Alexander the Great - Life and Legacy - BBC Radio. Alexander the Great, king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, is one of the most celebrated military commanders in history. Born into the Macedonian royal family in 356 BC, gained control of the whole of Greece reviving his father's Philip plans for a pan-Hellenic invasion of Asia to punish the Persians for the suffering of the Greeks and went on to conquer the Persian Empire, defeating its powerful king, Darius III. At its peak, Alexander's empire covered modern Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and part of India. As a result, Greek culture and language was spread into regions it had not penetrated before, and he is also remembered for founding a vast number of cities. Over the last 2,000 years, the legend of Alexander has grown and he has influenced numerous generals and politicians. With: Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek Culture, University of Cambridge Diana Spencer, Professor of Classics, University of Birmingham Rachel Mairs, Lecturer in Classics, University of Reading ........................................................................................................ Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, 356 BCE - 323 BCE: “Youths of the Pellaians and of the Macedonians and of the Greek Amphictiony and of the Lakedaimonians and of the Corinthians… and of all the Greek peoples, join your fellow-soldiers and entrust yourselves to me, so that we can move against the barbarians and liberate ourselves from the Persian bondage, for as Greeks we should not be slaves to barbarians.� (Kallisthenes, “Historia Alexandri Magni�, 1.15.1-4) "Now you fear punishment and beg for your lives, so I will let you free, if not for any other reason so that you can see the difference between a Greek king and a barbarian tyrant, so do not expect to suffer any harm from me." (Kallisthenes, Historia Alexandri Magni, 1.37.9-13) "Your ancestors came to Macedonia and the rest of Greece and did us great harm, though we had done them no prior injury. I have been appointed leader of the Greeks, and wanting to punish the Persians I have come to Asia, which I took from you." (Alexander's letter to Persian king Darius in response to a truce plea, as quoted in "Anabasis Alexandri" by Roman historian Arrian, Book 2.14.4 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Arr.+An.+2.14.4&fromdoc;=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0530) "There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service — but how different is their cause from ours! They will be fighting for pay — and not much of at that; we, on the contrary, shall fight for Greece, and our hearts will be in it." (Alexander addressing his troops prior to the Battle of Issus, as quoted in Anabasis Alexandri by Roman historian Arrian, 2. 7.4, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0530%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D7%3Asection%3D4) ........................................................................................................ “Alexander and the Macedonians carried Greek civilization into the East. It is, I believe, a historical fact that a command was issued by the king to the Greek states to worship him as a god; with this the monarchy took a new form, which went far beyond the Macedonian or Persian model, and which was destined to have immense importance in world history.� (Victor Ehrenberg, "The Greek State", Methuen, July 2000, p.139) “Afterwards he [Alexander] revived his father's League of Corinth, and with it his plan for a pan-Hellenic invasion of Asia to punish the Persians for the suffering of the Greeks, especially the Athenians, in the Greco-Persian Wars and to liberate the Greek cities of Asia Minor.� (Victor Davis Hanson, “Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome�, Princeton University Press, 2012, p.119) "They [ancient Macedonians] felt as Greeks, and they had no temptation to destroy what they claimed was their mother country. They had clearly no wish to swallow up Greece in Macedonia, but rather to make Macedonia, as a Greek state, the ruling power of Greece. Such was undoubtedly the aim of Philip and Alexander too." (Theodore Ayrault Dodge, military historian, “Alexander�, p.187) “In the end, the Greeks would fall under the rule of a single man, who would unify Greece: Philip II, king of Macedon (360-336 BC). His son, Alexander the Great, would lead the Greeks on a conquest of the ancient Near East vastly expanding the Greek world.� (Michael Burger, “The Shaping of Western Civilization: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment�, University of Toronto Press, 2008, p.76) “After Philip's assassination at Aegae in 336, Alexander inherited, together with the Macedonian kingdom, his father's Panhellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia.� (Waldemar Heckel, Lawrence A. Tritle, “Alexander the Great: A New History�, Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, p.99 )

• published: 01 Nov 2015
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