Alexander The Great Legacy

Perspective fundamentally alters how history is interpreted. This concept becomes particularly evident in regards to history’s greatest rulers and conquerors, such as Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king who established one of the world’s most substantial empires. However, despite this external facade of glory, Alexander the Great’s legacy was imbued with acts of terror and pointless bloodshed, all of which can be found within the perspectives of his victims. Through his actions in his personal life and his invasions of Thebes, Persia, Egypt, and India, Alexander the Great was undeniably a villain. Alexander the Great’s villainous behavior can easily be attributed to his upbringing. Born in the capital city of Pella in 356 B.C. to King Philip II of Macedon and Olympias, the daughter of the Epirian king, Alexander was destined for eminence and prestige (Ancients Behaving Badly: Alexander the Great). His ambition quickly led him into the military, where he established himself as a powerful asset to Macedon, achieving his first military victory at the age of sixteen and defeating the notorious Sacred Band (Jayne Notes). However, as he was raised primarily …show more content…
However, in order to accomplish this, Alexander first had to unite Greece, where the threat of dissention was prevalent. Subsequently, while he was subduing rebellions in Macedon, the citizens of Thebes, a Greek city-state that had long been harshly oppressed by Philip II, seized their opportunity to rebel against Alexander’s rule. When his troops arrived at the city gates, the Thebans, persistent in their fight for independence, offered a strong resistance. Only by chance were they overcome, as the Macedonians had discovered a single unguarded gate and flooded the city (Alexander in Thebes, Perspective of