Week 4b: Daily Blog Day 2 – Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Daily Blog Day 2 – Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Question: Do you think Alexander honestly felt like he was avenging Persian wrongs? Or was that just propaganda to mask his goal of conquest?

            Alexander claimed that he conquered to avenge the Persian wrongs. The question is whether or not this was truly his intentions. The fact is it is impossible to know the truth. We can only now guess at what this truth may have been based on what we know from the facts and even a bit from the legends. I would like to believe that Alexander set out to conquer the Persian wrongs for a few reasons. The first thing is it is one of the only reasons that would make sense to me. It would be ludicrous for a small city king to go conquering the Persian Empire without a good and important reason. Also, my friends may call me naïve, but I like to believe in the good in people. I want to believe that Alexander the Great did honestly feel like he was avenging Persian wrongs, and unless I am given reason to believe otherwise I think that that is true. Another thing is, I think if anything Alexander probably began believing in avenging Persian wrongs and as his new power and greatness overwhelmed him it became more about things like that power and fame. This is very likely and possible as it is will all people who find themselves with an overwhelming amount of power even today. Although, I do not think it was just propaganda to mask his goal of conquest. At least, that is unless I am given a reason to believe otherwise like I said before. Therefore, in my opinion Alexander the Great is a good and true ruler avenging Persian wrongs, but whether he always remained constant to that I do not know.