ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Alexander the Great was a great military leader. He was very inspiring and listened to his troops. He followed in the footsteps of his father, King Phillip II, who taught Alexander a lot of what he knows. Alexander greatly increased the Macedonian empire with his military conquests. He was a great man who will not soon be forgotten by anybody.

Alexander's ideals are very puzzling, you can look at it in two ways. First you can look at it like he believed in universal humanity . He urged his soldiers to marry native women; he even married native women once he even married 10,000 people at once! Also he treated everyone the same, he did not treat his fellow Macedonians any better than the Persians or the Greeks. That is one way to look at things, but on the other hand you can think he is a ruthless military leader who craved power. In Egypt he gave orders to Greek cities to vote him a god! He diffidently wanted divine honors, he said he was a descendant from Heracles, the Greek hero who was honored as a God. He went as far a s to call himself the "Great King" and made his subjects bow in front of him . Either way you look at things one thing is for certain, he wanted to be like Achilles from Homer's Iliad. He even slept with the Iliad and a dagger under his pillow every night! People are on both sides of the fence on this issue but his accomplishments speak for themselves, he created the Hellenistic era.

Alexander had a legacy like no others, so many things happened under his reign, Greek language extended, it brought an immense amount of gold and silver to Macedonia and Greece which made economic prosperity for many and also created opportunities for many people. He also created a new principle of monarchy, changed his military into an intellectual one and they became loyal to him and only him. His visions of empire inspired many people, including the Romans. Not only these but Alexander the Great also left a cultural legacy, he spread Greek language, art, architecture and literature throughout the Near East. He fused many different cultures in one.

The Hellenistic legacy was a very powerful and influential one. The Hellenistic monarchs created and maintained their kingdoms on military force and warfare with sizes varying. The culture was primarily Greek with rulers encouraging the massive spread of Greek colonist to the Middle East . The Hellenistic society also gave women higher opportunities (mainly upper-class.) Relationships between mothers and sons gave women more opportunities in politics . The Hellenistic world also brought about a few new products also such as the "Archimedean screw" which was used to pump water. Seeing how they were still an agrarian society this was a very useful invention. The legacy of the Hellenistic era was very noticeable and was all brought on because of Alexander the Great.

Under Alexander the Great, Macedonia experienced time of great prosperity, Greek culture was spread all over the world and a whole new era was developed. This man did a lot with the 32 years that he lived. His influence will be felt for many years to come. STEVEN BRYANT

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