in responding with "Hell ya he does - he was GRRRRREAT!!! Who else do you know who conquered the whole known whole?" what are some other examples of what he has done to deserve the title "the great" so that i can under stand alittle more. there are alot of people within my classics class that are having a debate about it and im not sure what side i should be debating on.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

Answers

I didn't say it constituted an achievment...I said it was GREAT.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2004

Alexander's tolerance for other religions, while in itself a very fine thing, does not constitute an achievement. Strange to say, back then the concept of religious intolerance was more or less unknown. Military conquerors were looking to extend their power over others for the purpose of exacting tribute, not mind control.

The concept of religious intolerance should be credited to the jewish priests, who invented it on their return from exile in Babylon. The problem was that the fertility religions of their neighbors were so gosh-darned attractive that it was hard to keep the flock from defecting over to Baal and Ishtar. Remember, even God's commandment said you shall have no other gods before me. This formula was considerably strengthened, so that JHWH became much more intolerant and exclusive.

The concept of religious intolerance really got a big push when Christianity came along. It was so gosh-darned... useful. The Christians were the ones who took this innovation from the confines of a small sect in Israel and spread it all around the Mediteranean world, developing it and embellishing it as they went along.

After Christianity had shown the way, Islam came along and carried the ball even further (although after the Christians were through there wasn't much room left for novelty in this arena). This was 1000 years after Alexander, though.

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2004

Well, he united Greece (except Sparta) with Asia and into Egypt, and when he did he was tolerant of all the different peoples' religions. That is GREAT in itself. So you could say he was 'ahead of his time' in reference to accepting different cultures - something that most people were afraid of - and they still are in many cases. When he went to battle he was always at the head of the line leading his troops (GREAT). Never sitting in the back on a golden throne like many other kings have done in the past...and he never lost a battle. He defeated other armies when they were GREATLY outnumbered because of his GREAT military genius. He is considered one of the GREATEST Generals that has ever lived. Just a few things to start with...for the rest, why don't you read a book or something? It's not hard to find info about him & it's very interesting as well...

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2004