Alexander the Great

Title: Alexander the Great

Author: Philip Freeman

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2011 (First)

ISBN: 9781416592815

Pages: 391

The world is a thoroughly connected place today with technology serving as instant messenger between people living in far off places. Before the onset of the early modern age with its idea of a postal system, information flowed from one place to the other through trade, war and exchange of cultural contacts. Of these three, war usually preceded the other two. Alexander the Great inaugurated an era of integration of Asia into an overarching Greek culture that profoundly influenced later history. At the tender age of 22 and three centuries before Christ, he set out from Macedonia to conquer the whole known world. No adversity could stop them as he was the embodiment of pure human ambition, unwilling to lose. He led his loyal army across blistering deserts, towering mountains and steaming jungles to conquer all the kingdoms and societies that crossed his path. Alexander’s true legacy is more solid and subtle than his military victories. The contacts established between civilizations and the imposition of a standardized military state helped to fuse the nations in the crucible of the Greek language and customs. This book compiles the biography of Alexander from ancient sources and presents the facts in an immensely interesting way. It subscribes more towards the readability of fiction than the rigour of historiography. Philip Freeman is a Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University in California. He is the author of more than a dozen books on the ancient world. His doctorate in classical philology has enabled him to trace the development of specific words from a particular historical source. We can see numerous such examples in this book.

It is instructive to learn how ambitious rulers could engineer ill will against a neighbour when none existed before. Alexander cited the invasion of Greece by Persia in the previous century as a just cause for exacting revenge. This may sound plausible until we stop to find that the Persian forces were routed first at Marathon on land and then at Salamis on sea. The defeat was a crushing one for Emperor Xerxes’ self-pride, but Alexander played up the sentiment of being a victim to foreign aggression. Not for the first, nor for the last time for a politician, he reaped rich dividends by provoking mass hysteria. This Macedonian fervor was at odds with the spirit that led tens of thousands of other Greeks to serve as mercenaries in the Persian army. They fought against their compatriots in Alexander’s troops and often inflicted crippling damages as they knew the techniques of the attackers too well.

For those who wonder whether the great king left behind any material proof of his existence other than eulogies, Freeman introduces the temple dedicated to Athena in Priene, Turkey. Alexander commissioned the temple and the inscription on a stone slab is still visible at the site in which Alexander’s name is spelt out in full, leaving no scope for skeptics. This is one of the few pieces of contemporary evidence we possess for naming the Macedonian king. His quick temper and uncanny ability to follow outlandishly difficult war strategies that finally ended up in victory are amazing. Never before did warring nations fought in winter or in snow-clad mountain terrains. In the early stages of the war, Alexander scored many victories on land in Asia Minor. His namesake navy was a poor cousin to his army and could not keep the harassing Persian navy away from their bases. What did Alexander do then which surprised the Aegean world other than disbanding his entire navy after a small battle at Miletus? This tied his hands on the sea. Only one option was available to him at that point. He could deny replenishment to the Persian sailors by occupying the entire Mediterranean coastline from the Hellespont to Cyrene. This was exactly what he did which also helped in his plans for global conquest.

Even though most historians portrayed the Macedonian in a positive light till the heyday of colonialism, the two bloody world wars in the twentieth century made them more circumspect in whitewashing the inhuman war crimes of the Greek king. His brutal sacking of the Persian capital city of Persepolis after its peaceful surrender, his assassination of the trusted general Parmenion and his son Philotas to preempt any future threat to his power and the massacre of his fellow compatriots called the Branchidae who had fled Greece earlier to seek asylum in Central Asia are all dark spots that mar the humane face of Alexander’s portrait. The king’s transformation from the Macedonian paradigm of ‘First Among Equals’ to the Persian ‘Oriental Despot’ was vehemently opposed by his countrymen. In Persia, the social status of each person was keenly observed in their interactions. When two people met, they kissed on the mouth if of equal rank, while a superior nobleman kissed one below him on the cheek. But if they met the emperor or a person of very exalted rank, they had to prostrate on the ground to show their respect. This ritual of proskynesis attracted the attention of Alexander while staying in Persia and he wanted to adopt it into the army. In the end, on the face of fierce opposition by the Greeks, he quietly shelved the plan.

A full chapter is earmarked in the book to describe Alexander’s campaign in India. This was the first time the country became the focal point of international attention in history. Ancient historians like Herodotus had spun fantastic tales about the country, such as the existence of gold-digging ants in India. Being an avid reader of the classics, Alexander was eager to ascertain his domination over the rich country which he thought was at the extreme end of the world. He encountered pliable rulers like Omphis of Taxila and ferociously independent kings like Porus. Alexander made it a practice to return the land back to the king after their submission to him. It may also be remembered that Alexander fought some of his campaign’s toughest battles in India. In a fierce encounter with the tribe of Malli, he nearly lost his life with an injury to his lung. His favourite horse Bucephalus was killed in battle in India. No wonder then that the king decided to retrace his steps after his home-sick soldiers refused to march any further beyond the Punjab rivers. The Greek expedition’s sailing on the Indus River and their consternation on seeing the open ocean for the first time are neatly recorded by Freeman.

The author clearly establishes the role played by Alexander’s campaigns in Asia in spreading the Greek language in the region as its lingua franca. This helped later movements to distribute their books and propaganda material over a very wide area. Freeman claims that the Christian religion would have remained a local phenomenon but for the sway of Greek as a universal tongue, at least in the Mediterranean world. The writings of Paul, the apostle who took Christianity across the mountains and seas wrote in Greek. The book is very easy and pleasant to read. It offers a comprehensive glossary, a long list of books in bibliography for further reading and an all-inclusive index.

The book is very highly recommended.

Rating: 5 Star