How the epic poem Iliad influenced Alexander the Great - Research Paper Example

? A CRITICAL ANAYSIS OF THE INFLUENCES OF THE ILIAD ON ALEXANDER THE GREAT A CRITICAL ANAYSIS OF THE INFLUENCES OF THE ILIAD ON ALEXANDER THE GREAT Introduction Human civilization has its own way to produce great authors and literatures. But often these authors and their literatures become so influential that they tend to shape the course of history. Homer’s epic poem, “Iliad” appears to be one of the most influential literary works that have shaped the fate of Greek civilization along the path of time. The Iliad has exerted a tremendous influence on the psychological development of the Greek hero Alexander the Great. It will not be an exaggeration to assert that if Homer did not write the Iliad, the Greek Civilization would not get any Alexander the Great. Alexander’s dream to conquer the world has its root in the very imaginary of world of the Iliad. To a great extent, Iliad’s world was a world of heroism for Alexander. Homer’s heroes -especially, Achilles- had influenced the young mind of Alexander in his youth. But this world also taught him morality and courage to a considerable extent. It was the courage of Achilles’ courage -to go against Agamemnon’s tyrannous, unreasonable and despotic behavior- that inspired Alexander to raise his voice often against his father’s royal policies. Though he inherited much of the war-tactics and the wisdom of fighting and winning a war from his father Philip of Macedon, textual evidences from the “Iliad” show that a significant part of Alexander’s war-tactics had been induced and modulated by the war-tactics of Homeric heroes. This paper will explore into how Alexander had been influenced by Homer’s epic poem ‘Iliad’. In this regard, Alexander’s real-life activities will be compared with the textual evidences in the poem. Iliad’s Influences on Alexander’s Youth During the formative years of his early life Alexander had been greatly influenced by the “Iliad”. Since his time, he has turned into a legendary personality. He appears to one of the most influential historical personalities who tamed the world by their courage. But this legendary personality himself has been inspired tremendously by the Greek mythologies and legends. During the early years of his life, Alexander studied the ‘Iliad’. The courage and heroism of the Greek heroes in the story were greatly shaping the young mind of Alexander. Especially the Homeric hero Achilles attracted him so much that he decided to imitate him in his real life. Till his death, the Achillean motivation to fight in a war has haunted Alexander’s mind. This Achillean motivation is best described in the following speech of Achilles: “If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy, / my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. / If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, / my pride, my glory dies. . . .”1 The famous Historian Plutarch comments that being pleased by Alexander’s passion for Achilles, Aristotle himself prepared an annotated copy the ‘Iliad’ and gave it to the young boy. This annotated copy of the Iliad accompanied Alexander till the last day of his life. He even slept with it under his pillow, as Chris Whitten says in this regard: “Emulating the famous hero was apparently encouraged by his teacher, the great philosopher Aristotle….Aristotle personally annotated a copy of the Iliad for Alexander. Alexander kept it with him throughout all his later travels, even sleeping with it under his pillow.”2 Another event in Alexander’s life inspired him to mould his life after Achilles. His mother, Olympias, had been able to convince young Alexander that he was the descendant of Achilles and Hercules. Though Olympias’s story seems to be a sheer fantasy, it shook Alexander’s young mind vehemently and prepared him mentally to keep the fantasized Achillean heroic family tradition intact. Iliad’s Role on Alexander’s Conflict with Philip II From the very beginning of his career in the Macedonian Army, Alexander began to react against his father’s policies. He opposed his father not only because he was more freedom-loving but also because he had to uphold himself as the future king. Though he was greatly admired by the royal court of Philip II, he did not want to remain under the shadow of his father. Alexander himself would “to imitate his father and react against his policies, to define himself as both another Philip and as an anti-Philip.”3 Even some scholars think that he had lent a hand “direct or indirect, in the murder of his father, so that he could lead the expedition to Asia that his father had organized.”4 This father-son antagonism seems to have its root in the influence of the Iliad on young Alexander. The Book One of the Iliad generally deals the relationship of the younger heroes with the older ones. From the beginning, Alexander’s hero Achilles always opposes the unjust and arbitrary king Agamemnon. Alexander might be inspired, by Achilles’ independently courageous role, to raise his voice against his father’s royal policies, though Philip II does not perfectly represents the character of Agamemnon. In this regard, Kallistos Alexandros comments: If Alexander envisioned himself as the new Achilles, surely Philip must have, however imperfectly, represented Agamemnon to him. This might only be a young boy's emotional response and not based upon reason, but it seems that the role of Agamemnon in Alexander's fantasy could only have been played by Philip.5 Iliad’s Influences on Alexander’s Royal Policies Alexander’s real-life situation did not allow him to adhere to the Achillean war policies in the battlefields. He himself had to resort to