Was Alexander the Great a Hero or a Villain?
Alexander the Great can be perceived as many different things, such as a villain, hero, or both. He did many good deeds and horrible ones in his lifetime, mainly while he was king of Macedonia and other areas he conquered. He was ruthless but also courageous, smart, and skillful. Alexander the Great was not a hero nor a villain, he was simply a prominent conqueror.
Even though he used force to violently expand his empire, he was also a skilled military leader and spread Hellenistic culture around the world.
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Alexander the Great showed villainous qualities, one such example being he used violent force to establish and expand his empire. Alexander wanted to continue his father's work and conquer more land. Alexander did not have a very polite or nice way of doing so , however.
“...When he came to Thebes...the city...was sacked and razed,” (Document 1). Alexander came to ruin Thebes to not only conquer it but scare the rest of Greece into obeying him. Alexander sold thirty thousand people for slaves and killed six thousand, just in the city of Thebes, (Document 1). Alexander was willing to do whatever he had to do to expand his empire. He wanted everyone to obey him and have the biggest empire of them all. Alexander believed that if he was ruthless and cruel then everyone would simply “bow down” to him, (Document 1). Alexander was ruthless and used violence to be the greatest conqueror he could be.
Alexander the Great displayed more hero-like qualities, such as being a skilled military leader. One of the reasons Alexander was able to conquer so much land and have a huge empire was because of his military. “Very renowned for rousing the courage of his soldiers, filling them with hopes of success,” (Document 4). Alexander always made sure that his army was confident in themselves. He wanted them to be able to keep their heads high and go into a battle with the idea that they could win. Alexander also used a military formation called a phalanx. The phalanx made it seem like there was more men than there actually was, which could frighten other armies. In the song “Alexander the Great” by Iron Maiden, a line from the song says that Alexander defeated King Darius and he feld, and then Alexander battled King Darius again and crushed him. Alexander would have had to have a pretty strong army to defeat Darius twice.
Darius would have already known how Alexander’s army fought and could have figured out his weaknesses, but Alexander still won. Alexander also kept the agreements and settlements he made and did not fight for the land, (Document 4). This is a smart move on Alexander’s part because he will not lose any men in a battle to claim land for which he has an agreement on already. Alexander was an expert military chief and very confident in his army.
Alexander the Great was able to be more like a hero when he spread Hellenistic culture around the world. Hellenistic is a culture that is mainly Greek but has other cultures mixed into it, so it is a Greek-like culture. Alexander conquered so many different cities that as he started to conquer more their culture became mixed in with his to create Hellenistic culture. Since Alexander had conquered so many different cities and states that it was easy for him to spread his new culture. “For I myself believe there was at that time no race of mankind, no city, no individual the name Alexander had not reached,” (Document 3). Alexander was known all over the world so his culture would be known along with it. The more cities and states Alexander conquered the more known and learned Hellenistic culture was. In the song by Iron Maiden “Alexander the Great,” a verse talks about how he had so much land and he spread Hellenistic culture far and wide. Every city or state that was taken under Alexander's rule was exposed to Hellenistic culture and most embraced it. A map shows all of Alexander’s empire or states aligned with Alexander and the area of land is over thousands of miles big. An empire that big with a new culture will be spread very quickly. If another group of people passes through the area and picks up on some of the cultures and brings it back to their hometown, the culture will be span across many different people. “Alexander, by founding more than seventy cities among the barbarian tribes…”(Document 2). Alexander founded cities and with those new cities came more people learning about Hellenistic culture and practicing it. Alexander was able to stretch Hellenistic culture to different areas all over the world.
Alexander the Great was just easily one of the best conquerors. He was nor a villain or a hero. He was violent at times to get what he wanted, but he was also an intelligent military leader and circulated the Hellenistic culture all over the globe. Alexander was able to affect the way we live today. Our culture today is very similar to the Hellenistic culture Alexander expanded all over the world. Although he was villainous at times, he was also good and proved he was. Alexander was able to impact our lives today by being one of the best, if not the best, conquerors in history.
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