He created one of the greatest ancient empires. According to some historians, however, Alexander the Great was immature and ... mentally ill.
He believed that he was the chosen one of the gods, and then the god himself. He drowned his rebellious castles in blood, and his sorrows - in liters of alcohol. Alexander the Great at the age of only twenty-something with an army of 50,000. Macedonians conquered mighty Persia and moved further deep into Asia, building one of the greatest states of antiquity. With time, his legend was born - a great conqueror and an outstanding leader. According to many historians, the Macedonian was however an immature person, and perhaps mentally ill . He lived in a bubble of his own uniqueness, gradually losing contact with his surroundings. Fulfilling the dream that pushed him to further conquests cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people - including his own soldiers, whom he exposed to unnecessary death.
From zero to emperor
Tiny Macedonia until the 4th century BC it did not count on the ancient world map. She was a state of shepherds. The Macedonians began to expand only after Philip II, Alexander's father, who conquered most of Greece. He left his son a reformed state and a strong, hardened army.
Bucephalus accompanied him in all military campaigns. Alexander considered him one of his best friends.
Alexander was brought up in the cult of his own greatness. From an early age he devoured the myths about Achilles, served to him by Lysimachus - a teacher of rhetoric and music. From the childhood of Aleksander comes also a story about the alleged subjugation of a horse - Bucephala - which the best riders could not cope with. Barely 12-year-old (according to other sources, 8-year-old), Alexander reported that the horse was afraid of its own shadow. He managed to mount it. From then on, the animal accompanied him in all military campaigns. Alexander considered them one of his best friends. He expressed this by naming the city, which was conquered in Punjab, Bukafela.
Son of Zeus
Alexander took power in 336 BCE. after the treacherous attack on Philip II. After pacifying the rebellious (in the rebellious Thebes, Alexander's soldiers murdered 6,000 people and razed the city to the ground), he began preparations for the attack on Persia. He continued his father's plans. The expedition of the 50,000 Macedonian army turned out to be a stunning success. The battle of Issos against twice the Persian forces earned Alexander the fame of a great warrior and victor. The young king did not refuse to fight. He himself went into battle with his men. Macedonians were to kill tens of thousands of Persian soldiers (some sources say as much as 100,000), losing only a few hundred people themselves.
Alexander made the next slaughter after the conquest of Tire. The siege of the well-fortified city took 8 months. To get it, Macedonians had to build a series of siege engines, a causeway, and even a fleet to block Tire from the sea. Eventually, the rebellious city was conquered. Alexander made its inhabitants a hell, killing around 8,000. men. 30 thousand women and children were sold into slavery.
The trip to Egypt was an emotional breakthrough for the young ruler, who influenced his entire life. Here in 333 BC visited the oracle. He learned from her that he was the son of Zeus himself. From then on, his conviction of his own divinity grew. With time, he began to demand that the next cities conquered should worship him. Those that did not do so were punished with slaughter and destruction.
Alexander Perski
He strengthened the feeling of omnipotence with successive victories. Under Gaugamela, the Macedonians smashed the Persian army into fluff, killing 40,000. enemies. The great Darius III himself escaped. After this victory, the legendary Persian gold, which Alexander had dreamed of winning since he was a child, became his property. He seized Babylon and captured the treasury of Susa. The young conqueror, however, seemed to shut himself more and more into his own world. The greater his achievements, the more he lost the respect of his soldiers, including the hetairs - the heavy cavalry that won successive battles for him. Those, in turn, resented him that he began to become familiar with the locals, accepting their way of behaving and being.
Alexander the Great with the body of Darius III
More and more often - instead of appointing Greeks governors of conquered cities - he entered into deals with local elites. This and the increasingly bizarre way of being stuck in the eyes of the old comrades-in-arms, without which the legend of Alexander would never have been born. The king began to wear himself like a Persian ruler - in flowing robes and a tiara on his head, but without a pointed tiara. He surrounded himself with a retinue of Persian servants, and even allowed Persians to serve in the elite Macedonian units, among the battle-hardened old sisters. The latter was especially painful as conservative Macedonians did not treat "effeminate" Persians as equals.
