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Alexander the Great was the greatest general in ancient history (Hannibal is up there though), and also Greek. Greeks wielded power just like the Romans, there
by quickthrowman 7y ago
Alexander the Great was the greatest general in ancient history (Hannibal is up there though), and also Greek. Greeks wielded power just like the Romans, there were a few hundred years of Greek hegemony in the eastern Mediterranean after Alexander died.
What the heck do you have against the Roman people? Making value judgements about long dead ancient cultures is really strange, they saw the world much different than us.
- cultus 7y agoSpeaking of cruelty and Alexander, he was also a bloodthirsty, paranoid, alcoholic lunatic. Apart from the standard sackings and such inherent in ancient conquest, he executed many around him on shaky suspicions and killed his close friend Cleitus in a drunken rage. If he were a more recent figure he would be most comparable to Stalin or Hitler.
- Koshkin 7y agoTrue. So would Gaius “Caesar” Julius, BTW.
- n0rbwah 7y agoSo would most people who wielded a comparable amount of power.
- thaumasiotes 7y agoGaius "Caesar" Julius? Where does that come from? Caesar was his name, Gaius Iulius Caesar.
- Koshkin 7y agoNo, "Caesar" was his cognomen (i.e. a nickname).
- thaumasiotes 7y agoYes, it was his cognomen. The cognomen is what you as a modern Westerner would think of as a name -- it is the only part of a Roman name that identifies the person. The nomen identifies the person's family, and the praenomen identifies nothing at all -- there are so few praenomina that they are conventionally abbreviated by just their first letter. (Or in the case of a couple that begin with the same letter, two letters.) Imagine if "J. K. Rowling" was, by itself, sufficient information for you to know that the first name was Joanne. The cognomen is unlike the concept referred to by the English word "nickname". It is part of the full formal name. It is fixed. It is like a nickname in that it is not assigned at birth and in that you have the option of referring to someone by cognomen or not.
- roenxi 7y agoMost of the historical greats are fairly comparable to Stalin and Hitler; winners write the histories. The main novelty of Stalin and Hitler was modern technology and communications let them do a lot more damage. At the time, Hitler probably assumed that history would see him in a similar light to Napoleon.
- notahacker 7y agoHitler was so convinced that the Third Reich would be viewed as a great historical civilization he became absorbed with Speer's ideas on 'ruin value' and mandated that all state buildings were to be built with designs and materials that would lead to attractive, classical-style ruins