I'll try my best and submit what knowledge/notes i have from '03 on this topic.
Starting with the Early life.
[Alexander the Great]
Our task is to unveil the Alexander of history and detach as much as possible the Alexander of myth and legend. The sources portray him as superhuman, as a prophet, even as a magician. The major historiographical issue is to uncover the real Alexander that has been veiled by centuries of interpretation and reinterpretation.
[A Divine Birth]
"Through my father Phillip, I was born of the line of the deified Hercules, son of Zeus, and born of the line of Achilles through my mother, Olympus." Alexander
Heracles was the only hero honoured in the Greek world as a human granted immortality by the gods. He destroys monsters, struggles with death, destroys cities and killed his own children.
Achilles is the typical Greek hero, he is strong, proud, wrathful, fearless and passionate. Achilles had a choice of a long life in obscurity or a mortal death and immortal glory.
Alexander was born in 356 BC and possibly 20 July, making him a Cancer. His father single-handedly created the Macedonian kingdom out of warring tribes and local principalities. His mother, Olympias, was a young princess from Epirus, a mountainous region bordering Albania. Phillip had allegedly fallen in love with her at the age of 14, she was involved in a mystery cult on the island of Samathrace. Later writers portray her as extremely proud and devoted to these mountains cults, a snake handler, she follows Dionysus. Alexander is influenced by his parental environment, he obtains these characteristics from his parents: from his father he obtained ruthlessness and how to be a politician, and from his mother he gains an insight into the realm of the mysterious, he is greatly influenced by the supernatural. She could also be very volatile and show a range of
emotions.
[Parental Relationships]
The relationship between his father and mother was never easy, Phillip apparently distanced himself from Olympias after he saw her in bed with a snake. This take gave rise to legends that she had been impregnated by a God and Alexander was not the son of a mortal father, this was reinforced by the fact that he often escaped death and catastrophe and so must have been divinely
protected. Olympias was utterly devoted to seeing Alexander as a master of Macedonia Nothing and no one was going to stand in the way of her boy securing the throne. She would not tolerate Phillip's other relationships, even though the practice of polygamy was widely accepted. Olympias was in her mid-30's when abandoned for a younger wife, in disgust she returns to Epirus with Alexander. On his return Alexander is taunted about the second marriage and the fact that there is a new heir to the throne on the way. But Olympias has the last laugh, when the new wife and child are put to death after Phillip's assassination. The ruthlessness would often be repeated by Alexander and is part of the Macedonian kingship. You liquidate potential enemies, if they cross you or are thinking of crossing you. Adolescence for Alexander is a training ground for his later life.
Starting with the Early life.
[Alexander the Great]
Our task is to unveil the Alexander of history and detach as much as possible the Alexander of myth and legend. The sources portray him as superhuman, as a prophet, even as a magician. The major historiographical issue is to uncover the real Alexander that has been veiled by centuries of interpretation and reinterpretation.
[A Divine Birth]
"Through my father Phillip, I was born of the line of the deified Hercules, son of Zeus, and born of the line of Achilles through my mother, Olympus." Alexander
Heracles was the only hero honoured in the Greek world as a human granted immortality by the gods. He destroys monsters, struggles with death, destroys cities and killed his own children.
Achilles is the typical Greek hero, he is strong, proud, wrathful, fearless and passionate. Achilles had a choice of a long life in obscurity or a mortal death and immortal glory.
Alexander was born in 356 BC and possibly 20 July, making him a Cancer. His father single-handedly created the Macedonian kingdom out of warring tribes and local principalities. His mother, Olympias, was a young princess from Epirus, a mountainous region bordering Albania. Phillip had allegedly fallen in love with her at the age of 14, she was involved in a mystery cult on the island of Samathrace. Later writers portray her as extremely proud and devoted to these mountains cults, a snake handler, she follows Dionysus. Alexander is influenced by his parental environment, he obtains these characteristics from his parents: from his father he obtained ruthlessness and how to be a politician, and from his mother he gains an insight into the realm of the mysterious, he is greatly influenced by the supernatural. She could also be very volatile and show a range of
emotions.
[Parental Relationships]
The relationship between his father and mother was never easy, Phillip apparently distanced himself from Olympias after he saw her in bed with a snake. This take gave rise to legends that she had been impregnated by a God and Alexander was not the son of a mortal father, this was reinforced by the fact that he often escaped death and catastrophe and so must have been divinely
protected. Olympias was utterly devoted to seeing Alexander as a master of Macedonia Nothing and no one was going to stand in the way of her boy securing the throne. She would not tolerate Phillip's other relationships, even though the practice of polygamy was widely accepted. Olympias was in her mid-30's when abandoned for a younger wife, in disgust she returns to Epirus with Alexander. On his return Alexander is taunted about the second marriage and the fact that there is a new heir to the throne on the way. But Olympias has the last laugh, when the new wife and child are put to death after Phillip's assassination. The ruthlessness would often be repeated by Alexander and is part of the Macedonian kingship. You liquidate potential enemies, if they cross you or are thinking of crossing you. Adolescence for Alexander is a training ground for his later life.
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