conspiracies, murder, assassination, bribing, etc in order to ascend to the throne and to keep his kingdom intact under his grip. Though Achillean heroism depends more on courage than blanket actions like conspiracies, murder, assassination, or bribing, Alexander, as a king, had to go for these options. Since hostility between Alexander-Philip preceded the assassination of the king, Alexander had been suspected for this assassination. He managed to kill all of the claimants of the throne and assassinated his sister and forced his step-mother to commit suicide.6 Obviously these stories of Alexander’s life do not belong to Achillean heroism. Rather these activities reveal Alexander’s firm belief that he is the descendant of the Greek gods. In the Iliad, Homer’s gods and goddesses appear to be more vicious and vile from a moral perspective. Indeed Alexander might have been inspired, by his godly blood-connection, to go for those vicious things to keep his position intact.7 During his conflict with Philip, he might have been motivated to believe that his father is no more a contestant and since he believed, though it was one of his fantasies, that his mother Olympias is a demigod, he would be saved by his mother and the gods, as Achilles had been saved by his mother Thetis. Iliad’s Influences on Alexander’s War Policies and Tactics Agility and swiftness are two of the major war-tactics of Alexander in the battlefields. Both of these qualities in Alexander as a soldier had been induced by the agility of Achilles. Homer often calls Achilles as a “swift runner”. In the same manner, the ‘sprint’ which needs the players’ great agility was Alexander’s most favorite sport. Like Achilles, Alexander would consult a seer before any of his major enterprises. Indeed Achilles felt that the Trojan War was cursed because a plague preceded it. Therefore he sought advices of a seer before he made any move. This event in the Iliad rather reinforced his belief in the traditional Greek religion, as Alexandros says in this regard, “The Iliad could not help but to reinforce Alexander's quite conventional religious beliefs. At an early age, he could not find the idea of apotheosis to be fantastic. It was after all, a part of history and an accepted fact. This possibility was to remain important in the motives for his actions until his death.”8 Like Achilles, Alexander followed a war-policy of ‘mercy for who beg for it’. He always was eager to show mercy to his opponents in the battlefields, if they begged for it. Zeus heralded the same quality in Achilles: “Whoever begs his mercy, / he will spare with all the kindness of his heart.”9 Alexander was not the exception until the death of his close friend, Hephaestion. Being devastated by this death, he destroyed the whole Cossaeans, as Plutarch writes: At this misfortune, Alexander was so beyond all reason transported that, to express his sorrow, he immediately ordered the manes and tails of all his horses and mules to be cut.... Then seeking to alleviate his grief in war, he set out, as it were, to a hunt and chase of men, for he fell upon the Cossaeans, and put the whole nation to the sword.10 Indeed this extravagance of grief seems to imitate Achilles grief over the death of his friend Patrocolos. In order to pacify this grief, he killed Trojans by “the hundreds, beheaded children, and dragged the body of Hektor, Patroklos's killer.”11 Conclusion Almost all of the historical resources agree that Alexander read the Iliad again and again throughout his whole life. Also he made a sincere effort to build up his character after the Homeric role-model Achilles. He was so much absorbed in the character of Achilles that his young mind began to grow hatred for everything that is not Hellenic. Like all other Hellenes, Alexander, the educated prince, was moved by the book in which “history, art, and religion all rolled up into one.”12 If modern readers perceived the Iliad as a blend of fictitious history of the Trojan War, for Alexander it was the reflection of history; assertion of religious belief and portrayal of a nation’s glory. All these together had been able to give to another Achilles who conquered most of the know world. In this regard, Kalistos Alexandros says, “His connection to this work is, I think, incontestable. Did he model his life upon Achilles? Perhaps, but it seems more likely that he identified with the character quite early on and rather than attempting to be like Achilles, he felt he really was like Achilles from the start.”13 Moreover, the rumor about his ancestry spread by his mother Olympias further made the belief deep-seated in his heart. Therefore, this belief provoked him to to do the best to prepare himself as the true descendant of Achilles. Bibliography Whitten, Chris. “Alexander the Great: World Conqueror,” Internet, available from xxx, accessed 14 November 2012. Homer, The Iliad, London: Penguin Classics, 2008 Alexandros, Kallistos. “Achilles And Alexander,” Ancientworlds, Internet, available from xxx, accessed 14 Muller, Sabine. “The Shadow of His Father Alexander, Hermolaus, and the Legend of Philip,” in Philip II and Alexander the Great Father and Son, Lives and Afterlives, ed. Elizabeth Carney and Daniel Ogden, 26-27, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Plutarch, Alexander, trans. John Dryden, Macedonian Cultural and Historical Resource Center, available from http://faq.macedonia.org/history/alexander.plutarch.html, accessed 14 November 2012. Ruzicka, Stephen. “The “Pixodarus Affair” Reconsidered Again,” in Philip II and Alexander the Great Father and Son, Lives and Afterlives, ed. Elizabeth Carney and Daniel gden, 19, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Read More