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Hi,
We are being told that he believed to be Achilles' reincarnation and we have proofs of this state of his mind by many examples: Lysimachus' addressings as Achilles, his chosen misson (to led out his army to fight in Asia, never to return home and never to grow old), his connection with Hephaestion.... and at the end ... his destiny.
And if this might be possible than....who could have been the others? I would like to understand Achilles' attitude towards women. How many wifes or women lovers he had and how they are connected with Alexander's ones?
Furthermore, who could be Alexander's reincarnation.... does anybody has some interesting theory?
Thanks,
Poliksena

Alexander praised Achilles just like a modern person today praises their favorite role model. Alexander's role model was Achilles, you can embrace anybody you would like to be.
Today we are too rational and this is why it's hard for us to embrace our favorite role models cuz we learn with a wrong education, the Education psychology the psychology of the 'NO'
Like if you say you want to be a Napoleon or a Caesar everybody bashes youTrotskyBakunin

Hello Poliksena,Bris+½is- was Achilles' woman. She was taken from him at Agamemnon's request to compensate his having to hand over Iphigenia to her father and so ensued the famous "Anger of Achilles" which nearly cost the Achaians the war of Troy.
In my opinion, Achilles embodied a lot for Alexander- the perfect warrior- although I think that there ends the mystery- I have read the Iliad searching for other connections and you can pick up on a few. Above all in certain acts Alexander found it interesting to use the same behaviour, especially the famous Achillean withdrawal to his tent when things didn't work out how he wanted.Achilles' attitude towards women I think was similar to Alexander's- scant- he was really married to "war" or Athena so to speak and wasn't emotionally willing to dwindle his energy in relationships of the amorous kind. He didn't want it to interfere in main objectives which he seemed to have perfectly clear in mind.That is not to say he didn't respect women enormously - he treated all of Darius' women with exactly the same privileges as before and also didn't incorporate the "amazon" styled lady-warriors into the army because of fear that they would be abused.Well, I have gone on long enough,
Best wishes,
Dean.

Hi Dean,Thanks for your reply. Your knowledge about Achilles' women and his attitude towards them is quite different from mine. That's why, I would like to tell you what I know and to try to find out what is really true:Achilles had 5 women: Deidameia (she gave him 2 children), Medea (she killed her children in order to punish her cheating husband), Iphigenia, Helen and Polyxena. Also, he killed Penthesilela, the Queen of the Amazons and had sex with her dead body. :-(What I found the most interesting is his falling in love with Polyxena, the Troyan princess (the youngest dauther of king Priam and Hecuba), during the Troyan war. He was even willing to try to form a peace between Troy and Greece in return for her hand. Priam agreed to give Polyxena in return for peace. Then, as she requested, he came to make a sacrifice to Apollo where he was embushed and killed by Paris, Polyxena's brother. 18 days after his death, his son Neoptolemus sacrificed Polyxena on the tomb of his father. The legend sais that after this action the Achaians were damned never to find their own peace and never to have their own land.
What do you think?
Regards,
Poliksena

Hello,Thanks for your reply.I have to be honest that I have studied Achilles-¦with the exception of one or two details here and there with the Iliad- Alexander's favorite book and yet I suppose that that would encompass nothing more than around 50 days of Achilles' life. So as I have seen that it is far from the complete picture.I found it interesting reading about some of the other women in his life in your post- which works did you read about this and would Alexander have been exposed to them? (Euripides?). I think that regarding women this was one area where Alexander didn't try to emulate his heroe. On the theme of women, I also found the relationship between Achilles and his mother, Thetis quite interesting and certainly, in my opinion, much more defined than his relationship with Bris+½is in the Iliad.Best wishes,
Dean.

Hi Dean,
I agree that regarding women Alexander didn't try to emulate his hero. But, maybe he had a good reason for this - he didn't want to fall in love and be killed as Achilles was. Maybe, that's one lesson he learned from Achilles' experience. Now, about Alexander's connection with Euripides: he had special interest in tragedy and yes, Euripides' plays were favorites to him. He used to quote Euripides's plays many times. Also, this great Greek tragedian wrote his play "Bacchae" while he was in the court of the Macedonian king Archelaus and he died there. Archelaus had his own library that remained until the times of Philip II and Alexander.I find interesting the Euripides' definition for Dionysus - because of his dual nature, he called him "the most gentle and the most terrible" god (this is in some connection with your "beauty and the beast"). And if you read "The Bacchae" you can find many similarities between Pentheus, the king of Thebes (who became a victim of Dionysus in "Bacchae") and Alexander: they were both kings, ambitious, had a need to be universally honored, had obsession to defend their own reputation and name, they were both curious... but, on the other side they both were ignoring their obligations to produce an heir, they were self-centered, megalomaniacal, and had ungovernable anger.... And, going back to Achilles... what do you find interesting in his relationship with Thetis?
Regards,
Poliksena

