WHAT CAN ONE LEARN ABOUT THE VALUES OF SOCIETY BASED ON THEIR VIEWS OF GREATNESS?
What can you learn about what society values based on its views of greatness? If Alexander was considered great, then what can we infer society considers great? According to what Hellenistic society admired, Alexander's greatness was based upon his strong military and his ability to expand upon the cultures of all the places he conquered.
Society values a strong military. This is evident because Alexander's greatness is reflected in his military power. Alexander conquered land from Greece to India. His army was the strongest in all of Greece. When he required different kinds of weapons to suit his needs, Alexander's inventiveness inspired him to create the crossbow and siege tower. He also used his father Philip's effective phalanx formation. Society was highly impressed by his military genius which is one of the reasons Alexander is still considered "great" today.
We can tell society admires military strength because some of the most famous names in history are those of military leaders, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, and Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was considered great because he helped spread his idea of superior culture wherever he went. Alexander believed that the only way to understand the advantages of a specific culture was to be immersed in that culture. (Engineering and Empire: Alexander the Great). Alexander added elements of Hellenistic culture to all of the cities he conquered, as well as reorganizing their social structures. An example of this is how he modified the city of Pergamon, where he added a gym, several temples, and a theater. (Engineering and Empire: Alexander the Great). Alexander also made sure all Hellenistic cultures had a common language that allowed them to trade and communicate. Society admired the way Alexander spread culture throughout many empires, which is just another example why society sees Alexander as "great."
Alexander had a successful military because he had an unusual ability to win the loyalty of hundreds of men (Engineering and Empire: Alexander the Great). He also promoted the expansion of Hellenistic culture in many cities. Society admired Alexander's accomplishments and deemed him great. The level of someone's greatness is dependent upon society's definition of greatness.
A statue of Alexander leading a charge
Video on Alexander the Great
Works Cited:
Frater, J.. N.p.. Web. 18 Sep 2013.
<http://listverse.com/2008/10/11/top-10-most-
successful-military-commanders/>.
. N.p.. Web. 18 Sep 2013.
<http://www.hackneys.com/alex_web/battles/tactics.htm>.
Worthington, Ian. N.p.. Web. 18 Sep 2013.
<http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/readings/great1.html>.
Phillip, M.. N.p.. Web. 18 Sep 2013.
<http://greece.mrdonn.org/alexander.html>.
Roger B. Beck, . <http://my.hrw.com/tabnav/controller.jsp?
isbn=9780547521084>.
Engineering and Empire: Alexander the Great. 2007. Film.
20 Sep 2013.
Really, really, good; your information was organized and clear and you didn't lose sight of your topic. Citations are great! I would only suggest more elaboration, maybe about his inventive nature? Mention how he helped his father with battle plans even before becoming ruler?
ReplyDeleteYou present an accurate description of the beliefs of society. To comply with APA style etiquette, your paragraphs should have no extra white space in between one another. Good job otherwise.
ReplyDeleteYou had a well thought out argument and i like the fact that you added a picture and a video. The only thing wrong is that there is too much spacing in-between paragraphs.
ReplyDeletegreat job grace! I liked how you put a video and a picture in the mix. citations were clear and all the information was relevant to the picture and video.
ReplyDeleteReally, really, good; your information was organized and clear and you didn't lose sight of your topic. Citations are great! I would only suggest more elaboration, maybe about his inventive nature? Mention how he helped his father with battle plans even before becoming ruler?
ReplyDeleteI really like yours and you did a great job of staying on topic. little thing, at the top of the second paragraph you could specify about the society, because a society's views change overtime, even though those two have a focus on militaristic government, there are many others that didn't
ReplyDelete