Asking Alexander only one question

[heroineanilem]

Yesterday evening 11-year-old-neighbour-kid came asking me to help him with his history homework. Personally, I hate doing those things, but the boy is really nice and polite, so I agreed to help him. He's in grade 5 now and kids study basic ancient history at that point (the same as when I went to elementary school). So, his homework was to

Comments

[parisad]

Interestin questions indeed :) My (silly, maybe) opinion about that is:
1. No, I don't think Alexander really regarded himself as a God: think he regarded himself as the Gods's favourite. I think he regarded himself as a man who did great things and so had raised to a divine position. In fact, not a God, but a deified man: not a man born from a god and a mortal, like Herakles. But the problem is that his personal idea of "divinity" mingled with the idea of the King's divinity of the oriental people, Persians and Egyptians, who regarded the King as a true god, son of gods. So is very difficult to say what HE really thought about it and what he PRETENDED to think before his oriental subjects. And take note of another thing: being a deified man or a semi-god and being immortal weren't necessarily connected.
2- I think Alexander must have heir, possibly more than one: he HAD TO marry women who were able to generate. I'm not sure Alexander loved his mother: it's a later speculation and the sources are not clear about it, so we can only guess something. Fights after the King's death were the norm: I think Alexander hoped to live enough to see his sons grow up and become men (a child were too weak to survive against his opposers). I think he married (maybe) Barsines because she carried his son, but then married Roxane because he needed an indisputable legitimate heir (we don't exactly know about the marriage with Barsines). A barbarian girl from a little province was surely not enough for a great King, and the marriage with Statira was an unavoidable duty: her children would have been blood of Alexander and of Darius, rightful heirs for Macedonians and Persians (and I think Alexander planned to marry her since their first meeting, because he ordered not to touch her and her sister). The marriage with Parisatydes does nothing but confirm Alexander's intention to have sons of royal persian blood, an undiscussed heir for all his subjects: Parisatydes was (probably) daughter of Darius's brother.
There would be many things I wish I could ask to Hephaestion...;)

[heroineanilem]

Your opinion is not silly at all. In fact, I think the same. I doubt he ever consider himself equal to olympians, but a mortal men with great achievements worth to be acknowleged as greatest among humans, and because of that favorite of the gods, as you said. As for oriental people, IMO he just did what many politicians do nowdays-if you want to worship me as a god, if it pleases you, go for it-give people what they want to see.