It is obvious that Alexander the Great’s journey is remarkable to us today. Back when Alexander lived, this was an extraordinary feat that had not been achieved ever before. He did many great things during his journey that made it very memorable. One huge thing that he did was he defeated the Persians twice and conquered the Persian Empire. This goal of conquest took most of his live so this journey is what Alexander the Great lived for and conquered more cities and towns than anyone could have imagined. He ultimately defeated Persia to help Greece finally get the revenge they needed on their main enemy Persia. He gained more and more power and became one of the greatest leaders in history during his lifetime journey. He also did some bad things during his journey. He killed thousands of innocent people because he became so obsessed with all the power he had. He thought he could do anything and forced his army into bad situations because of his selfishness. Most of his army died during his journey because of the terrible conditions he led it through. This was the dark side of Alexander. So the question that needs to be answered is was Alexander’s journey worth it? His journey was definitely worth it because he changed history for the better and nothing would be the same today if it was not for his journey.
Alexander’s journey was very influential in Egypt. When he entered Egypt in 332 BC, the Egyptians treated him like a king and with honor. They thought he would be the leader to help them attack Persia because they hated each other for generations. During his six month stay in Egypt, he helped build a beautiful city and called it Alexandria. This city has flourished for years and it is even flourishing today, but if Alexander did not find this city, it would not be present today. He then went off to the temple on the oasis of Siwa. The priests there welcomed him, and even declared him the son of the god Amun-Re. “Afterwards, he was able to declare himself the son of the god Amun Re, in order to win the respect and veneration of the Egyptians” (http://www.eternalegypt.org/EternalEgyptWebsiteWeb/HomeServlet?ee_website_action_key=action.display.module&story_id=&language_id=1&module_id=330&text=text). This was a very high honor for Alexander during his stay in Egypt and this really motivated Alexander to continue his journey into Persia. Since his sojourn in Egypt was so influential on Alexander, people may wonder if Alexander would have had the confidence to continue his journey. Maybe if he was not able to go to Egypt, he would have not been prepared to fight Persia and his journey might have ended there.
Alexander the Great’s journey now led him into Persia and had a crucial battle with the Persians This battle was known as the Battle of Gaugamela and the Macedonians earned a well-fought victory over the Persians. Darius, the leader of the Persian army, retreated so Alexander had started to conquer Persia. He then marched to Persepolis, but had to go through the Persian Gate in order to reach Persepolis. He stormed past this gate using the direct route to the city even though it was guarded and finally reached Persepolis in the year 330 BC. When he was there, Alexander told his army Persepolis was the worst enemy of all the cities in Asia. The army responded by rushing into the city and killing most of the people there and stealing a lot of loot in the city. “Here much silver was carried off and no little gold, and many expensive dresses, embroidered with purple or with gold, fell as prizes to the victors” (http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t12.html) Alexander took possession of all the treasures there and wanted somehow to destroy the once prosperous city. He did this by burning the royal palace of Xerxes and this closely resembled the Persians burning down the Acropolis of Athens. This part of his journey was worth it because Alexander’s main goal was to conquer Persia and he achieved that during his time in Persepolis.
After conquering Persia, he then went to Afghanistan. Alexander found out that a man named Bessus was the person who killed Darius and went after him since he thought he could be the successor of Darius. His quest to kill Bessus took him all over Afghanistan and he even founded many new cities, including Alexandria in present-day Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was very close to Bessus when he reached the northern area of Bactria in Afghanistan and finally found him. Bessus was across the Oxus River, and Alexander led his army against him, and he was beaten and finally killed. Alexander could now consider himself the Persian leader since no one was left to challenge him and all the battles that were fought in Afghanistan were worth it. During his time there, he also met a woman named Roxanne and got married to her. They had a son that was going to be the heir of Alexander, but it sadly died. “After giving birth to the heir of Alexander’s kingdom, both Roxanne and Alexander IV are killed by insurgents” (http://www.afghanland.com/history/alexander.html). If Alexander did not try to kill Bessus, he might have never been the official leader of Persia, so this is why this part of the journey was so important to Alexander.
The last part of Alexander’s journey led him and his army into India. He fought in many battles, especially the battle against Porus and his Indian army at the Hydaspes River. This was a very hard fought battle from both sides, but the Macedonians eventually defeated the Indians in 326 BCE. Alexander then wanted to reach the Ganges River, but the army refused to go any farther east because they heard that many powerful Indian tribes lived along the Ganges River. The army went south down the Hydaspes River and attacked many villages on the way, which was not a smart thing to do. One village that Alexander stopped at was Malli, which had many warlike people in its village. Alexander was severely hurt during this attack, which affected his journey tremendously. “Alexander was wounded several times in this attack, most seriously when an arrow pierced his breastplate and his ribcage” (http://wso.williams.edu/~junterek/india.htm). He escaped Malli and headed for Persia after his conquest of India, but he took the dangerous path home through the Gedrosian Desert. Much of his army died because of the harsh conditions of the desert and Alexander’s journey was finally over. This journey helped shaped history with all the countries Alexander passed through and this journey helped Alexander conquer the Persian Empire, so his journey was worth it.
Sources
Austin, M.M. (n.d.). Alexander sacks persepolis. Retrieved from http://www.livius.org/aj- al/alexander/alexander_t12.html
eternalegypt.org, Initials. (n.d.). Alexander the great in egypt. Retrieved from http://www.eternalegypt.org/EternalEgyptWebsiteWeb/HomeServlet?ee_website_action_ key=action.display.module&story_id=&language_id=1&module_id=330&text=text
Momand, W. (2000). Invasion of alexander. Retrieved from http://www.afghanland.com/history/alexander.html
Untereker, J. (1996). Alexander in india. Retrieved from http://wso.williams.edu/~junterek/india.htm
Wikipedia, Initials. (2011, March 11). Alexander the great. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great
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