Alexander the Great was an objectively terrible person.
Emperors who kill and take over other peoples land are usually the bad guys.
And yet, we are obsessed with him, and have been for over 2,000 years.
Blame the Parents
And so these versions of his story have to twist Alexander into a hero.
Alexanders mother Olympias gets even more of the blame.
Genuine Believer or Pure Imperialist?
Alexanders imperialism gets an interesting treatment in modern versions.
Whether Alexander really believed he was divine or not is something we can never know.
Part of the appeal of Alexander is the sheer, almost incomprehensible scale of his military achievements.
He set out to conquer the known world and he got about halfway through it before his death.
Part of the appeal is the fact that he lived fast and died young.
The cause of his death has been debated ever since.
A Tempting Soap Opera Mystery to Solve
Alexanders reign is bookended by mysterious deaths.
But why, and was Pausanias working with anyone?
Was he working with Olympias to bring down Philip and get Alexander on the throne?
And then there is the ongoing mystery of Alexanders own death.
Alexanders family life adds a fascinating soap opera featuring relationships all tangled up in a dramatic way.
The Macedonian royal family, unlike other ancient Greeks, practiced polygamy.
Alexander was a big fan of theIliadand of Achilles.
This would be a pretty clear signal of their relationship to other Greeks at that time.
Ptolemy ruled for years and started a dynasty that lasted three centuries.
