Still famous after all these years
Why is Alexander still so talked about, written about, loved, revered, hated and fought over, 18 centuries later? It seems sometimes as if everyone wants him. From academics to fan fiction writers, from the inhabitants of one modern nation to their neighbours (not mentioning any names), soldiers, gay lobbyists, business gurus… and those are just the understandable ones. It’s a mystery why he’s often claimed to have been left-handed, suffered from epilepsy or bi-polar disorder, or hated cats. Where do these myths come from? Not from the extant sources, that’s for sure. But maybe the answer to the second question lies in the answer to the first - he’s all things to all men and women.
It always amazes me that for every incident in his life that illustrates a character trait, you can almost always find one that illustrates the exact opposite. Impulsive and cautious, romantic and pragmatic, kind and cruel, patient and impatient, clever and well-read, yet fond of a joke and a drink, visionary yet practical and down-to-earth, open-hearted and suspicious, passionate yet ascetic, reckless and self-controlled… the list is endless. In fact, the only one I can’t see an opposite for is generous. He was never stingy.
He was the one who conquered Asia by making it up as he went along, who set out into the unknown with a vision of the end of the world, without really knowing where he was going.
If there’s one thing the film did well, it was bringing out this restless quality, this man who was everything, at one and the same time, and all the tensions that brought. It’s easy to imagine that most humans, burdened with such a character, would go insane, and it’s true that there are some who would argue that Alexander did. But for my part, I think his sanity was at his side, schoolmate, somatophylakos, and chiliarch… you know who I mean.
I think we came close to the heart of Alexander when he stood freezing on the mountain top, and said,
“We must go on, Ptolemy, until we find an end.”
I’m not sure he really knew what he was looking for, but I love the way he won’t give up until he finds it, and his vision is focused on something yearned-for, far above empire, wealth or power.
This single-mindedness is what we respond to, I think. In his character, he is all of us; in his youth and strength and beauty, he is all we admire; his achievements amaze us; yet above all of that, we see him step out unafraid into the unknown, and see the courage that earned him his inspirational legacy. For all he thought he was the son of Zeus, he was mortal like us, and somehow that shows us what we can be, by having that state of mind that refuses to be cowed by anything at all.
It always amazes me that for every incident in his life that illustrates a character trait, you can almost always find one that illustrates the exact opposite. Impulsive and cautious, romantic and pragmatic, kind and cruel, patient and impatient, clever and well-read, yet fond of a joke and a drink, visionary yet practical and down-to-earth, open-hearted and suspicious, passionate yet ascetic, reckless and self-controlled… the list is endless. In fact, the only one I can’t see an opposite for is generous. He was never stingy.
He was the one who conquered Asia by making it up as he went along, who set out into the unknown with a vision of the end of the world, without really knowing where he was going.
If there’s one thing the film did well, it was bringing out this restless quality, this man who was everything, at one and the same time, and all the tensions that brought. It’s easy to imagine that most humans, burdened with such a character, would go insane, and it’s true that there are some who would argue that Alexander did. But for my part, I think his sanity was at his side, schoolmate, somatophylakos, and chiliarch… you know who I mean.
I think we came close to the heart of Alexander when he stood freezing on the mountain top, and said,
“We must go on, Ptolemy, until we find an end.”
I’m not sure he really knew what he was looking for, but I love the way he won’t give up until he finds it, and his vision is focused on something yearned-for, far above empire, wealth or power.
This single-mindedness is what we respond to, I think. In his character, he is all of us; in his youth and strength and beauty, he is all we admire; his achievements amaze us; yet above all of that, we see him step out unafraid into the unknown, and see the courage that earned him his inspirational legacy. For all he thought he was the son of Zeus, he was mortal like us, and somehow that shows us what we can be, by having that state of mind that refuses to be cowed by anything at all.