Is Alexander the Great the greatest character in history?

[Julie4]

[RavVid]

He sort of has to be. A lot of great men modeled themselves on him. Wasn't Napoleon upset Alexander had achieved so much more than he had done at the same age? One or more of the great generals was.

We know about his great victories and a lot of it was due to the discipline he instilled. Later the Romans showed what could be done to a phalanx. So the sarissas/long pole weapons weren't a penultimate weapon due to the rigidity of the phalanx. But they would then come back with the Swiss and Spanish pike and shot battle formations. So if Alexander had been generalling maybe the Roman maniple would not have done so well.

Aside from generalship there was a lot more to Alexander. The Egyptians loved him. His multicultural approach worked though it disgrunteld the Macedonians. He took scholars with him on campaign (is that where Napoleon got the idea?).

He founded many cities - mostly called after himself like Alexandria. The famous library was founded by the Ptolemys but you have to give Alexander credit for setting the scene.

The thing that most knocks me out is that there are small enclaves in Asia where the locals look very Greek like with blue eyes amidst greek style architectural ruins. There was a fusion of Greek and local cultures especially in Egypt. Which brings up the Ptolemys and other successor states formed by generals after his death. It didn't all finish with Alexander but with Cleopatra.

Napoleon complained bitterly (I believe) that he had to win every battle. Alexander was probably in the same position and had to keep on conquering and could never finish. His Russia was India.

I guess he was always going to die early.

The greatest historical person? At a point ranking doesn't make sense any more and that is the league Alexander is in. It is like the most beautiful woman - at a point you cannot say one extremely beautiful woman is more extremely beautiful than another extremely beautiful woman.

[Julie4]

Yes, Alexander the Great had so much influence, and what he managed to accomplish is simply phenomenal.

But of course for Napoleon things are different, first of all Napoleon was not born in a family of King. Then in his time there were many more powerful countries, like Russia, Ottoman Empire, United Kingdom, Austria etc.

[Soteris]

No. Why would he? I mean, he conquered a fair bit but its not like his legacy survived very long. The world would look very similar with or without him in my opinion.

While I dont think they are perhaps the greatest in history, the ancient greek philosophers are definitely up there. Potentially Aristotle, although that is assuming the records we have of him is taken 2nd hand and recorded by students which incorrectly summarized his words since it sounds like people at the time had a very different impression compared to what we have records of today. Not that far fetched considering the loss of most of the literature from that time.

But my coin would go to Plato. First of all, probably not his name. Secondly, supposedly an accomplished wrestler so he will suplex you while telling you how wrong you are and lastly, the man actually wrote stuff down which is surprisingly rare so we actually have something to go by unlike his student Aristotle or his teacher Socrates.

Socrates on the other hand might be a bigger deal, but we dont really know because again, the man apparently hated to write anything down so we dont really know.

[Anonymous]

One of the greatest conquerors maybe. When you consider he basically took an army from a tiny nation and conquered the vast powerful Persian empire that was so vast, wealthy and powerful as no nation before it had ever been snd didn't just win a war and a few battles but completely conquered and routed Persian armies in battle every time. I can't think of any other time in history when a war was won in such a David vs Goliath fashion. Alexander went on to conquer Central Asia which is a massive conquest in itself and later defeat the great Indian king Porus making him his vassal and setting up a long lasting Hellenic kingdom in India, hundreds of years later when virtually all the Hellenic (Greek) cities had been conquered by the Romans, Persians, Armenians, huns, Chinese etc the last independent free helenic kingdom was actually in India. He established the largest empire in history and during his reign and after the Hellenic world was at it greatest with colonies as far west as the Atlantic coast of Spain, cities established all over the black sea, crimea, colonies in scilly, colonies in Italy, in the south of France, Egypt, Asia minor, Middle East, central asia, India and China. Few have ever achieved so much, what he would have achieved had he lived 20 more years.

[Siri137]

Yeah, he was great! Such a shame he didn't go on to conquer India and the rest of the Orient. He died far too soon :'(

[NamerOfStars]

No. Even if you limit yourself to conquest through diplomatic cunning and military skill, Genghis Khan blows him out of the water.

If I had to pick one person for that title, off the top of my head I'd probably go with Cyrano- soldier, author, inventor, and guy that even the seventeenth-century French thought was flamboyant. When they wrote a play about his incredible deeds, they had to TONE THEM DOWN or audiences wouldn't've believed them. He was a character in both the personal and literary senses; I think the only person who could've outdone was his theoretical child with Julie D'Aubigny.

[andreasderjuengere]

The greatest Hooligan in history, perhaps. He and his hitman gang went around and ''conquered'' what wasn't equally primitive in instincts.

While he gave a shit for what happened ''back home''.

A parallel:

A totally over-rated figure of... ''history''.

[asphaltrhymes]

I guess with a name like that, sure he may as well be. I don't mind either way. 😬

[berisky23]

He definitely lead one of the largest and most successful military campaigns in history

[RyanEC]

I would say he would be high on the list.
Every great military learner from Ceaser to Napoleon looked to him for inspiration.

[Anonymous]

Didn't he slaughter a bunch of people? I didn't pay attention in history

[Anonymous]

one of the greatest but there are others like Pompei Ceasar george washington benjamin franklin leonardo davinci einstein Issaac newton

[lightbulb27]

no Elon Musk is better.

[ibodi]

I think Crus is more handsome.

[Andres77]

Nope. Jesus Christ was and is.

[888theGreat]

Jesus is #1 and Hitler is #2

[Anonymous]

He's top ten in my mind.

[FunkyMonkee]

Never met the guy!

[TheFlak38]

One of many.