Stills from Alexander the Great
When Alexander the Great is mentioned, many people's first reaction is the character on the playing card Plum Blossom K, or his "base friendship" with Hephaestion. In fact, in addition to his military prowess, Alexander the Great gave the same respect to different cultures in his treatment of culture. It is precisely because of Alexander's charm that a total of 3 biographical films about him have been filmed, let us start from the 2004 version of the movie "Alexander the Great" to appreciate his charm.
<h1>First, the wonderful life of Alexander the Great</h1>
Alexander was born in 356 BC and died in 323 BC. The king of the Macedonian kingdom, after conquering the Greek states, Alexander the Great immediately began a ten-year crusade, establishing alexander's empire across Europe, Asia and Africa.
The 33-year-old monarch's life was undoubtedly brilliant, and 3 people in his life had a great influence on him.
The first was her mother, Olympia, who assisted Alexander in obtaining the Macedonian throne, and her passion for mysterious powers was a profound influence on Alexander. The worship of mysterious powers, first manifested in her pregnancy, when Plutarch wrote: "On the night of Philip and Olympias' wedding, Olympias dreamed that a bolt of lightning struck her and set fire on her. The fire spread over her and then gradually extinguished. The child who was "born of fire" was Alexander; secondly, during Alexander's crusade, especially after Alexander's voyage to the temple of the Oasis of Siva, Alexander wrote to his mother declaring that he would go back to tell the revelation he had received in the temple, although it is not specifically recorded in the letters, but combined with the strange appearance at the time of Alexander's birth, it is largely about Alexander not being a son of Philip, but the son of Zeus Amun.
Dressed in red was Olympia
The second was his teacher Aristotle, who made Alexander fall in love with Greek literature, especially Homer's works, and legend has it that he himself had a copy of the Iliad at the head of his bed. At the same time, Alexander insisted on organizing various sports and cultural programs in the military according to the Greek model, and even after quelling the Theban rebellion, he resolutely retained the temple dedicated to the gods and the former residence of the poet Pinda, while razing other places to the ground. In fact, the whole process of the Crusade is the process of spreading Greek culture, the process of the Crusade established a number of Greek-style cities named Alexandria, and later Alexandria in Egypt became the cultural center of the Hellenistic era, Alexander pushed Greek culture to the world, and to a large extent also promoted the formation of Roman civilization.
Aristotle teaching scene
The third was strictly a man and a horse, a man named Heffistion, a horse named Bucephalos, who had inspired and accompanied Alexander during their lifetime, and whose death had been a great blow to Alexander. The horse, named Bucephalos, was tamed and acquired by Alexander from his father Philip at the age of 12, and then accompanied him in his growth, and died shortly after the Battle of the Hidaspis River, for which Alexander held a very solemn funeral to bury him, which shows its significance for Alexander.
Alexander and his horses and companions
Hefiestione is needless to say that Hephastion is Alexander's best companion, in Alexander's childhood training he can only draw with Alexander, during the Crusade Hephaestion fell ill and died, Alexander not only held a very luxurious funeral for him, but also imitated the torture of Hector in Homer's epic poem in the Tyrelian War in honor of Patroclus, in order to express his longing. Many people now relish the friendship between them, and it is true that homosexuality prevailed in Greece, but this was not the case for the two of them.
Hefiestian was not only able to contribute to Alexander militarily, but also emotionally encouraged alexander to accompany him, but also understood him better. As the film says, "What they men exchange is virtue and knowledge, pure and noble, in order to bring out the best in each other." After his death, Alexander became more violent and addicted to drinking, and it was ultimately because of alcohol that it largely caused Alexander's early death.
<h1>Alexander's military brilliance</h1>
Battle of Alexander
When it comes to military brilliance, it is necessary to mention Alexander's tactics and phalanx and the great battles.
Regarding tactics and phalanxes, Arian wrote that Alexander's tactics were the simplest but most effective, especially against "indigenous" troops. The center of gravity of the force is the phalanx, the right flank is the most heavily equipped cavalry elite, the left flank is the other cavalry, and on the outside of the right flank are archers and other lightly armed troops, and the use of all the troops varies according to the actual terrain. Generally speaking, the left wing began to hold only the position, the right wing attacked the enemy's "shield side", and the phalanx in the center of the front against the enemy's main force. Similarly, the phalanx is not always square, and can be elongated or contracted according to the actual situation, but it cannot become a closed wedge. Due to the flexibility of tactics and the close coordination of the phalanx, Alexander was able to maximize his military talents and win victories after victory.
Alexander's great battles were many, the most prominent of which was the Battle of Caronia, which was the battle in which Macedonia gained Greek hegemony, in which alexander played a huge role at the age of 18, and his troops annihilated the then hegemonic Theban army, resulting in a crucial victory for the Macedonians. Secondly, after the Battle of Granicus, the Battle of Issus, and the Battle of Gaugamela, he defeated the ancient Persian Empire, leaving its monarch Darius in exile, and at the same time, in conquering the natives of the Persian provinces, proved his ability to fight nomadic and mountain warfare. Finally, at the Battle of the Heydaspes River in India, the Indian troops who used elephants as a combat tool were defeated and won.
After this victory, his empire and army were reorganized, resulting in the idea of integrating the Greek and Persian parts of his empire, thus creating a greek Persian national republic kingdom. Regardless of the longevity of the empire or not, this idea is enough to prove that Alexander the Great was not a warrior with military talent, but a king with humanistic wisdom.
<h1>Iii. The Cultural Attitude of Alexander</h1>
Alexander's response to his partner's questioning of Persian culture
For Persian culture, Alexander did not find it as crude as his contemporaries, but recognized that this Eastern civilization was also full of wisdom, so he adopted a policy of imperial unity, and in order to realize this plan, he incorporated a large number of Persian troops into his own troops, and held a grand banquet for the "unification of East and West". At the banquet, thousands of Macedonian soldiers were formally married to Asian women, and they themselves married the oriental woman Roclaysan.
Alexander's attitude towards Greece was contradictory about Greek culture. First of all, from the second year of his reign, the defeat of Thebes was razed to the ground, and at the same time largely proposed that "defeating the Persian navy on land" was out of distrust of the Athenian navy, and it is worth mentioning that at the time of the battle in the Strait of Helles, only 7,000 infantry and 2,400 cavalry came from the Collins Alliance and these countries could actually recruit about 200,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry, and it has to be said that Alexander was skeptical of Greek loyalty.
Alexander, on the other hand, did everything in his power to promote Greek culture, appointing Greeks such as Peusestas to co-manage his empire and perceive his special feelings for Greece. But there is no doubt that Alexander was deeply influenced by Greek culture and made a great contribution to the development of Greek culture to world culture
<h1>Wen Shijun said</h1>
Our understanding of a character should not stay in the one-sided impression of film and television dramas or life entertainment, but also look at the essence through the phenomenon and understand his influence on world history. Like Alexander the Great, we should not only know that he is a playing card character, a character in many games, but also understand his military achievements, cultural attitude, and the era of Hellenism that began, and learn from him the spirit of being a pioneer and respecting culture.
<h1>bibliography:</h1>
1) Plutarch, translated by Xi Daiyue: A Biography of a Greco-Roman Celebrity, Jilin Publishing Group, 2009.
2) Paul. Carterich, translated by Zeng Dehua: Alexander the Great: In Search of a New History, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore, 2010 edition.
3) By Arian, translated by Ang Lee: The Crusades of Alexander, The Commercial Printing House, 1979.
(Contributed by Haoran Wenshi Liao Mengying)
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