Alexander the Great 18
So How Great Was He?: The Legacy of Alexander
by CTCWeb Editors
Judging Alexander
Debate about the importance of Alexander continues today. For twenty-three centuries, his character, influence, and importance have been scrutinized, evaluated, and pondered. His deeds have become mythical. Almost immediately after his death, stories sprang up suggesting that he was either divine or a demon. Subsequently, his life inspired novels, art, movies, and scholarly works. The magnitude of his greatness likely will continue to be debated as new leaders of Greece, Asia, and the world rise and pass into history alongside Alexander.
His greatest and most long lived act arguably was the disentanglement of Persian culture from Mediterranean culture. The ebb of Persian influence in the Mediterranean region, driven by Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire, certainly is a reason why centuries later the western world embraced Hellenism and the democratic ways of the ancient Greeks. In contrast, in modern Iran, Alexander is still known as an evil king who nearly destroyed the ancient Persian culture and religion.
Alexander also spurred economic progress on a grand scale for his day. His brief unification of the Greek and Persian empires opened local economies, creating a market for trade and commerce between Europe and Asia. To bolster exchange, Alexander standardized currency, making it much easier to transact business in and between these two vast regions of the world. Economic trade also spurred cultural exchange, as merchants, for example, traveled about the region selling their wares in cities and towns that included the over-seventy cities founded by Alexander.
Long after his brief life, Alexander’s accomplishments continued to inspire political leaders and served as a model for subsequent empire-building. Alexander was and continues to be a singular character in world history. While his life was not sung and immortalized by Homer, or another great poet, persistent legends of his military prowess and political shrewdness place Alexander in the ranks of mythological heroes like Achilles and Odysseus, which is exactly where he wished to be and how he wished to be remembered.
