Where,Shakespear,Di.Vinci or Plato Greater

[iskander_32]

Companions I read a reply to a post that these people were greayter than Alexander,, Maybe the person saying this could emphasise more on the statement.A Philisopher a Playright and a Sculpture come Painter.I really cant draw any thing that would equal those to Alexander let alone excell him?Anyway to more serious points as that laughable.I just got back from Halkidiki Greece, to be honest the peninsulas were a real let down the awareness and presense of any Alexander history was to say the least dire. Maybe there was more in Thessaloniki however I couldnt really drag my 4 year old son round the city, it was impossible to say to my son that the place we were was the land of Alexander The Great even I wouldnt have known.I have decided to stop looking for Alexander throughout the world, its pointless Alexander is like religion and faith its a personal thing, I would only wish religion could be personal and based on ones own beliefs maybe then we could not judge and kill.Finally could anyone tell me the Alexander speach, The one about the ending of wars and people living together as brothers and equals,I am aware of this whats the decree called and is it valid.IOf this decree is correct,and if he meant what he said, then its the statement for all races ans for all times more relevent even for today.This decree says mopre than Plato,Shakespeare or DiVinci ever said.Maybe under a leader like Alexander such a world order could be attained.
Kenny

[Linda]

It was me who said it, Kenny, and I meant that they contributed more to the progress of humanity in developing wisdom, truth, beauty, understanding of the human condition. Alexander's "can't we all be friends" speech has been called a brotherhood of man speech, but perhaps I am being cynical, but I think he was more concerned to keep his empire together rather than promote some universal melting pot. And, in any case, I don't think it has been much of an influence on other people - rather his example has caused men to become conquorors, and to emulate that part of him. Not to say that conquest does not promote change, and change can be good, but I don't think his primary motive was to do more than be the biggest and best fighter ever. It is interesting and stirring stuff, but not necessarily laudable for its own sake, in my view. Many other have said more about how people can live together, who want to promote peace. Alexander was not really in that category, given the numbers he killed.

[iskander_32]

LindaI just wonder why you play a part in this forum if you only see Alexander as a self centred egotist, who did nothing apart from wage war and promote whole scale killing.Indeed Alexander killed and indeed risked been killed in wars and battles its inevitably a test between armies in the art of killing Alexander was as you say a warrior and soldier but even you gotta dmit there was much more to the guy.Divinci was the popes personal painter and sculpture I cant see what difference he made.Shakespear was a playwrite and older form of Mills and boon, U guy for the upper class old English Hooray henries who didnt change anything.Plato a thinker indeed but it takes men of deeds and action to make a difference not some high minded thinker from the old Athens

[iskander_32]

LindaI just wonder why you play a part in this forum if you only see Alexander as a self centred egotist, who did nothing apart from wage war and promote whole scale killing.Indeed Alexander killed and indeed risked been killed in wars and battles its inevitably a test between armies in the art of killing Alexander was as you say a warrior and soldier but even you gotta dmit there was much more to the guy.Divinci was the popes personal painter and sculpture I cant see what difference he made.Shakespear was a playwrite and older form of Mills and boon, U guy for the upper class old English Hooray henries who didnt change anything.Plato a thinker indeed but it takes men of deeds and action to make a difference not some high minded thinker from the old Athens

[susan]

Just a quick reply, Kenny : this forum isn't an Alexander the Great fan-club; it's a forum to discuss him and his actions, and there's no necessity to follow a particular belief about him to belong.I've spent years studying Alexander and it's clear to me that there was a much darker side to him that appears in lesser writers; for instance:Aelian Book 14.47a
Alexander son of Philip is said to have been very jealous of his friends and envious of them all, though not for identical reasons. He disliked Perdiccas for being a born soldier, Lysimachus because he had a good reputation as a general, and Seleucus for his bravery. AntigonusGÇÖ ambition pained him, he disliked AntipaterGÇÖs quality of leadership, was suspicious of PtolemyGÇÖs adroitness, and feared AtarriusGÇÖ insubordination, not to mention PithonGÇÖs revolutionary instinct. This is quite different from Arrian & Plutarch, but it's a valid source for consideration as well.Susan

[Linda]

Shakespeare held and holds a glass up to humanity and its follies - he wasn't for the upper classes, at all. Or for the English. Making a difference is not just about battle. Progress comes from ideas. My qualification of greatness is just what I consider admirable - and so Da Vinci seems to me to have been someone who created beauty, and beauty is a force for good. Of course, he also created war machines, but he aims seem to have been for knowlegde itself sake. In this way he may have been as self-seeking as Alexander, but still I admire him and his achievements. I am in awe of Alexander, and his drive and ambition, but blind allegience is not very healthy, I don't think. As Susan says, his character had a darker complex side, and that for me what makes him a real person, rather than a paragon.

[Nax]

Whoa up here! A "high-minded thinker" can sometimes do more to change things than any man of action- there's a h**l of a lot of power in words, tooAs to the rest, it might be that the Big A's "jealousy" just meant he saw what these other guys were & pushed himself to be better than them
like in "Okay, you're good- but I'll be even better" Nothing wrong with that!!