Oooh, Alexander of Macedon...aka Alexander The Great. Let me clear up a few things. When I was in college back in the 90's before I had to quit and go to jail, I had two majors. At first I was a History Major, but then changed over to Computer Science. At the time I was un-decided on if I wanted to go into computers or try to get a job teaching history. Also, money was a factor and I could only afford to go for a Associates Degree. Getting a job as a History Professor required a lot more schooling then I knew I'd have money for even with student loans. Anyway, on to the topic of Alexander.
Alexander, according to historical records, was in love with his childhood friend, Hephaestion. Indeed though he did take a wife, two wives in fact and not just the one shown in the movie, Roxana of Bactria. There is mention of a third wife as well but historically she can't be proven to have existed. Alexander also supposedly fathered a child with Roxana but that has never been "proven" historically though there are records of his son being used in the succession wars that followed after Alexanders death in Babylon in 323 BC. Alexander was indeed what we would call today homosexual, though as has been mentioned, he understood the need for an heir to carry on his rule after after his death. In ancient Greece homosexuality was a accepted part of culture as was pedophilia and many other practices such as human sacrifice that are not always accepted by today's views of morality. The ancient Greeks didn't place as much importance on a persons sexual preference as we do today. These views were the dominant views of society for well over a 1000 years in the ancient world. Even Julius Cesar was said to have slept with men when he needed to too further along his political career. In ancient Roman society, which borrowed Heavily from the ancient Greeks, violating another man or a boy showed the dominance of the one doing the violating. It was a way of proving you were more powerful than them and often had very little to do with a persons sexual preference and more to do with political leverage and posturing.
When it came to the sheer size of Alexander's empire, he ruled at the time what was known as the entire world. Sadly he wasn't able to officially finish his campaigns before his death. While it can be said that he borrowed some of his military strategies from his father Philip and his teacher Aristotle, to say all his military conquests were taken from their ideas and not his own is completely false and that can be backed up and proven with historical record (if the records can be believed). Philip's ambition and original plans were to stop after he conquered Babylon and Persia, while Alexander's ambition was to conquer the entire world and to bring the people together under one world order. Alexander never officially conquered much of northern Europe including what is England today, but those peoples Did pay tribute to Macedonia just as they later paid tribute to the Romans who did physically go there and conquer the local population. Unfortunately Alexander died before he was able to carry out his planned conquest of northern Europe. You have to keep in mind as well that a lot of what our scholars first believed to be "Historical Fact" was later found out to be embellishments made by the authors of the records. Most of the actual "Facts" we know today about Alexander and his life were taken from the records written by the peoples he conquered and not by his own historians or fellow Greeks.
Victors always embellish history which is obvious as it has happened through-out all of human history. Just imagine what our history books would say today if the Nazis had won WW2. If the Nazis had won WW2 then I would be certain that our history books today would all talk about how evil the Jewish people were and how they needed to be cleansed from the Earth. Obviously we know that's not true, but, if the books we learn from as children say the opposite then that is what people will grow up to believe. Case in point, the discovery of the "New World", America. It is a Scientifically Proven Fact today that Christopher Columbus in fact did NOT discover the new world nor was he the first European to try to settle the American continent. The Vikings, led by Leif Ericson, were the First Europeans to settle here in North America. Ruins of some of their massive Longhouses have been found in New England that pre-date Jamestown by more then 300 years. The vikings came in contact with the Native Americans who later killed the viking settlers. Leif Ericson decided he didn't have the man-power to keep fighting to make a permanent colony here in the US. This is Proven Fact, and yet American school children all over the country are still taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, which is a complete lie. Why haven't our school books been updated to reflect this? Because new school books cost money and it's easier to perpetuate the lie that Christopher Columbus was here first.
In my opinion, which also happens to be the popular collective opinions of most strategic historians, the two greatest military strategists in Human History were Alexander the Great and Sun Tzu who is famous for writing "The Art of War" who's strategies are relevant even in today's world. No one in all of human history has conquered so much of the world in his life-time as Alexander did in his. Even the Nazis at the hight of their power, when they controlled basically All of Europe and Most of Africa, did not conquer as much land as Alexander did in his life-time. Homosexual or not, pedophile or not, Alexander was one of the greatest warriors and strategists who EVER lived, period. Who gives a shit who he liked to corn-hole? I don't!!! And who-ever he liked to sleep with, that isn't going to stop me from admiring the many things he accomplished in his life-time, nor should it anyone who has half a brain.
