Friday, March 11, 2011

Was Alexander's adventure really worth it?

Alexander the Great, son of Phillip II, and Macedonian leader, is the greatest conquer of all time. From Greece to India and back, Alexander took it all, without mercy. As Alexander went on with his adventure, he started to create his own myth. Even though Alexander the Great’s original was to avenge Persian wrongs, he was obsessed about making his own myth during his grand adventure. During his conquest, Alexander suffered much causality, but still went on. Even though Alexander went on to conquer the known world and establish the largest empire the world had ever seen, I believe it wasn’t worth it at all, because Alexander ended up dying and the empire soon destroyed itself after he died. 
             First Alexander went into modern Turkey into Troy. Alexander the Great went into
Troy to show that if the Greeks can win at Troy once, they can do it again. Alexander admired and was inspired by the great Greek heroes who fought in Troy and wanted to be just like them. After modern Turkey, Alexander headed to Egypt. At Egypt, Alexander created his own port named after himself, Alexandria and went to a oracle in Siwa to find that the priests called him son of god. The first two parts of his journey were definitely positive things to the Macedonian empire, but still I believe nothing is worth you life; however, Alexander is not the same person as me. 


            From Egypt, Alexander the Great went closer and closer to the heart of Persia, until he reached Persepolis, the capital of Persia. Alexander overtook Persepolis without much of a fight. When Alexander conquered the capital of Persia, he showed no mercy, and burned the temple of Persepolis to ashes; just Persia had done to Athens earlier. Now since Alexander had conquered the capital of Persia, he threw a party and got very drunk. When Alexander conquered Persepolis, he was basically done; all he needed to do is find Darius and kill him. Unfortunately to Alexander, he didn’t get to kill Darius, Darius’s own men turned on him. Overall, Alexander adventure to Persepolis was definitely worth it.  If Alexander the Great can conquer the capital of the largest empire, what else can he do? By conquering Persepolis, it made Alexander and his army feel invincible and have more power than ever. 
            After Persepolis, Alexander the Great went on and eventually arrived in India and went as far as the Indus Valley. In India, Alexander was fascinated by their unique culture and also had many victories. After a while in India, his troops started questioning Alexander, so Alexander the Great was forced to return Greece, for near mutiny of his troops. Then the long journey back home began. On Alexander’s adventure back home, Alexander cut across a desert in which no other army made it out, just to prove he was the best. Eventually Alexander got back home to Macedonia; only to find out he had little time to live. His journey to India definitely wasn’t worth it.  After all, he lost over half of his army, and he didn’t really need to go into India to avenge Persian wrongs.
             Alexander the Great definitely lived his life the way he wanted to live it. If he didn’t want to live this life, he wouldn’t have gone into India and try to conquer everything. Alexander risked everything, just to avenge Persian wrongs, even though he went well beyond his goal just to find his death. Alexander’s adventure and conquest was not worth. To me nothing is worth losing your life and eventually his people lost everything he had worked for.
 




1 comment:

  1. a) Please refrain from using personal pronouns like "I" or "me". b) No sources cited and mostly generic information. c) Thesis could be edited into shape but in current form is marred by lack of consistent academic tone and lack of specificity.

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