Male love
Today, historians are arguing over whether Alexander did the right thing in adopting a "fraternization" policy. Some researchers indicate that this was a justified approach. The young ruler might have realized that without the cooperation and encouragement of the locals he would not be able to keep a mighty, conquered area under Macedonian domination . So Alexander would be not only a warrior, but also a man with a great political sense.
Worse than that, in "recreating" Persian customs, Alexander was unbelievable. N he donned the diadem, but without the tiara, which surprised the Persians. He took over a royal harem with over 300 concubines, but he didn't visit it very often. Instead, he apparently preferred the charms of Bagoas, a eunuch who, according to ancient chroniclers, was the lover of Darius III, and after his defeat and death - passed into the arms of Alexander.
Historians believe that he had sexual relations with Hephaestion as well.
Historians believe that he had sexual relations with Hephaestion as well , the closest friend and one of the most devoted people. The homosexual thread of the biography of Alexander the Great is a catchy topic, but in fact the truth about the conqueror's sexuality was more complicated. Rather, he should be considered bisexual. Besides male lovers, he had women in his bed. Anyway, he fathered several children, incl. with Roxana, a Bactrian princess he married.
A drunkard on the throne of an empire
Certainly the winner was completely insensitive to his own people. Instead, he ignored their needs. Meanwhile, the army had the right to be tired after years of wars. Besides, he exposed them to unnecessary losses more than once. He himself turned out to be a light-hearted commander - for example, walking in the Lebanese mountains after the Battle of Issos in the company of only a few people.
The twenty-something-year-old winner was looking deeper and deeper into the cups with wine. The drunks he arranged could be deadly. It was like that in the spring of 324 BC, when he organized a booze "contest." 1000 soldiers applied. As many as 40 of them lost their lives as a result of alcohol poisoning or hypothermia, after spending hours drunk outside, unable to reach the tents. The winner - Promachos reportedly drank 11 liters of wine. He was supposed to receive a reward of 20 years from Alexander, but he died shortly after the competition.
Besides, Aleksander did not deny himself drinks. The night before his death he had two drinking parties. On the second of them, completely drunk, he was supposed to devour the contents of the so-called the Heracles cup, so 6 liters of wine…
Alexander (anti) Macedonian
The young conqueror's alcoholism was supposed to be behind his outbursts of anger and aggression. In the fall of 328, during a feast, he stabbed the Spear the Black Jewel, who saved his life in one of the battles. He killed the old wiarus, faithful comrade-in-arms, brother Lanike, who was Aleksander's mother in childhood ... He did it when heard from a friend a few words of painful truth about the attitude of trusted hethers to "oriental" orders that the leader has brought in his surroundings.
Alexander the Great exposed his army to unnecessary losses more than once.
It was not only about bizarre customs and a "divine" way of being, but more and more common admitting strangers, sons of Persian aristocrats, to serve in an elite unit. Cleetos publicly delivered a biting speech in which he did not hesitate to criticize the chief. The man pierced him with a spear in a fit of rage. Then, allegedly due to remorse, he locked himself in his tent without food for three days. This show of mourning ended when Anaxarchus, the henchman and flatterer, explained to Alexander that, being the son of Zeus, he could indulge in any act. And everyone will be right.
With the realization of the military's reluctance , Alexander began to develop a paranoid fear of conspiracies. On the charge of preparing an attempt on the life of the ruler, the death sentence was heard, among others, by the commander of Alexander Philotas' personal guard and the second person in the army after the leader himself - General Parmenion. Some historians see Alexander of Macedon's alcoholism as a cause of violent reactions also on the battlefields. They believe that at least some of the genocide and destruction perpetrated by the Macedonian army was due to the alcohol-torn nerves of the leader.
