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ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

Examines his military career, his rule as King of Macedonia & his philosophy. Alexander's toleration of religious beliefs & customs of those he conquered. Bringing Hellenic heritage to cities he founded. Establishment of cities that became center of Greek learning. His skill at adaptation, both militarily & politically. Reforms he made in financial area. Creation of municipal freedom of the Greek ":polis" within the imperial system.

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Alexander the Great: Tyrant or Philanthropist?

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 198 .Wood, Michael. In Macedonia, he was a quasi-constitutional king who was expected to honor the customary rights of otherMacedonians; in Greece - under his own pursuit of isotheotes, or equalityto godhead - he was considered a god but not an autocrat with unlimitedpowers; to the Persians, he was a feudal warlord whose powers had no limit;elsewhere in Asia, Alexander was considered a feared autocrat but not afearful god; and, as Pharaoh in Egypt, he was viewed as both, all knowingand all powerful. Hismagnanimity in this regard, as noted by Wood, went far in securing the goodwill of the Persians. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.Hammond, N. These beliefs, Alexander believed, could notsupport the scope of the empire he sought to establish and control. While the chief positions in the new governments were at firstbestowed on his fellow Macedonians, he later learned to transfer thesepowers to Persian satraps, in whom the governance of the local populationswas more acceptable and peaceable. The universal system of currency thus introduced -much of it with Alexander's likeness imprinted on it - provided immediatebenefit to trade throughout Alexander's empire. Of critical importance was Alexander's willingness to tolerate, ifnot accept, the religious beliefs and customs of those he conquered. Religious and Cultural Toleration Alexander's greatest wisdom rested in the knowledge that a great andlasting empire required cross-cultural toleration and multi-nationalparticipation - a concept that went strongly against the conventionalbeliefs of his homeland. Further, Alexander's persona evolved ina social climatewhere, according to Cartledge, war defined the political rights andresponsibilities of citizens, assigned them gender roles, created andunmade cities and colonies, as well as providing a peculiarly demandingtest of brute physique and mental strength.The Philanthropy of Alexander While speculation and debate will continue to surround the "goodness"of Alexander the Great, the philanthropy his victories imposed on the livesof those he conquered seems both clear and manifold. The military garrisons leftbehind, along with the structures for finance and taxation, were leftfirmly in the hands of fellow Macedonians. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1997.Heraclitus [Ephesus, 54 -48 B.C.] The Big View. It is onlythen that a true appreciation can be formulated of all that Alexander wasable to accomplish in the relatively short time of his military career andall that he bestowed on the then known world thereafter. In the large towns, suchas Susa, Persepolis, Babylon and Memphis, a Macedonian commandant wasappointed, each directly accountable to Alexander. Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C. Political and Military Impositions on Philanthropy In the Greek mindset it must be remembered that all foreigners wereviewed as barbarians. For the many centuries following Alexander's death, Greek was thelanguage of both learning and religion, of trade and commerce, and ofgovernmental administration throughout the Near East. History Today. The Genius of Alexander the Great. .In one celebrated fragment he counsels Alexander to be 'a hegemon (leader) to the Greeks and a despot to the barbarians, to look after the former as after friends and relatives, and to deal with the latter as with beasts or plants (p58). In Asia Minor localsuperintendents of finance collected taxes directly from the peasants andremitted them to the military-controlled treasury. Conclusion The far-reaching implications of Alexander's conquests andphilanthropy might be best described by Lane Fox, who said: After Alexander, Mediterranean men were aware that the frontiers of Greek culture now stretched to India. 1999. The Search for Alexander. In all of this, Alexander was the juggernaut of war - and war (asHeraclitus of Ephesus defined it somewhere around 5 BCE) "is the fatherof all, king of all. Some it makes gods, some it makes men, some it makesslaves, some free" (The Big View). Cultural and Governmental Assimilation To further secure a cross-cultural toleration and the ready exchangeof cultural wisdom - as well as planting the seed of a Hellenic heritage hesought to plant in the cities he founded across Asia - Alexander had manyof his army, including himself and his officers, take Persian women astheir wives. Across his conquered lands, Alexander established cities that weredestined to become the centers of Greek influence and learning - thegreater majority of them in lands where "cities" were almost unknown. The adoption of Greek as the universal language throughoutthis new empire not only limited the mistakes and confusion that onceprevailed in commerce, but also afforded a more ready exchange of ideas andthe establishment of a common civilization that held well into the earlyChristian era. Thomas Knierim, Editor and Webmaster. Thus, as Alexander advanced deeper into Asia, taking the AchaemenidEmpire into his hands, he was continually faced with the tricky problem ofhow to balance his role as the "Lord of Asia" (for the Persians) and as theconquering general (for his fellow Greeks back home). . The basis of Alexander's liberality in this regard is, as Hammondreports, his own religious upbringing: It was an advantage of polytheism that the number of gods was not limited, and Alexander could see Zeus in the Libyan Ammon and in the Babylonian Belus, and Heracles in the Tyrian Melkart or the Indian Krishna (p.2 ). In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. L. It was therefore right and fitting for Greeks to rule over barbarians, but not for barbarians to rule over Greeks . G. This belief, as Green points out, was impressed onthe young Alexander by no other than his formative tutor, Aristotle: He [Aristotle] believed slavery to be a natural institution, and equally that all 'barbarians' (i.e., non-Greeks) were slaves by nature. While Alexander's empire may have perished at his death, its centraltheme survived - municipal freedom of the Greek "polis" within theframework of an imperial system. Alexander, as usual, was solicitous of the local cults. Their awareness showed up in their philosophies and their religious meditations, their geography and botany, their ambitions for trade and the transport of luxuries. <http://www.thebigview.com/greeks/heraclitus.html>Lane Fox, Robin. 22 Sep. Alexander the Great: Tyrant or Philanthropist? Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. But Alexander was never the fool in distributing political control.He knew that money and power could not be completely vested nor trusted inthe indigenous interests of the Persians. Perhaps there were Greeks who succumbed to a foreign culture, not just to a Greek view of its gods and ethical "way." But if so they have left far less trace than the natives who were drawn into the Greeks' way of life, dominant, lively, and rooted in cities." Alexander the Great's brief but impressive rule is one of the turningpoints in history. "A History of Ancient Greece" (Review). All that came after was built on thefoundation laid by Alexander the Great. In all that heattempted, he may have been divided not so much by all that he wanted tobe, but by all that others expected him to be. Most pointedly, like a Babylonian king, he promised to rebuild the Esagila, the great shrine of the god Marduk, which Greek propaganda falsely claimed had been levelled by the Persian Xerxes the previous century (p95). Introduction Prior to defining Alexander the Great at either the apex ofphilanthropy or the nadir of tyranny, it is worthwhile to examine all thedefinitions this King of Macedonia had to fulfill in between. March 2 .Green, Peter. Reforms in Finance To bring his conquered lands under a unified financial control,Alexander had the Persian treasures (and treasuries) converted into acommon, useful coinage. Just as he was quick to alter tactics in battle to meet new andchallenging situations, Alexander was also swift to adapt new politicalsolutions to meet the particular needs of the different regions of hisempire. It was Alexander who madeit sacred. Works CitedCartledge, Paul. - A Historical Biography. Until his time, no one ruler had succeeded inestablishing the ideal and respectable monarchy.

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