Alexander the Great: Genius or Madman
- Davit Grigoryan
- Mar 2
- 8 min read
Updated: Mar 15
Alexander the Great was a great military leader of antiquity who managed to bring under control most of Asia in a short period, reaching India and Pakistan. He entered history as a conqueror who never lost a battle. His success was due to his tactical talent and strategic choices: Alexander's army always acted swiftly and unexpectedly, with minimal casualties. The most famous principle of Alexander that remains known today is the motto: "Divide and conquer". Where did Alexander the Great come from? Why is he considered great, and why did he want to conquer the world?
Where did Alexander the Great come from?
Alexander the Great was the Macedonian king. Who were the Macedonians? For example, in modern Eastern European states such as Macedonia, does it have any relation to Alexander?
The answer is no. The present-day Slavic Macedonia, formerly part of Yugoslavia, is even geographically situated north of Alexander the Great's homeland and only shares a name with ancient Macedonia. The ancient Macedonians were related to the ancient Greeks. They spoke the same language and believed in the same gods.
Alexander's ancestors, on his father's side, even trace their lineage back to Heracles, the son of the god Zeus. However, the ancient Greeks considered the Macedonians to be almost barbarians. They did not have democracy, and the Macedonian kings had strong, eastern-style authority. Specific customs, such as polygamy, persisted; for example, Alexander's father, King Philip of Macedon, had seven wives, while Alexander's mother, Olympias, was one of Philip's five wives. Olympias was from a provincial area northwest of Greece and was considered a barbarian even by Macedonian standards.
Olympias's origins were the basis for considering Alexander a half-blood. The queen herself traced her lineage to the Trojan War hero Achilles. Olympias was wonderful but was also considered a sorceress. According to one legend, she conceived Alexander by sharing her bed with a serpent.
Due to his father's polygamy, Alexander had several full-blooded siblings, but only the eldest, Philip, was considered his true brother. Philip was deemed mentally deficient. Alexander grew up in a complex environment: he admired his father's valor as he waged endless wars against the Greek city-states, but he also harbored personal animosity toward him, as he was influenced by his mother, who instigated him against her husband.
Alexander inherited the characters of both his parents. From Philip, Alexander inherited shrewdness. It was King Philip who laid the groundwork for Alexander's conquests. By the fourth century BCE, Macedonia had become the most powerful state in Greece, dictating its will to the weakened Athens and Sparta. A skilled diplomat and strategist, Philip won battles and bribed Greek politicians, but he could not manage his wife. Olympias often cruelly and harshly mocked Philip in their son's presence, so Alexander inherited his unrestrained nature and proud temperament from her.
In other aspects, Alexander grew up as a child prodigy. When envoys from Persia once arrived in Macedonia, it was the young Alexander who engaged with the guests on behalf of King Philip, who was away on yet another campaign. The Persians were astonished that the child conversed with them as an equal, asking questions about the economy and the condition of the roads.
At the age of 12, Alexander tamed a wild horse named Bucephalus, who would serve him for the rest of his life. Even King Philip had been unable to control the unruly animal, and upon seeing his son succeed, he said, "My boy, find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedonia is too small for you".
The idea to conquer the world did not suddenly appear in Alexander's mind; it was instilled in him from childhood. The young king's tutor was the famous philosopher Aristotle, who came to Macedonia at Philip's invitation. It was Aristotle who instilled in Alexander the idea of the greatness of Greek culture. Alexander's mission as a ruler was now to spread this culture as far as possible.
From Macedonia to the World: The Expansion of an Empire
Alexander found himself in the right place at the right time. He was a brilliant military leader, participating in his father's campaigns from the age of 16. However, by the time Alexander began his conquests, his opponents were already no match for him. Greek cities had already become dependent on Macedonia during Philip's reign. Persia was ruled by the inept King Darius, and his vast empire was divided among minor rulers and relied on mere promises.
All that remained for Alexander was to seize power, which he did in 336 BCE when King Philip was assassinated by his bodyguard. There were rumors that the assassination was planned by Olympias. In any case, the newborn daughter of Philip from his seventh marriage was immediately killed along with her mother by Olympias's orders.
At first, Alexander continued his father's work and united all of Greece under his rule. He acted pragmatically: cities that surrendered to him were rewarded with honors and privileges, while those that resisted, such as the city of Thebes, were leveled and its inhabitants sold into slavery. The Greeks from the captured cities were used to bolster the Macedonian army. A similar tactic would later be used by the great Roman Empire.
Alexander launched a brilliant PR campaign among the Greeks for his future campaign against the Persians. Declaring himself a direct descendant of Achilles, he sponsored street orators to deliver praise in his honor throughout the country. They proclaimed that Alexander was the new Achilles, and also his descendant through his mother. Therefore, the Greeks should follow Alexander to the east just as they had followed Achilles in times past.