Victims of madness
Macedonians were the executioners of the conquered peoples. Their expeditions into Asia are marked by a series of genocides and the destruction of entire cities. In Tire, they murdered 7,000 in the streets. people and crucified another 2,000. During the slaughter in Gaza, they murdered 10,000. people. There were many such crimes. Today it is estimated that during the 10 years of the campaign, the Macedonian army could kill up to 250,000. people. To this number should also be added the sacrifices among the Macedonians themselves. Their cause was not only the constant war, but also Aleksander's lack of responsibility.
In 327, thirsting for further conquests, he gave the order to march on India. A dream of becoming famous like the mythical Hercules and reaching the ocean that is the end of the world , pushed the leader into further battles, even though his men were on the verge of endurance. The campaign in India turned out to be the most difficult of the stages of expansion. The locals put up a tough resistance. In addition, Macedonians had a hostile climate, especially tropical rains. The Hellenes managed to win once more, in the Battle of the Hydaspes River where they had to face, inter alia, with war elephants. Alexander's beloved horse, Bucephalus, died on the battlefield.
The dream of gaining fame like the mythical Hercules and reaching the ocean, which was the end of the world, pushed Aleksander to the next battles.
At that time, the mood in the Macedonian ranks was terrible. A rebellion broke out, the soldiers refused to fight. Alexander's henchmen had tried to temper the rebellious before. Control of letters sent to homes was introduced. Aleksander directed the phalanxes and riders complaining about the protracted campaign or criticizing the leader to the most difficult sections.
"Crime" and Punishment
But there was still something of the former charismatic leader about him. During the siege of the city of Mallów, he climbed the ladder to the walls to encourage his people to make efforts . For a moment he also defended himself against the enemy. He was injured in the lung. The Macedonians went into battle, recaptured Alexander and, in rage, murdered all the inhabitants of the city. However, the campaign in India ended there. The military was fed up. It was then that the king decided to return to Persia. According to some historians, deliberately chose the road through the desert of Gedrosia to punish soldiers for refusing to fight. It was the shortest way to Persia at the time, but it turned out to be murderous. Even half of the army died from exhaustion, lack of food and water.
But this is nothing for the son of Zeus. At the turn of 324 and 323, Alexander issued a decree on apotheosis. Thus he officially ordered to be worshiped as a god in the whole country, also in his native Macedonia. During the same period, he organized a wedding in Susa, forcing 90 dignitaries around him to marry Bactrians and Persians - although many of these men had wives in Macedonia. In addition, he paid dowries to ordinary soldiers who married Asian women. In this way, he implemented his policy of educating "new" citizens of the empire.
At the turn of 324 and 323, Alexander issued a decree on apotheosis. Thus, he officially ordered to be worshiped as a god in the whole country
Ultimately, nothing came of it. Soon after, at the age of only 33, the conqueror of vast swaths of Asia, the creator of a state stretching over an area of 5 million square kilometers, died in unclear circumstances. Perhaps he was simply poisoned by conspirators fearing another wave of purges. Immediately after his death, his great empire collapsed like a house of cards. It fell victim to fratricidal wars between the diadochi - leaders of Alexander's army.
Fatal Megalomania
Today, looking at the Macedonian achievements, one can get the impression that although he was a great commander, in the end he turned out to be an immature man. He lost to his own weaknesses and did not mentally lift the weight of his victories. He adopted the attitude of increasing isolation from the environment, escaping into the realm of dreams and unrealistic aspirations. It seems that did not have any specific plan - apart from a vision in which megalomania was just a big element and lust for fame.
Admittedly, from the current perspective, it can be considered a justified policy of "fraternizing" with the aristocracy of the conquered peoples, but it is difficult to judge to what extent it was a calculation and to what extent it was the effect of striving for further applause and expressions of adoration for one's greatness. His idea of building a Hellenic-Asian superstate was naive. Aleksander could not and did not care for the basis for the implementation of such a plan - and therefore for his own people. He did not take their needs into account. He did not secure his empire, so it passed with him.