Dear Journal,
today was hard, we walked for miles following Alexander and his army as they trudge towards India for expansion. I was a member of the Persian army before Alexander came and took all of us prisoners. My hometown was destroyed, and my wife and son were sold into slavery... now i trudge along behind the army. Before the attack, I heard stories about how great Alexander the Great was, how calmly he stood in the face of danger; his soldiers respected him for his bravery. They said he conquered his whole world before age 20, I was awestruck at how successful he was. I guess that's why he is called "the great", for he had remarkable successes.
Now that I have a firsthand view at his leadership, I find he's not great after all. Either they never respected him, or his solders have lost all their respect for Alexander. I heard form a fellow prisoner that Alexander killed one of his generals in a alcohol educed rage! There have been rumors going around recently about how he's becoming paranoid, but i never believed them. guess I was wrong about that. I just can't believe people called him great! his treatment of the
Thebans, Tyrians, and Gazans was abhorrent! Not to mention how he slaughtered the Sogdians, how could a person with even the smallest conscience kill so many people like that? I guess he is not so great after all.
Greatness is a funny thing, it has multiple definitions and multiple viewpoints. You can be great as in successful, or great as in moral and kind. Personally, i would rather be thought of as great in a moral way rather than in a successful way. Alexander can conquer as many civilizations as he wants, but unless he completely changes his act, he will will never be able to gain the true respect of his empire.
Works Cited:
Brown, Bryan. Alexander The Great. Junior
Scholastic 113.15 (2011): 20. History Reference Center. Web.
18 Sept. 2013
Fuller, J.F.C. The
Generalship of Alexander the Great.
New Brunswick, New Jersey: Da
Capo Press. 1960. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment