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Alexander, genie of genocide?

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Abstract

In his De virtute Alexandri Plutarchus already raised the question whether the conquests of Alexander were due to his (military) fortune or to his genius. There is no doubt that Alexander was indeed a military genius, who won every single battle in which he took part. But it is far less clear whether he was also a political genius, a man with a vision for humanity, who wanted to unite all peoples into a multicultural world. One has rather the impression that Alexander was more interested in his personal power and glory at the cost of thousands of human lives. At the end of his life, he was estranged from his Macedonian troops and from the Greek cities, and he had also eliminated most of his Persian collaborators. His last plans were not about the overdue organisation of his enormous empire, but about new conquests in Arabia and Carthago.

How to Cite:

Clarysse, W., (2006) “Alexander, genie of genocide?”, Tetradio 15(1): 2, 29–51. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tetradio.91760