According to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel[1], there is a time when a “Great Man” will make a profound change in the history of mankind. Historical figures who aimed for changed and were successful in so doing - sweeping an entire nation, changing political systems, norms of moralities or even national principles. Alexander the Great[2] is one of those who came victorious. He became well known and is up to now a great person who historians look up to as one great general.
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran. At the height of its power, the Achaemenid Empire encompassed approximately 7.5 million square kilometers and was territorially the largest empire of classical antiquity.
The empire spanned three continents, including territories of Afghanistan and Pakistan, parts of Central Asia, Asia Minor, Thrace, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and all significant population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya. It is noted in western history as the foe of the Greek city states in the Greco-Persian Wars, for freeing the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity, and for instituting Aramaic as the empire's official language. Because of the Empire's vast extent and long endurance, Persian influence upon the language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law and government of nations around the world was prevalent.
Darius III[3], one of its rulers gave the Persian Empire the organization that his predecessors had not been unable to create. In 331 BC the Persian King Darius III suffered his shattering defeat by Alexander the Great at the battle of Gaugamela. With an army of 35, 000 soldiers he subdued Asia Minor, Palestine and Egypt he defeated the powerful forces of Darius III. In the aftermath Darius was murdered by his kinsmen. With his death ended the Achaemenid dynasty which had reigned supreme over the Ancient world for more than two centuries.
During the eleven years of life he had left – he died at Babylon in 323 B.C. at the age of thirty three – Alexander proved conclusively that he was one of the greatest generals who ever lived. Alexander was a king of Macedonia, a poor country that needed to expand in order to survive. Setting out an army of thirty thousands and five thousand horses, he took most of Asia Minor within a year. Syria, Egypt, the whole of Eastern Mediterranea and Persia. He declared himself the “King of Asia,” plunging deep into Central Asia, past the shore of the Caspian Sea, Afghanistan, into northern India and finally down the Indus river and Babylon. On his death he was planning to capture Arabia to link both his Indian and Near Eastern provinces.
In thirteen years that he had marched twenty thousand miles, won every battle he had fought, caused the death of thousands of soldiers in battle and from disease (even his own soldiers), and created an empire that stretched from Greece to India. With authority, civilization under his rule flourished. But the fascination of Alexander’s career goes beyond the rapidity and scale of his conquests. He had created a kind of “Alexander Legend,” a myth of individual grandeur. He is the elaborated again and again in later periods. In legends in the Middle Ages, his career was romanticized.
From the death of Alexander the Great, the fragments of his kingdom produced three great kingdoms under the Hellenic culture that Alexander the Great was able to maintain during his lifetime. These are Macedon, Egypt and Syria. Ptolemy established the Kingdom of Egypt ruling from the great new city of Alexandria, where the conqueror lay entombed. Seleucus reigned over a huge territory from the Aegean sea to the Indus River. Antigonus settled for Macedonia.
What is the driving force behind Alexander’s conquest? This is where Hegel’s sphere of the Great Man comes into picture. That these figures all arise out of particular situation. As a nation develops, it outgrows its mores. It changes to a point where the laws that it once had, the institutions that it once had, no longer fulfill it’s changing patterns of behavior, aspirations and goals. (Staloff 1995).
The problem then is solved by the so-called Superman as I might call them. Vaulting ambition maybe his driving force but he was able to move the spirit and change the course of history. According to Hegel, they move the spirit forward. Hegel, then, was correct with his thesis, antithesis and synthesis and also with the story of a great man that will make a mark in history. Darius III is the thesis, Alexander the Great is the antithesis believing that he could do something about the vast war torn area of the Achaemenid empire and the synthesis being the 3 kingdoms of the Hellenistic age that featured a combination of Greek, Middle Eastern and Indian culture.
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[1] Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 – 1831) was a German philosopher and one of the representatives of German idealism. (Wikipedia)
[2] Alexander the Great (July 20 356 BC – June 10 323 BC), also known as Alexander III of Macedon. He was one of the most successful military commanders in history, and is presumed undefeated in battle.
[3] Darius III (or Codomannus) (c. 380–330 BC) was the last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia from 336 BC to 330 BC. He was deposed during Alexander the Great's conquest.
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran. At the height of its power, the Achaemenid Empire encompassed approximately 7.5 million square kilometers and was territorially the largest empire of classical antiquity.
The empire spanned three continents, including territories of Afghanistan and Pakistan, parts of Central Asia, Asia Minor, Thrace, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and all significant population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya. It is noted in western history as the foe of the Greek city states in the Greco-Persian Wars, for freeing the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity, and for instituting Aramaic as the empire's official language. Because of the Empire's vast extent and long endurance, Persian influence upon the language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law and government of nations around the world was prevalent.
Darius III[3], one of its rulers gave the Persian Empire the organization that his predecessors had not been unable to create. In 331 BC the Persian King Darius III suffered his shattering defeat by Alexander the Great at the battle of Gaugamela. With an army of 35, 000 soldiers he subdued Asia Minor, Palestine and Egypt he defeated the powerful forces of Darius III. In the aftermath Darius was murdered by his kinsmen. With his death ended the Achaemenid dynasty which had reigned supreme over the Ancient world for more than two centuries.
During the eleven years of life he had left – he died at Babylon in 323 B.C. at the age of thirty three – Alexander proved conclusively that he was one of the greatest generals who ever lived. Alexander was a king of Macedonia, a poor country that needed to expand in order to survive. Setting out an army of thirty thousands and five thousand horses, he took most of Asia Minor within a year. Syria, Egypt, the whole of Eastern Mediterranea and Persia. He declared himself the “King of Asia,” plunging deep into Central Asia, past the shore of the Caspian Sea, Afghanistan, into northern India and finally down the Indus river and Babylon. On his death he was planning to capture Arabia to link both his Indian and Near Eastern provinces.
In thirteen years that he had marched twenty thousand miles, won every battle he had fought, caused the death of thousands of soldiers in battle and from disease (even his own soldiers), and created an empire that stretched from Greece to India. With authority, civilization under his rule flourished. But the fascination of Alexander’s career goes beyond the rapidity and scale of his conquests. He had created a kind of “Alexander Legend,” a myth of individual grandeur. He is the elaborated again and again in later periods. In legends in the Middle Ages, his career was romanticized.
From the death of Alexander the Great, the fragments of his kingdom produced three great kingdoms under the Hellenic culture that Alexander the Great was able to maintain during his lifetime. These are Macedon, Egypt and Syria. Ptolemy established the Kingdom of Egypt ruling from the great new city of Alexandria, where the conqueror lay entombed. Seleucus reigned over a huge territory from the Aegean sea to the Indus River. Antigonus settled for Macedonia.
What is the driving force behind Alexander’s conquest? This is where Hegel’s sphere of the Great Man comes into picture. That these figures all arise out of particular situation. As a nation develops, it outgrows its mores. It changes to a point where the laws that it once had, the institutions that it once had, no longer fulfill it’s changing patterns of behavior, aspirations and goals. (Staloff 1995).
The problem then is solved by the so-called Superman as I might call them. Vaulting ambition maybe his driving force but he was able to move the spirit and change the course of history. According to Hegel, they move the spirit forward. Hegel, then, was correct with his thesis, antithesis and synthesis and also with the story of a great man that will make a mark in history. Darius III is the thesis, Alexander the Great is the antithesis believing that he could do something about the vast war torn area of the Achaemenid empire and the synthesis being the 3 kingdoms of the Hellenistic age that featured a combination of Greek, Middle Eastern and Indian culture.
________________________________________________________________________
[1] Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 – 1831) was a German philosopher and one of the representatives of German idealism. (Wikipedia)
[2] Alexander the Great (July 20 356 BC – June 10 323 BC), also known as Alexander III of Macedon. He was one of the most successful military commanders in history, and is presumed undefeated in battle.
[3] Darius III (or Codomannus) (c. 380–330 BC) was the last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia from 336 BC to 330 BC. He was deposed during Alexander the Great's conquest.
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Sources:
“Alexander the great.” ( 2008). Wikipedia. Retrieved July 18, 2008
Bailkey N.M., Taylor M.A., Walbank, T.W. (1962) Civilization past and present.
USA: Scott Foresman and Co.
Borton, Paula (2000). Encyclopedia of question and answer.
UK: Miles Kelly Publishing
Doren, Charles (1991). A history of knowledge. NY: Ballantine Books
“Alexander the great.” ( 2008). Wikipedia. Retrieved July 18, 2008
Bailkey N.M., Taylor M.A., Walbank, T.W. (1962) Civilization past and present.
USA: Scott Foresman and Co.
Borton, Paula (2000). Encyclopedia of question and answer.
UK: Miles Kelly Publishing
Doren, Charles (1991). A history of knowledge. NY: Ballantine Books
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