pothos.org

What do you all think was Alexander's real
strength as a leader? Was it his intelligence or
his motivation or something else?

What a question!! Surely Alexander had the full package - rank, high intelligence, training, circumstance, luck, "pothos" - the list goes on. I don't think you can select one thing - it all came together to make him the unique character he was. A spiritual friend of mine believes such individuals have a greater purpose in the scheme of things...my eyes tend to glaze over on that one. Born or made?

A lot of people ask the question "Would he have been as great a leader/warrior as he was without his father's influence." Perhaps not, but I like to think he was one of those special, gifted people. He definitely had charisma, he was fearless and ambitious, charming, physically beautiful and intelligent. All of these were his 'strengths'. What else could the man need to make him the leader that he was?

HiPeople usually tend to portray Alexander as a handsome man. Many of his portraits show a very unique-faced young man. But we know that these portraits are, most of them, idealized [he's many times portraied like an Apollo, or a Dyonisos - like a god.].You say he's 'physically beautiful'. But actually it seems he was not exactly handsome. He's rather plain in his looks - and he's short of stature, you know. What did really really made him outstanding was his mind [what a mind there!] and his charisma, like you said. But not his physical attributes. No way. Remember - the Queen of Persia bowed to Hephaistion. Hephaistion was the one who, in a way, stood out [but never like Alexander, of course].Cheerssusa

Hello Ruthaki,
My question would be...could he have been the great man that he was without his mother, his father, and Aristotle. All of the afforementioned influenced him in ways we cannot know.
later Nicator

Yes indeed! I'm sorry I didn't mention the other two.Aristotle certainly had a huge influence on him and nurtured his intellience and inquiring mind. His mother was also a big influence in his youth. Such a strong, fearless woman! As for his physical beauty, who can say as there are no 'photographs' except the sculptures all of which bear a resemblance from the ones done in his youth to the later ones. And if you go by the looks of the time, he was beautiful. Sure he was short, but so were many others of his time, though some of Philip's generals were apparantly tall northern men. Philip himself was not very tall.

Yes, there was no photography....
But the point is: why do we have to mention Alex's looks everytime the discussion is about his inspiring so many people, for soooo long? He inspired people because of many other things - not really because of his looks. Perhaps Brad Pitt does, you know, but this is totally unimportant in re. Alexander. His strength do lie elsewhere. susa

I think we do need to mention his physical appearance to some extent - his looks were oft-mentioned in the histories (although some like Curtius, remained unimpressed and in truth he was not 'model' material) and they were certainly a part of his charm and charisma. One need only read the history of Alkibiades, the Spartans, Women and what happened to imperfect babies to realize just how important one's physical form was in that time, just like how well one spoke was quite an important part of the measure of a man. And yes Arrian seems to be pained to relate 'he was somewhat less than average height.' Even Achilles reborn had his 'heel.' :-)Regards,Tre

I think you're right, Tre. I'm sure that a young, pretty boy with flowing golden locks and a rather pleasant body odour was a very positive part of his charisma. Not the be all and end all, for sure, but the soldiers will have been more likely to 'love' him than if he were less than blessed in that department.I guess Susa's concerned that people might get too focused on 'movie star looks' and I agree with that, but we shouldn't ignore his physical presence.All the bestMarcus

You know Jim Morrison of the Doors? I found out he read Plutarch's Alexander. Do you think maybe he was kind of modeling himself on Alexander? He does bear a striking resemblance to some of the busts of Alexander, with the flowing locks and all.Also, Oliver Stone did the Doors movie. Now he wants to do Alexander. Maybe he already kind of did an Alexander movie? ...Will the real Alexander please stand up!?John

Yes his phisicaly appiriance is importand only for movies. For us, anyone can imagine how he could look like bacause we have no one remaining source with his vision - accept written describes of him. His real strengh was in his mind - and following it in my opinion his motives which made him a great man.Maciek

Yep! I agree! Who cares if he's handsome or not? If he was really handsome, well, that would have been just an additive to what that fellow was. And he was fascinating, i'm sure.:)susa

Fascinating, and great fun at parties, too...(Unless your name is Kleitos, of course).All the bestMarcus

:)Well, you can be called Kleitos, but you must not say nasty things. Or.... you *can* say nasty things, but you must be called Hephaistion. :)susa

Or you must be as strong as Hephaistion in order to protect yourself "just in case."John