited from his father and his men did al his work for him. They did everything from outsmarting elephants to fighting and traveling on foot for eight years.2 Alexander was definitely not great and he has no reason to be named “Alexander the great”.
1a map of Alexander’s empire - created by various sources
2Lucius Flavius Arrianus, The Campaigns of Alexander, circa 130 CE
*image found at www.altmedia.net.au
