I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

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iranianguy
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Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:54 pm

I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by iranianguy »

Hey everyone, One thing that has always bothered me is that Alexander the Great is so famous. Ok,ok he counqured the all mighty Persian Empire but there were many reasons for his suprising success. Ive done some reading on the topic and have come up with a few good reasons for Alexander's success.
1)When the Persian Empire was first formed in 550's B.C. the Persian soldiers were trained to be soldiers from childhood, they were well trained and disciplined and continued to be for the first few kings of the empire (Cyrus, Cambysus, Darius, and Xegerus)but after these kings the army began relying more and more often on un trained recruted men from the regions of the empire. Slowly the military power of the Persian Empire dwindled for this reason and when Alexander crossed into Anatolia and invaded his well disciplined trained professional troops had no problem dealing with the Persians ragtag soldiers.
2)After the rule of Cyrus,Cambysus,Darius,and Xegerus the Persian Empire was plaged by corupt and unworthy kings who cared more about there own selfish needs then that of the Empire. Under these corrupt kings the Empire strength slowly dwindled. I admit Alexander was probly a well trained soldier and probly a good general although he could have just bin a King with good generals to lead his military conflicts (like many other kings). I dont think that is enough of a reason to say that he was the greatist conquerer of all time or for him to have so much fame.
elpinice
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Re: I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by elpinice »

Well, obvoiusly Alexander is famous for a variety of reasons. One of these is that he conquered a huge area of land. Another of these is that he was European. In the same way that Eastern conquerors are more famous in the East, Western conquerors are more famous in the West, and the West is the dominant hemisphere of today (mainly through the US). It is true that he conquered the Persians when they were weak, but the Khan "conquered" the Eastern Roman Empire when it was weak, too. Such is the way of conquerors.
His ambition (and pothos) also helped to make him famous. Few people had the kind of drive to succeed that he did.
It probably helps that he died young. That kind of thing increases the romance that carries a story on for a long time.
I'm certain there are hundreds of reasons why he is famous that I haven't listed here, many of which are more important than those I have listed. But these reasons serve to illustrate my point; even if you claim that Alexander doesn't deserve to be famous, you can't deny the fact that there are good reasons why he is.Elpi
beausefaless
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Re: I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by beausefaless »

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kenny
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Re: I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by kenny »

Andrew HailYour spot on and I get fed up with this argument. That Persia was spent and Alexander turned up with the real deal best army.Alexander also had rebellions to deal with and constantly watch his rear. Agis the proven point. Indeed the Persian gold forever getting behind Alexander trying to cause uprising and rebellion at his rear.Alexander had the whole Persian army and something not very much mentioned the fifth ellement.Anyway I cant really be bothered hail Andrew.Kenny
iranianguy
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Re: I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by iranianguy »

Ok guys i dont think u understood what i said. When Alexander crossed into Anatolia (turkey) with his 35 thousand men he probly faced a army twice the size of his own. Yet you must understand Alexanders forces were well trained troops and profesionals while most of the persian troops were basicly men gathered up from the rejions of the empire. The persian army was not well trained and disciplined like Alexanders was so even though Darius 3rd had twice the number of men he still didnt stand a chance vs a professional trained army.And dont tell me that Darius 3rd sent 1 million men.
That is something that is over exagerated as history goes on, and has bin done in tales of the Persian vs the Greeks several times. Oh and as for the Persians having a hard time defeating the Babylonians in the early part of the Persian Empire let me tell u guys something. Babylon was a huge City with at least 1 million inhabitants and the Great Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer built a huge defenseive wall all around the city to protect it from invasions, and these walls were not sun backed bricks like most of the buildings in the city they were oven backed bricks which are much harder to knock down. Cyrus the Great seeing that he stood no chance in a direct attack to get over the wall concocted a brilliant plan. There was a river that ran through the city of Babylon but at the point where it entered the city the water was too high for anyperson to enter the city by walking in the river under the wall. Cyrus the Great ordered his men miles away from the city walls to dig several small lakes and lower the water level of the river. When the level of water was lowered several of his men entered the city at night unditected and stormed the Palace killing the King of Babylons son only because he tried to fight them. So you see the Persians under Cyrus the Great did not even have to have a full blown confrontation with the Babylonian army to conqure basicly a huge city size fortress.That comment about the Persians fighting with arrows and spears at a distance making them less of a great army is meaningless. You must understand that the Persian armies war machine was based on two key ingrediants. First it was the great well trained archers who at the early part of the empire learned this valuable skill at a very younge age. Secound it was the persian cavalry who also were well trained archers and could hit targets while riding at almost full speed on there hors
elpinice
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Re: I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by elpinice »

