Values of a Society based on Their Beliefs of Greatness

           Without an audience, greatness has no significance. It does not even exist at that point because no one would know about it, and therein lies the depths of what this argument attempts to prove: the perception of greatness from different points of view, and how this perception reflects back upon the perceptees. The perception of what is great differs depending on what attributes are necessary at that time. Thus, different things can be inferred about a people’s values depending on what they consider great. Alexander III of Macedon was called “the Great” because of the success of his conquests and the glory which he brought to his people.

  The Romans were the first to christen him “the great”. This shows that the Romans were of the opinion that his conquests were the best thing that he accomplished. This is likely because the Romans were at the time plowing a similar course with their own empire, and were so trying to be optimistic about the outcome. The Romans recognized the difficulty of holding such a large empire and respected him for being able to do that. While it seems that one would be dismayed by the loss of tens of thousands of citizens, neither the Romans nor the Macedonians seem to have cared much about that. This would indicate that there was no shortage of people on either front. While the Romans were impressed mainly because of his military prowess, his own people also reveled in his acheivements with what land he had already conquered.

Macedonians worshipped Alexander. Many thought him a god before he died. Alexander spread the culture of Greece throughout his empire. He created a lasting legacy, the hellenistic kingdoms. Finally, he is considered to be philosophical idealist for the equal treatment of all races of people. However, he was very reckless with his life and the lives of his soldiers. His “violent temper on occasion led him to murder his friends and who towards the end of his life was an alcoholic, paranoid, megalomaniac, who believed in his own divinity” He killed innocent native peoples for no reason. What does this say about the values of his people? The Macedonians valued a leader who would preserve the worth of the empire, and glorify it. They cared little about the means through which it was done so long as the end goal was accomplished.

In conclusion, while Alexander III of Macedon had many flaws, his greatness in the eyes of both the Romans and his own people vastly overshadowed them. His greatness exemplified the militaristic values of his society, and also his capability to control an entire empire. Greatness is something that doesn’t occur without people to witness it.

Works Cited

“Military of Ancient Rome.” Wikipedia. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Wikipedia. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_ancient_Rome>.

Worthington, Ian, Ph.D. “How ‘Great’ Was Alexander?” University of Texas. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/readings/great1.html>.
"Of Gods and Men." Williams. Jed Untereker, James Kossuth, Bill Kelsey, n.d. 
     Web. 26 Sept. 2013. <http://wso.williams.edu/~junterek/>.