By the way, the Persians also financed anti-Macedonian orators, such as the Greek Demosthenes. Propaganda did not work on everyone. For instance, the wandering philosopher Diogenes told Alexander to go away. When Alexander visited Corinth and told Diogenes to ask for whatever he wanted, Diogenes responded, "Don't block my sun". Alexander was impressed by such boldness, although his promotional campaign was successful otherwise.
When Alexander began his campaign against the Persians, he was unstoppable. Ancient cities fell into his hands one after another. Alexander's conquests now overshadowed what had once been a global event for the Greek world—the wars between tiny city-states. Thanks to him, Macedonia controlled vast territories in Asia Minor, the Near East, and Egypt.
What was the secret to Alexander’s success? First, it was the Macedonian phalanx, a known-how introduced into the Macedonian army by Philip. This formation transformed the infantry into a massive hedgehog, but instead of spines, they wielded six-meter-long spears. Breaking through such a battle formation was nearly impossible. The Persians experienced this at the battles of the Granicus and Gaugamela, two of Alexander's greatest victories.
Secondly, Alexander managed to instill in his soldiers a sense of startup enthusiasm. Macedonia was like a young, rapidly growing company that changed the established rules of the game. He referred to his cavalry as "companions" (hetairoi), and thanks to his phenomenal memory, Alexander could almost recall each soldier by name and recognize them by face. It’s no wonder they followed their king to India and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, where he took the beautiful barbarian Roxana as his wife.
Alexander’s Dream of a Hellenized World
We remember from school that Alexander's empire fell apart immediately after his death. Was everything in vain? Why couldn't he stop at conquering Persia? Why did he dream of reaching the ocean, where he believed the edge of the world was located?
Alexander, the king of Macedonia whom other Greeks had recently considered a barbarian, was driven by the dream of uniting the entire known world and integrating it into the great Greek culture. Although Alexander's empire fell apart immediately after his death, his conquests changed the world so profoundly that they ushered in the era he had envisioned: the Hellenistic Age.
This era, known as the Hellenistic Age, was a time when Greek culture mixed with Eastern influences and spread across the Mediterranean and beyond. Thanks to Alexander's conquests, the ancient Greek language was spoken in regions that include modern-day Uzbekistan, Libya, and Iran. It became as significant for international communication as English is today.
Greek cultural influence was even evident in northern India, where statues of local gods resembled the canonical images of Zeus. Alexander didn’t merely conquer new lands to amass wealth as Persian kings and other Eastern rulers had done before him. Alexander founded entire cities and settled Greek colonists there, requiring Greeks to marry local inhabitants. Leading by example, Alexander himself took the daughter of his enemy, King Darius, as his wife. He organized a grand wedding in Persia, where he married 10,000 noble Persian women to 10,000 of his friends and warriors. He aimed to unite the Greek and Eastern elites, essentially creating a new people by blending the West and the East.
Alexander's campaigns also had scientific benefits. To put it in modern terms, the city of Alexandria in Egypt, founded by the king, became a scientific center of the ancient world, primarily due to its renowned library. Along with Alexander's army, special teams ventured into the depths of Asia, measuring distances and creating detailed maps of the regions. Before Alexander, no one had thought to engage in such activities.
What is often portrayed in popular culture as Alexander's capriciousness or obsession with power was, in reality, a matter of political calculation. For example, after conquering Egypt, Alexander declared himself a god. After conquering Persia, he compelled his courtiers to prostrate themselves before him, as was customary for Eastern kings. This provoked dissatisfaction and anger among his soldiers, but Alexander took such measures because he aimed to legitimize his authority among Eastern peoples. In Egypt, rulers were traditionally considered to be of divine origin, and in the East, it was customary to prostrate oneself before the king.
Hence, his policy of appeasing the defeated. When the defeated King Darius was betrayed and killed by his followers, Alexander posthumously honored Darius with royal honors and subjected the murderers to a horrific Eastern execution. After the Battle of the Hydaspes, Alexander appointed the defeated Indian king Porus as his vassal and even expanded his territory.
At the beginning of his conquests, while in Phrygia, Alexander visited a local landmark, the Gordian Knot. According to legend, whoever could untie it would rule all of Asia. Alexander simply cut through the knot. This incident is often used as a metaphor to illustrate that Alexander's power over Asia was based purely on force. However, this is only part of the truth.
Alexander was a skilled diplomat and politician, obsessed with the dream of Hellenizing the world, and he succeeded. Only when his army was on the brink of mutiny due to exhaustion, did Alexander stop his ten-year campaign and turn back. His early death at 33 from a failed combination of medicines cut his plans short. Who knows what might have become of his empire had he had more time?
After Alexander died in 323 BC, his empire was contested by his former generals and bodyguards. The successors, known as the Diadochi, would rule over the various regions for centuries. For example, the famous Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, would rule it 2.5 centuries later. Cleopatra was a descendant of Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great's generals.
The Hellenistic era lasted about 300 years and became the first example of globalization in world history. This process would have been impossible without Alexander's genius and talent. This is why he is still considered great today.
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