Your points are well-made. I haven't read much into the area of whether the Persian Empire was weak, and thus presumed that Kohyar was correct when he said that it was. My point in doing so was merely to show that it wasn't necessary to discard his ideas to give good reasons why Alexander is famous. Whether you agree with him - even whether you like Alexander or not - is beside the point.I apologise for the presumption.Elpi
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azara
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Re: I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by azara »

Alexander is famous because he contributed powerfully to build the world we live in, or, better, some of the worlds we live in and that are beginning to be more and more interconnected. With him history exploded and new worlds were born. Alexandria of Egypt had the first public library in the world, an immense library, and the Museum, an institute of science and technology that offered opportunities to scholars whose names are still famous for their discoveries. The Ptolemies instituted the most civil tax mankind has ever seen: everybody who arrived at Alexandria and had books with him, had to lend them to the custom officers and let them be copied in the interest of human knowledge. Later the Greek world was conquered by the Romans, a people of engineers scarcely given to abstract research: it was an impoverishment, but still much survived, and was passed on to the great driving forces of the Middle Ages: Christianity (one can think what he wants, but Christianity without Alexander and Hellenism is simply unthinkable) and Islam, which saved and improved science, technology, astronomy, medicine in years when Europe could read Aristoteles only in Arabic commentaries. Now , you are a Persian boy who, 23 centuries after AlexanderGÇÖs death, chats with an Italian woman like me using what technologies have been produced to connect people; we both have access to the Internet, which is the modern Alexandria library; we both are driven by curiosity, and are fond of learning and expanding our knowledge.
So letGÇÖs forget armies and military explanations, and letGÇÖs look at the matter like this:
certainly Alexander couldnGÇÖt foresee what would happen, and probably he wouldnGÇÖt have understood the world which had been born from his conquest (at a terrible cost); I donGÇÖt want to give him credits that canGÇÖt be entirely his, but I think these are the reasons for which he matters and deserves his fame.With my best regards Azara
jan
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Re: I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by jan »

Hi, Your comment about the fame of Alexander is important considering that I believe other leaders are measured against his standard. I just finished reading a book about Crazy Horse in which I am certain the author is using the fame of Alexander's desire for glory as a way to point out the lack of interest in glory by Crazy Horse or Light Hair as he was also called. I could not help but compare Crazy Horse and his tribes means of survival to that of Alexander also. In many ways, it is important to understand the background of the military life in Greece and Alexander to consider today's heroes as well.The main reason then for Alexander's fame is that it is in contrast to earlier Greek and Persian conflicts which became well known. The most important aspect of Alexander's achievements which upon examination are extremely wide and long is the time period in which they were executed. Civilization before the dawn of Alexander had only a sporadic few tales of conquest to consider. Xenophon, Cyrus the Great, and the stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey seem to comprise the only then known world's list of military achievements. Correct me if I am wrong.However, I am convinced that more than the military achievements are the governmental and administrative achievements in the building of cities, the spread of the culture, and the endurance of these systems. Alexander was more than a military leader, but was also a great city father.
iranianguy
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Re: I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by iranianguy »

Well im not sure about you saying that there were no military achivements before him. The Medes and the Babylonians teamed up some where in between 600-700 B.C. to squash the cruel Assyirians. Even though it seems the Medes did almost all the fighting and the Babylonian army arived latter both Babylon and Media split the land that was won as a consiqence of the war. The sad part is do to the cruel nature of the Assyrian rulers the 1 or possably more citys of the Assyrians was completely distroyed including the inhabitants i believe. I believe Alexander the Great will is no dought one of the best military leaders in history but as far as his skill in running a empire he was not one of the best. You must understand when Alexander conqured the Persian empire he continued the form of government set up by the early Persian kings Cyrus II the Great and Darius I the Great. This next fact i am not so sure about but some where i heard that most of the citys that Alexander was said to have built were already there and he just renamed them.Dont think i hate Alexander i believe he was a superb military officer. Its just that alot of the other things that are atributed to his rule are not as true.
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marcus
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Re: I dont understand why Alexander is so famous

Post by marcus »

Leaping in to this quite late, but I think it's only fair to point out that, as Alexander died before he had a chance to prove whether he could rule his empire, it's rather unfair for anyone to say that he wasn't any good at it.All the bestMarcus
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