Joanna's Blog Post

        I, Phoibe, the wife of Alexander’s close friend, Ophellas, do believe that Alexander was great. He was an elite leader, displaying courage, perseverance, and leadership. He managed to control one of the largest empires ever seen, stretching from Egypt to the western tip of India. His will was one of those that seemed to want to take over the world. He showed leadership capabilities ever since he was a teenager. When his father was assassinated, he was able to take over the empire his father established without any major disruption. Finally, Alexander was a respected conqueror. He did not force the people he conquered to change their beliefs or customs.  

      As a child, Alexander’s father, Philip II, gave him a horse named Buchephalus. It is said that that horse was too wild for anybody to tame, so Philip told Alexander he was going get rid of him. Alexander then, at age ten, asked his father to let him try to tame the horse. And he did just that and continued riding him into large battles the rest of his life. When he was thirteen, Alexander was educated by Aristotle in preparations for campaigns against the Persian Empire and to love learning that is important to our culture. While Philip was off at war, Alexander was named Regent of the Royal Sea. This was his first major responsibility. The Maedi, a tribe in western Thrace, rose up against Macedonian rule while Alexander was Regent. He then led an army to subdue the rebels and joined his father’s fight. It is even said he saved his life in battle. At the age of twenty, Philip II was assassinated, so his son, Alexander, inherited Macedonia. He immediately began subduing Greek city states. The major Greek city state of Thebes resisted him though, so he ordered all of its citizens either slaughtered or killed. At a young age, Alexander was able to while Thebes off of the map. His conquests dwarfed those of his fathers too. He managed to be able to imitate him, while always going one step beyond him also. When Philip named two cities after himself, Alexander named twenty to seventy. Philip was the first Macedonian king to reach the Danube River first, Alexander crossed it.  During his 12 year 8 month rule, Alexander managed to fuse populations throughout Macedonia, Greece, Europe and Asia together. This was his dream, though he did not live long enough to show people what he was capable of. “There is a story told about Alexander that says much about his character.  It is said that a Gordian in Phrygia he was shown the "Gordian Knot," a knot so tangled that no one had been able to untie it for centuries.  According to an oracle, the person to untie the knot would become ruler of all of Asia.  Upon hearing this Alexander drew his sword and cut through the knot with a single blow, assuring that he would go on to conquer all of Asia.” (Cohane, Krista, Stefanie Gustafson, and Zinovia Lazaridis. "Alexander the Great." Alexander the Great. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <http://faculty.fairfield.edu/rosivach/cl115/people/alexander.htm>.)  

I think that while he was alive, all of the cultures he blended together helped his empire. He adopted their culture, and spread his all over the land. My husband told me he had created a three step plan to achieve his goal of conquering as much as possible.  For the first part of the plan, he wanted to spread Greek ideas as far into the farthest corners of his empire as possible.  To do this, he built Greek cities. Greek settlers flocked to these cities, bringing the laws, art and literature of Greece. The most famous of these new cities was Alexandria, located in Egypt near the sea. It was designed with many Greek features, like law courts, a temple to Poseidon, and even a library. It contained more than half a million books and was one of the largest libraries in the entire world.  The second part was to use religion to inspire loyalty among his followers and the people he conquered. He would honor the Egyptian and Persian gods, treating them equal to his own Greek gods. He would visit sites of oracle sites, made sacrifices and build temples in their honor. Third, he would show respect to the different cultures of the people he conquered and their practices. He would allow Persian governors to still run their day-to-day business. But he would still appoint Macedonians to head the army and control the collected taxes. He would also wear Persian-style clothes and make visitors greet him in the Persian way. Intermarriage between Macedonians and Persians was encouraged. I do not know why he acted this way. Maybe he was trying to be a more acceptable ruler than his enemies, or maybe he really just thought that the conquered people were equal to Greeks and Macedonians. However, I do believe this blend of cultures hurt his empire once he died. After his death, the entire empire crumbled because the settlers that flocked to the cities he created left so the cities fell into ruins. His own generals fought for control of the empire. In the end, it was divided into three separate kingdoms, Egypt, Asia, and Macedonia and Greece. 

     One of the first people I first think of when I think about those who carry the “idea” of being great is President Abraham Lincoln. Both he and Alexander the Great used their character to influence their leadership abilities. President Lincoln had to acquire the trust, loyalty and respect of the people in this country, whereas Alexander had to acquire all of these things in the people groups that he conquered in his three step plan mentioned in the answer above. Both of them had to inspire the people to keep making sacrifices for what they believed to be the better good, Lincoln with the slave issue, and Alexander when he led his army around his own empire. Both Alexander the Great and President Lincoln had the intent of creating a unified country, or taking over the known world in Alexander´s case. Both Alexander and Lincoln went into office or became king during a time of war. However, America was already a unified country and was much easier to stay together after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; the empire of Alexander fell apart soon after his untimely death. 

Worthington, Ian, Professor. “How “Great” Was Alexander? [P.1]. “How “Great” Was Alexander?” [P.1.]. University of Missouri, 1999. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/readings/great1.html>.

Watkins, Thayer. "Alexander of Macedonia." Alexander of Macedonia. San José State University Department of Economics, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/alexandergreat.htm>.

Kontes, Zoë Sophia. "The Dating of the Coinage of Alexander the Great." The Dating of the Coinage of Alexander the Great. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <http://brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/publications/papers/alexander_coinage/alexander.html>

.Cohane, Krista, Stefanie Gustafson, and Zinovia Lazaridis. "Alexander the Great." Alexander the Great. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <http://faculty.fairfield.edu/rosivach/cl115/people/alexander.htm>.

Furdock, Corey. "The Empire of Alexander the Great." The Empire of Alexander the Great. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. <http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/a/s/asg198/Final

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“Alexander the Great and His Empire” Staff.4.lane. N.p., n.d. Web.

<http://staff.4j.lane.edu/~loo/6thBlock/AW%20Chapt%2030.pdf>.

Morgan, Erika Nichole. “President Lincoln’s Skills as a Transformational Leader.” Leadership. N.p. 25 Mar.2013.Web.25 Sept.2013.<http://www.personal.psu.edu/bfr3/blogs/leader/2013/03/president-lincolns-skills-as-a-transformational-leader.html>.