Alexander was born as the prince of Macedonia more than 300 years before Jesus. While he was little itself, he got the idea that he himself was a god, making him big headed from the start…
When he was only 20, his father died, leaving him the Kingdom of Macedonia to rule over. His father was planning to attack the Persian empire, so right after his death, Alexander used the Macedonian army to defeat the Persian empire...
First of all, I just want to make something clear: Alexander the Great should not be considered great.
I mean, think about it. Why is he considered great? He is considered great because he conquered 2,000,000 miles of land.1 Now think: How did Alexander conquer so much land? By killing.
According to, “Alexander's Legacy, Chart,” the estimated amount of enemy soldiers and civilians killed in just 4 major battles for his conquest was 100,000 men. Alexander founded 70 cities total, and conquered about 2,000,000 miles of land at the height of his empire. So think about it, sure, one or two places could have surrendered, but if he killed 100,000 men in 4 battles, how many men must he have killed to win all this land?
Derived From Kids Encyclopedia
Alexander's Conquest
Not only that, but Alexander also had to get rid of any opposition in Greece itself, so he was quick to stamp out any competition quickly. That just shows us even more that he wasn’t at all afraid to kill anyone obstructing his path to greatness. #bloodthirsty
Derived from Goodreads, “Alexander of Macedon…”
You guessed it. Another battle of Alexander's. (The battle of Isus)
On a side note, guess what he named all the cities he founded. He named them Alexandria. Real smart Alexander…
Not only was Alexander blood thirsty, but he also had a really hot temper. Tyre (a city Alexander wanted to conquer) held out for seven months against him. (I am so in awe for Tyre for holding out. Go Tyre!) They thought that the city was unconquerable because it was built on a island. Alexander built a causeway to the island, but Tyre fought Alexander’s army for seven months, making Alexander lose a lot of men. When he finally smashed into the city, he went on a ferocious man hunt, and only the people who sought sanctuary in the temple were to be saved. “The Destruction of Tyre,” states, “...and his commands were executed with savage relish. The air grew thick with smoke from burning buildings…” It then goes to state that seven thousand Tyrians were killed in the man-hunt, and more would have been killed if Sidon (a neighboring city) had not smuggled some 15,000 of them out.
The thing is, Sidon had been Tyre’s rival for centuries. So why would they help the Tyrians? The answer is that they were horrified. They were so horrified by Alexander’s manhunt that they decided to smuggle their century old enemy out.
The only answer to why Alexander was so adamant on capturing Tyre was because he had a big ego. I mean, come on guys, in the end, he conquered 2,000,000 miles of land. Why would he spend so much time on one measly city? Since Alexander had such a big ego, he couldn’t bear to see that one city could hold out his army for so long, so in the end, he got so angry, that he organized a manhunt!
This is seriously horrifying to what extent Alexander would go to achieve greatness.
Another thing that is truly horrifying thing is that Alexander decided to cut of someone's head just because they brought back his belonging to him. The legend goes like this.2 Alexander was steering the warship, and his hat fell off, and flew in the water. The hat sunk, but the hat had a band around it, and the band was carried along the wind, and got caught in some reeds. A soldier swam, and retrieved the hat band, and wore it around his head as to not get it wet as he swam. Alexander gave him a reward of more than $10,000, and then cut his head of because the prophets told him to not keep the head that had worn the hat band safe.
This is horrible. I mean, what could have that soldier done? If he had let the hat band get, wet, he would be punished by Alexander, and if he wore it, his head was cut off.
RIP Soldier that was unfairly executed.
I am still horrified by Alexander, and how he treats people…
I think that we can all agree that Alexander the Great should be changed to Alexander the Power Hungry of Alexander the Bloodthirsty. I mean, who are we as humans to call someone as inhumane as Alexander great if he killed innocent people for power, killed an innocent soldier because he retrieved the hat band, and ordered a manhunt just because he was angry at Tyre for holding out for so long?
RIP Everyone That Was Unfairly Killed.
Sources:
1 “Alexander’s Legacy, Chart”
2 “Legends of the Helmet and Hat Band”
