A BRIEF NOTE ON ALEXANDERS CHARACTER.

 

Why does Alexander fascinate people so much? Of course for the entire West Greece had been the mother in education, scholarship, philosophy, science and culture. That is why although he comes from a small country like Greece, Alexander becomes important to them. Of course coupled to this are the mighty conquests he made.

In fact Alexander comes from Macedonia and not from proper Greece. At that time Macedonia was considered uncivilised and crude. While, Greece itself has a population of 10 million today, Macedonia has about a mere 2 million at the most. Of course these are current day populations and obviously in the 3^rd century BC at the time of Alexander Macedonia would have had no more than say about 0.5 million population and Greece about 2 million population. That is what makes Alexander phenomenal. He raised a fighting force of 46000 men which is about 2.5% of the population of entire Greece then.  

He rose like a meteor and also died like one. He has conquered a huge parcel of land and the countries of Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Azerbaizan, Palestine, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Ujbekistan, Tadjhikistan, Kuwait & Cyprus which countries together account for 70 crores of population today. Alexander conquered all this territory in a matter of 12 years after he became King at 20 years of age in 336 BC.

Alexander had a volatile temperament but his Guru Aristotle gave him a sort of steadiness by teaching him the sciences as well as arts. He became so interested in Homer that he carried a copy of Homers works specially prepared for him by Aristotle in all his campaigns. He led from the front and was recklessly brave and always threw himself into the thick of battle. Coupled with this he was well reasoned and intelligent too which made him outfox his enemy in war tactics all the time. So, he was a brilliant commander and a most brave fighter who never cared for his life in battle as well. He did well in Metaphysics and mathematics under Aristotle.

Of course having said all this, he carried with him an impetuosity which could not be curbed on some occasions. He was noble and sparing in battle. We know the incident regarding Porus whom he spared and made him his vassal. When he defeated Persia he took the family of Ataxerxes consisting of his mother and 3 daughters as hostages but treated them very well. In fact later he married Parysatis the youngest daughter of Ataxerxes.

The ruler of Persia Ataxerxes III sent his ambassadors to Greece who was very impressed with Alexander’s maturity of mind and his reflective powers.

His studentship with Socrates made him take an entourage of Zoologists, Botanists, Philosophers and other Researchers on his campaigns deep into Asia. Of course the two fell out when Alexander adopted Persian customs because Aristotle was totally against Persia and its customs.

We know that his father Philip was an able King and from his small kingdom in Macedonia managed to conquer all of Greece. Although the Sarissa or the Greek Pike or long spear was known in Greece, it was very effectively used by Philip who invented the Macedonian Phalanx. In this 256 men in 16 rows and 16 columns marched together as a group. They carried a pointed Sarissa in their hands pointed forward covering themselves with a shield. This Phalanx worked very effectively and the enemies found it extremely hard to pierce.  The Sarissa is about 16 to 18 feet in length and weighed about 6.5 Kgs.

Alexander was considered to have had a relationship with men by some historians. In fact initially he was very averse to sex itself. King Philip and his mother Olympia were extremely worried at his aversion to sex and they brought a high priced prostitute from Thessaly to induce Alexander into sex, but apparently even that did not succeed in persuading him. However, in later life he was seen to be freely having sex with women. Alexander has sternly refused offers from men and it is said that the renowned Athenian orator Demosthenes himself tried to pimp him with two men but to no success.   

Alexander married 3 times to ROXANA of Bactria, STATEIRA the daughter of Darius III of Persia whom Alexander defeated, and PARYSATIS the youngest daughter of Ataxerxes III of Persia. He fathered Alexander IV of Macedon through Roxana.