I think that Achilles' course was wrath while Alex's was boozze! Now a few comments on women of the Trojan war:- Agamamnon demanded Vriseis from Achilles to compensate himself not for Ifigeneia (his daughter) but for him having to return Chryseis back to her father (her father was a priest of Apollo). An actions that as Homer said: "brought countless woes upon the Achaeans, and sent forth to Hades many valiant souls".Now regarding Achilles' women that Poli mentions:- Deidameia gave to Achilles 1 child, Pyrrhus (also called Neoptolemus) not two.
- Medea was not Achilles but Jason's wife.
- Ifinegeia was promished but never given to him.
- Hellen !?? You mean the known Hellen of Troy? What does Achilles have to do with her?
- Polyxena was the youngest daughter of Hecuba and Priam of Troy. At the end of the Trojan War she was sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles in accordance with a dying request of the hero. Some say because she betrayed his "Achilles heel" secret other because he loved her. She never was his wife/girlfriend.
- Penthesilea raped after death?!!! Where on earth did you read that???
So that death-ravening spear of Peleus' son
Clear through the goodly steed rushed on, and pierced
Penthesileia. Straightway fell she down
Into the dust of earth, the arms of death,
In grace and comeliness fell, for naught of shame
Dishonoured her fair form. Six out of six incorrect, that was impressing!

Hello,OOPS!Yes, my statement about Iphigenia was wrong and thankyou very much Yiannis for pointing it out.
I suppose I should have remembered too because the act of Agamemnon keeping Chriseis until Apollo brought the plague on the Achaian men was one of the main catalysts that brought on the fall of Troy- as it lead indirectly to the anger of Achilles.I hang my head down in shame.Best regards,
Dean.

Hello Poli,I found what you said about Dionysus very interesting. It is true- Alexander never worried about leaving an heir like Dionysus- this part of his nature still baffles me. Alexander on the battlefield also proved to be reckless- he must have been aware of the consequences- leaving the whole empire with no certain heir- such was the confusion that Arrideous, a mentally deficient man was stand in King for the initial period after Alexander's death.As Maxwell O'Brien so well put, Alexander spent so much time trying to emulate his heroes and rival their feats that he never really did what the inscription at the entrance of the oracle of Delphi said, "Know himself"While finishing on the subject of similiarites between the Iliad and Alexander, what about Patroclus' death and Hephaestion's?In the Iliad- we see Achilles lying on the body of Patroclus, crying and refusing to eat or drink.Alexander's response was almost identical for the first couple of days or so.Best wishes,
Dean.

Hi Yiannis,I must admit I've never studied Achilles' love life before and I knew about him only in the context of Alexander (as his hero). That's why I've posted a question about his attitude towards women. But, on the other hand, I've made one short and fast research on Internet about him ... and I found that info there (those six out of six incorrect). That's why at the end of that part of my message I put this ":-(". I'm really surprised and I wonder how anybody can give such incorrect info. But, I will try to find that few sites and I'll inform you who they are.My intention was to share this with Dean and to find out if that's true or not. But, thank you for this elucidation very mush and I'll not rely on Internet any more.
Regards, Poli

Hello Dean,Thanks for your reply. But, I've lined out the similarities between Pentheus, the king of Thebes (The Bacchae's hero who became a victim of Dionysus) and Alexander. Alexander and Dionysus were similar in yours "the beauty and the beast" and Euripides'definition "the most gentle and the most terrible god". And about Patrocle's and Hephaestion's death... they were not similar. Patrocle was killed in battle, by Hector. Achilles' killed Hector and revanged his best friend, but he was killed by Paris. My time is out... Regards, Poli

It's amazing how much crap can one find lurking in the internet! So if one doesn't have books available on the subject it's better to try and compare (cross) information from various sites or to use just a few that we trust (i.e. Pothos .