Alexander the Great?
A lot of people think Alexander is great because they think he is a great person. Other people think he is not great because he was not a great person. What they are forgetting is that Alexander is not called great because he is a “great person” because he wasn’t. He was called Alexander the Great because he was a great conqueror. Although he was not a great conqueror, he was an amazing one. Geez, the guy took over 2,000,000 square miles of land, starting at age 20, with a mere 40,000 troops, and only in 11 years. I mean, what do you mean he is not great?!
I know you think Alexander is great (person-wise), but he isn’t. Tyre was a city on a small island, and it had a wall. They thought that because of these advantages, they were almost invincible. They did not like Alexander. Alexander decided to build a bridge to get to the island, but during the construction, he took many casualties. When Alexander and his troops finally broke into the city, Alexander ordered everybody to be killed, except those hiding in the temple. Sodon, Tyre’s rival city, was so horrified by this, that they actually helped some 15,000 Tyrians escape. At this time, 7,000 Tyrians were killed. There was about 32,000 Tyrian citizens still alive. Alexander crucified about 2,000 of those that were of military age, and sold the rest to slavery. Still think he is a great person?
**Sources
Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon, University of California Press, 1991
