Quintus Curtius, Plutarch And Arrian

Alexander the Great has been revered as military genius, tactician, and godlike conqueror. Many of the accounts taken down of his life make him out to be the hero of Western culture and practice. The peoples he conquered and the territories he took over worshipped him as a god and even placed him alongside the likes of Zeus and Ra. The main source used to gain knowledge of Alexander’s life stems from historians and philosophers, such as Quintus Curtius, Plutarch, and Arrian. These writers recorded the events that took place in his life as though they shared close ties to Alexander. They also wrote the history of Alexander and believed it to be completely factual. However, these writers were all Roman citizens and lived centuries after Alexander the Great had passed away. Their depiction of Alexander the Great was also heavily influenced by their setting. This means that since they lived in Roman territory, it is understandable that they would take such a …show more content…
This comes about because of the many times cultures have written and rewritten their detailed accounts of Alexander. The positive caricature of Alexander the Great drawn by the works of Arrian and Curtius seem to be quite different from how historical evidence depicts the conqueror. Modern historians such as Brooke Allen even criticize modern day cinema, specifically Oliver Stone’s film Alexander, for trying to portray Alexander as a sensitive, accepting, and heroic figure. Allen states that, “each succeeding era seems to recreate Alexander in its own image.” This image is unsurprisingly romantic because of Arrian and Plutarch. Evidence suggests that he was a trailblazer for future Western Imperialism. This causes many to speculate as to whether or not accounts taken by historians such as Arrian should be accepted historiographically (Allen,