Alexander The Great

Yesterday I had a very nice chance to watch the BBC documentary about Alexander the great and I was really impressed. The films was shot in real locations starting from his Birth place in Macedonia/Greece till his end in Babylon. It was a wonderful opportunity to trace the footsteps of this great man who really changed history and affected humanity in an incomparable way. Alexander is one of the most controversial characters in history, regarded as a brave warrior, an insatiable conqueror, a magnificent king, a patriotic citizen, a civilization builder, a devil, a horned beast, a heartless fighter, a brilliant planner, a down to earth leader, an emotional human, an egotist, a homosexual, a challenger and the list of names is endless.... I'm not surprised why uptill now Alexander still evokes this passion to study him and trace his footsteps, movies are still made about his short life (he died at the age of 33) and books are still written about his glory, people may agree or disagree on whether he was good or bad, but no one denies that he was a great man, no body can. Alexander conquered the world in 8 years and immortalized his name in history by his own footsteps, nothing stopped him from creating his glory marching with his army through the vast deserts of Egypt, the deep waters of Lebanon, the merciless warriors of Persia, the scary mountains of Afghanistan and the dangerous jungles of India. For the first time in history, a kingdom was created encompassing Greece in the north, Egypt in the west and China in the east. Historians believe he conquered all the known inhabited land at his time, he literally owned the world. What else could we expect from a man who knew no words as pessimism or weakness or retreat, a single minded approach he never changed in his life. Humanity owes a lot to this great man and we as Egyptians should thank him for Alexandria, that immortal magical city that has the first and biggest library in the world, and the light house that is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, an international university that changed the world and a cultural center that never ceased to to emit its light to mankind. Yesterday's movie was really absorbing and the idea of seeing the places where he literally walked with his army was breath taking, extremely different ways people see him was a thought provoking issue that still occupies my mind, the eternal question about any leader, a God or a Devil? I believe neither, a leader is still a man, human being, goods and bads, great works and mistakes, who said a leader has to be any of both? I recommend two important and extremely controversial works related to this event: 1- Adventure story, a play by the British playwrite Sir Terence Rattigan (1911-1977), unlike most of the works about Alexander, it has a very strong theme of spirituality, a totally new aspect of Alexander's character and an indication that his journey all over the world was with the aim of becoming a God. 2- Alexander, Oliver Stone's film that was made in 2004, starring Colin Farrel as Alexander with brilliant perfomance and also starring Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer in brand new roles. the film costed 155 Million US Dollars and was shot in London, Malta, Morocco, India and the Himalayas. The film focuses on the human side as well as the warrior in Alexander's character with special focus on his bisexuality and his relationship with his male friend and lover Hephaistion and his Persian wife Roxan. The film created a lot of controversy and was fought against mainly by the Greeks who refused that their great leader was shown as a homosexual and the Iranians who didn't like the scenes showing the defeat of the Persian army. I end this very long post with word that still rings in my mind, said by Michael Wood, the adventurer who was following the footsteps of Alexander, he said "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" Very true!!!