Alexander The Great Plutarch's View

The View of Alexander the Great and His Relative Divinity Throughout the book ‘The Life of Alexander’, which is written by Plutarch, the idea of Alexander the Great seeing himself or being perceived as a god is addressed several times. After reading the book I believe that while Alexander did not think of himself as a god by birth, he believed that he had been gifted the qualities of a god, which could be taken away by the gods just as easily as they were given. Alexander the Great may have not seen himself as a god, but he did cultivate the image of his divine power in order to assert his authority over others and increase his ability to conquer other lands. As his life neared its end, Alexander saw himself in a more ‘mortal’ sense, speaking …show more content…
Rumors about his birth including a dream of his mother’s womb being struck with a lightning bolt, how his birth must have been attended by Artemis, and that his mother was the consort of a high being circulated, which likely added to the idea of Alexander being a divine being. Another instant that could have added to the people seeing Alexander as divine was that three major victories happened on the day of his birth, and it was said that “…the son whose birth coincided with three victories would himself prove invincible.” Alexander surely grew up with people claiming that he was divine, which likely led to his own portrayal of himself as a divine being, but I do not think that he thought of himself as a god. Later on in ‘The Life of Alexander’ Plutarch mentions an exchange between Alexander and a greek priest who addressed him as “…O, son of Zeus, and that Alexander was delighted at this slip of pronunciation…” This likely furthered the idea that Alexander was a divine being, but I still believe that at his core Alexander knew he was merely a …show more content…
In order to be a divine being one often lived with the gods, or feasted on ambrosia, the food of the gods, or bled ichor, the blood of the gods. In ‘The Life of Alexander’ Plutarch recalls a moment “…some years later, when he had been wounded by an arrow and was in great pain, he remarked, ‘What you see flowing, my friends, is blood, and not that Ichor which flows in the veins of the blessed immortals in heaven.’” This shows that Alexander clearly saw himself lacking some aspects of being a true god, but doesn’t deny the fact that he still could have seen himself as having divine aspects. Towards the end of his life, “…he began to believe that he had lost the favor of the gods, and he became increasingly suspicious of his friends.” This again shows that Plutarch portrayed Alexander as knowing that he had been gifted his divine powers by the gods, and that he arguably did not see himself as a