Hello readers! I am just so curious if you have
ever heard of Alexander the Great. Anyway, he was supposedly a celebrated
military leader and king and he most definitely was, but not for his kindness
or forgiveness. But more for his battle strategy and conquest. (Although he was
considerate and kind to his people)
Source :
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/alexander-the-great
In some ways Alexander was quite brutal but he
was kind to his people (as in his warriors, and officers). For example, The
Legend of the Helmet. At one point Alexander and his men were in search for
water in the middle of a desert and they found a small bit of water in a ditch
and his men scooped up as much as they could and poured it into a helmet and
gave it to their king, but Alexander did the unexpected thing. He poured it all
over the ground for all his men to see1..
This act of thoughtfulness and empathy shows
that Alexander the Great was indeed great.
But as we all know I wouldn’t be arguing that he
was great unless he had done something not so great because then there would be
no reason for this article at all.
So all of you dear readers are now most likely
trying to get through all of this talking to get to the actual story. So I’ll
pity you and tell it.
As Alexander marches down the Mediterranean
coast many cities surrendered without fighting some were even happy for
Alexander to get rid of the Persians.
So why the fuss? Why are you even mentioning
this Mediterranean march per say. Well after conquering many cities he finally
came to one off the coast situated on an island this was the great city of
Tyre. (pronounced “tire”)This city was happy with the Persians and didn’t think
Alexander could conquer them.
So they fortified their defenses and prepared
for an invasion. Tyre’s defenses held for seven months2 and this was only so because of where their city was built. It
was situated on an island with high walls protecting it and this was why the
Tyrians or whatever they called themselves thought their city was impenitrible.
You may be thinking to yourself well that
doesn’t sound so bad he conquered many other cities. Well think again. Since he
was challenged by this city he ordered a manhunt to kill all of the people who
were not seeking refuge in the temple3. This order was carried
out with a creepy amount of pleasure.
After hearing all of this you could make the
argument that he was great for being very memorable as the person who conquered
all of Egypt Asia minor and even into parts of west India.
Or you could make the argument that he was a
brutal cold hearted man that killed hundreds of innocent women children and
men. Now that you have been told the facts was Alexander the Great actually
great.
Well I’ve already made my decision and it is
that Alexander was great in the sense that he was a Greek hero and that it was
a great achievement to rule over almost all of the known world at the time. But
in the sense of being a thoughtful and kind leader he was a cold blooded
killer.
Well if you are reading this you are probably
thinking to yourself that’s two answers not one! Well that is my answer and it
is literally that he is great in one sense but awful in the sense that he was
kind.
Thank you for reading the article. It has been a
pleasure.
