King Alexander III of Macedon, known as Alexander the Great, has always been a positive heroic figure in ancient Western literature, but in another context, in the Persian culture he defeated, he has a poor image: feminine, sinister, moody. The shaping of Alexander's image is a long-term cultural creation process, in the history of thousands of years, why are the West and the East's evaluation of him very different? Let's start with the Macedonian army tied to his image.
Who are the Macedonians? The question is a bit complicated, with some arguing that they were not really Greeks, but closer to the Thracians, or some descendants of the Balkan peoples who were influenced by the Greeks. However, the Macedonians were heavily Influenced by Greece, at least during the time of Philip II and Alexander. In the eyes of the Greek rivals, the Persians, the Macedonians were righteous Greeks and named them "Greeks with hats." Therefore, the Persians did not like the Macedonians with a "Greek" atmosphere.
Although the Macedonians could be considered the greeks least close to Greece, Herodotus eventually gave the Macedonians a Greek identity, treating them as a group of Greek cognates. Judging by the Identity of the Macedonians themselves, they recognized themselves as Greeks, which explains why both Philip II and Alexander were particularly keen to conquer "Greece"'s enemy, Persia.
After the sudden death of Philip II, Alexander continued to carry out his father's plan, consolidating his power, quickly quelling the rebellion of Thebes, and then marching into Asia Minor in 334 BC. He defeated the Persian army at the Granicus River, and then continued eastward, conquering cities along the Ionian coast, including sardis, a strategic Persian stronghold here. In the following year, Alexander defeated Darius III himself at the Battle of Issus, and Alexander personally participated in the decisive battle as leader of the hetairoi.
Hetairoi
Alexander then marched south, taking cities on the Mediterranean coast and conquering Egypt, establishing Alexandria. In 331 BC, he marched east again, defeating the all-Persian army at Gaugamela, Darius escaping from the battlefield, after which the Persian monarch died at the hands of bessus, the governor of Bactria.
Persepolis
Alexander did not stop, and he advanced his conquest to Babylon, Susa, and finally to Persepolis. He burned it in 330 BC after a grand banquet in Persepolis for weeks. Contrary to the reasons previously speculated, Alexander did not recklessly burn down the Persian city in a drunken state, but in fact, this sabotage was more like a well-planned political show to show the demise of the Achaemenid dynasty with the destruction of Persepolis.
Through the destruction of Persepolis, Alexander was transformed from a Greek avenger who hated Persia, but a successor to the Achaemenid dynasty. The Persian governors of Babylon and Susa were both retained, marked by the deliberate Persianization of the Macedonian army, and Alexander encouraged Macedonian soldiers to marry and have children in Persia.
Zoroastrian symbol
To set an example, Alexander himself married several Persian princesses, including statira, daughter of Darius III, and roxana, daughter of a Persian governor. After Alexander's death, his empire was torn apart by the question of succession, and the collapse of Alexander's ideals was even more regrettable than the disintegration of the land.
Alexander had a grand plan: to let the culture of the Greeks influence Persia, and let the culture of the Persians influence Greece, to create an eclectic civilization based on the fusion of the two. This ambition was partially realized under his efforts, but it eventually failed with his untimely death. Even though Persia was ruled for more than 100 years by the Macedonian officer seleucus and his descendants, and the Seleucid kings ruled in a more Persian rather than Greek style, Persia ultimately did not accept the Greeks.
Alexander and his successors were not the last foreign conquerors in The history of Iran, although the land was inhabited by some former Greek soldiers and infiltrated some Greek culture, but after all, Alexander's rule was too short, his efforts were like clouds, and the Greek influence was finally superficial and soon dissipated. Filling the void in Persian culture was the indigenous Zoroastrianism, a tenacious belief that persisted and cemented its position. Zoroastrianism seems to have served as a reminder to the Persians to always remember their hostility and antipathy towards the Greeks and Alexander.
It is well known that the historical records we see about Alexander today are incomplete, and the authors of this information are mainly using second-hand material, and their positions are not neutral enough, and to some extent have a reverence for Alexander. Almost all of the positive records we see of Alexander come from the West, but in Persia, Alexander's image is very poor, and it can be called pickled.
Persian warriors
In Zoroastrian stories, Alexander is a very negative character, which reveals another side of history. There is little record of the means by which he established or consolidated his rule in Western sources, but in Zoroastrian records, Alexander was sinister and fierce, and he not only burned the Persian scriptures, the Avista (also known as Avestan), which represented the spirit of Zoroastrianism, but also killed many Zoroastrian priests and teachers, and many of the sacred flames in the sacred fire temple were forcibly extinguished by him.
Alexander wanted to make Persia Hellenistic on the one hand, and trying to persianize Greece on the other, and he carefully sought a balance, and for this plan, the first step was to make the Persians forget about the Achaemenid dynasty, and Zoroastrianism was undoubtedly the biggest obstacle, because the priestly class of Zoroastrianism was the powerful people of the Achaemenid dynasty, and their religion was the basis of the Achaemenid dynasty, so they were likely to be the source of resistance or rebellion, and thus became the target of Alexander's repression operations.
Zoroastrian worship of fire
From the burning of Persepolis to the burning of Avista, Alexander tried to spiritually wear away the cultural imprint of Persia, but this was almost impossible, it was easy to smooth a stone, and it was even more difficult to smooth the ravine in people's hearts.
Whatever exactly happened in the first place, Iranians are unlikely to have religiously and obediently agreed to Alexander's peace policy and accepted his plan for the integration of civilizations, as later western historical records suggest. In later Zoroastrian texts, Alexander was the only human being to share the title of "guzastag" with the dark god ahriman, which means "cursed." The name seems to be a conclusive verdict: Alexander's conquest of the Persian spirit was a complete failure.
Reference: Avista
The Ancient Persian Empires michael Bilgang Michael Bilgang
History of the Persian Empire a.t. Olmstead