Commemorating Alexander the Great

With all the things going on in the world it is, of course, important to get our priorities right. Rather than being concerned with ephemeral things, we need to turn our minds and hearts towards that which is eternal. 

For example, the achievements of Alexander the Great. And tomorrow, Wednesday 11th June, is a wonderful opportunity to remember all that Alexander achieved because it is the 2332nd anniversary of his death in Babylon.

At the time of his death, Alexander was planning the conquest of Arabia. He had already subdued the known world as far as the modern day border between Pakistan and India. He was undefeated in battle, honourable in victory (mostly) and inspirational in his farsighted determination to fuse Macedonian and Persian cultures. 

Alexander slept with a copy of the Iliad under his pillow. He was dedicated to living out in his own life the heroic code found in Homer's work. It is true that as the years wore on he drank rather a lot and, perhaps, by the end was starting to become more than a little tyrannical (ahem), but unless we are to lose our reason and turn him into a monster, we need to remember the frought position that the king of Macedonia held and, indeed, the very frought age in which he lived. Alexander's excesses should bring into sharp focus, not obscure, the good things he did: the way he treated the wife and family of Darius III when they fell into his hands, the credit he gave to Porus, his religious devotion, the cities he built etc etc.

Where is the great Alexander?

Great Alexander lives and reigns!