Alexander the Great and his influences

Alexander the Great 

Alexander the great, like his father was a great leader, both of them expanded Macedonia, and made many crucial changes in its culture and government . I think that Alexander does deserve this title not only for his military achievements but also for his excellent ruling of the empire and allowing cultures to develop within it.  Macedonia before Alexander’s rule was a large state north of Greece, when King Philip (Alexander’s father) he turned Macedonia into a military power. The difference between Macedonia’s army and the other ancient armies is that, Philip's army was strictly made up of highly trained professional soldiers.  Philip also made many new weapons and thought of innovative battle tactics, in a way Alexander carried on what his father started.  By the time Alexander came to rule his father had extended the empire, he had several tribes around Macedonia under his command and Greece. In 336 BC Alexander’s father was murdered, at the age of 20 he took over his father’s kingdom, he immediately put down all revolts that were starting up.  Soon Alexander began his 20,000 mile conquest, spreading the empire even further. He often won battles by outsmarting his opponents, because he didn’t always have the advantage. Against King Darius III of Persia, Alexander had to outsmart him because he had a smaller army than the Persians. One of the reasons why I think that Alexander the great does deserve his title is because of both his military career and his leadership qualities. Alexander knew that he couldn’t rule a vast empire by himself, so he appointed governors who would report to him. Besides extending the empire he also spread the Greek culture, but in an odd way. Every time he conquered a nation he would bring in some elements of Greek culture but would also let some parts of the previous culture stay.

 

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The Spartan way, from Junior Scholastic

By Sean Price

In its time Sparta was the strongest, and most dominant City-state in ancient Greece. Their dominance had a lot to do with the fact that they had a army superior to most other rival city states. Spartan men had to join the army when they were seven and started ferocious training as soon as they joined the army. No mercy was shown toward the trainees.  They were not allowed to show pain and the boys did not even live with their family, this shows that all of citizens were devoted to the army from a young age. The elder soldiers and military leaders, treated the young men as slaves and expected them to be fully disciplined because they strongly believed that the army is the most important thing.  The army barely gave them any food so they had to steal provision, which means that they had to steal food and other supplies. Their army duties were over when they turned thirty; this meant that they could get married at the age of thirty the earliest. Which today isn’t early in some cultures it is considered late.

In Sparta Oligarchy was the chosen form of government. In Oligarchy several people controlled the government, In Sparta the king and military leaders controls the government. Unfortunately because of its very military oriented culture, the Spartans didn’t leave behind many written records for historians to study from. But from what we know about them we know that this violent civilization ceased to exist in 371 B.C when it was destroyed by Thebes.

I found this quote interesting and unusual, “After eating Spartan food, I saw why they were willing to die in battle”, as I understood this quote was found in a journal and it came from a visitor in Sparta.  What I found weird was that they would rather fight in war than eat the food. Either this man was on a culinary adventure, which I doubt or he wrote the quote in a humors manner. Since I highly disbelieve that any one would be willing to die because of bad food. 

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From The ancient Olympics
from the Olympic Games.

11/10/2011



The Olympic games first started as a tribute to the gods, primarily Zeus, the runners sacrificed animals before the event in order for them to honor the gods and to help him win the race. At first only speed walking was a part of the Olympics and then other sports were added. I found it strange how in ancient Greece women were not allowed to participate or even spectate the Olympic events. This rule was taken so seriously that if it was broken the woman would be killed. I personally believe that that is wrong because today some of the best Olympic athletes are women. By the 129th Olympics women could compete.

I found that the chariot races were started when a king named Enamaus raced a price called Pelops for his daughter named Hippodamia. The king promised his daughter that she would marry the first person that could find her and escape the him in a chariot. 13 young men tried but were put to death by the king, finally Pelops sabotaged the king and won. He gave thanks to Zeus and announced that that day would be a sports festival, and a time to honor Zeus. The original Olympics lasted from 776 BC to 393 AD.

As the years passed more and more events were added, even though we have no written record, but we know that footraces, chariot races, boxing and other brutal sports were also part of the Olympics.The most brutal event was called Pancratium, it was basically a brawl. Men would get seriously injured or even killed during events like this. There was also the Penathlon which combined 5 events, they threw spears, ran, wrestled, threw discusses and comped in the long jump.


The Greek Olympics came to an end when the nation was Invaded by the Romans,their beliefs did not go along those of the Greeks so the Olympics ceased to exist. Because for the Romans war trade were the most important, religion came after. Therefor there was no reason to hold the Olympics. The Olympics were revived later but lost their point. Contestants would bribe the judges, they didn't compete for honor and glory as they did in Greece. Their final decline was when Emperor Theodosius II ordered  the walls protecting the stadium to be brought down, the Olympic grounds were flooded and destroyed. There would be no Olympic games for more than fifteen hundred years. From then the games have a form as we know them today.

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What values were most important to early Greeks and why were they considered important?

After reading excerpts from Homer’s Odyssey and discussing Greek values depicted there, I can conclude that the Greek people valued ingenuity and courage the most of all the values. I believe that courage is highly valued by the Greeks because I found examples of it in the excerpt Odysseus and the Cyclops. After being captured by the Cyclops, the monster started depicting the sailors one by one. To save himself and his crew Odysseus forged a plan that required great courage. Together with the sailor Odysseus poured the monster whine and got him drunk, until he was asleep. Then they stabbed his eye until he was blind. When the monster screamed for help he said that nobody is killing him, Odysseus’s fake name. Then they carefully tied themselves to the giant sheep and safely returned to their anchored ship. The reason why I believe this shows courage is because the Cyclops is much larger than all of the sailors and it’s a Cyclops island. 

Along with courage the Greeks highly valued ingenuity, which is creative problem solving. At the end of the odyssey, Odysseus doesn’t want to come into his house as himself, because that would have angered the suitors. So, together with Athena he forged an inguinal plan. He would disguise himself as an old man and would outmatch all of the suitors in the contest for Penelope’s hand. After taking of the disguise he defeated all of the wicked suitors, but still Penelope didn’t recognize him. After thinking deeply Odysseus remembered the bed he made for Penelope on their wedding day, only Odysseus and Penelope could see it. Immediately Penelope knew that it was really Odysseus and that he had returned from his 10 year journey. The reason why I believe that this was inguinal is because Odysseus thought of the best way to remind her Penelope that it was really him.  

 In what ways are early Greeks values found in modern society?

The ancient Greek values are still valued today, but they aren’t in the same way. Most of the values stayed but they have either merged with traits or are not used as commonly. Courage is used less to describe heroic  deeds and more to describe risks that are taken.