Character Analysis of Alexander the Great

History has asked us to study and interpret past events and from that research we should learn from the mistakes of man or use the knowledge to improve our current lives. Throughout the study of history we have hard evidence and we also get folklore, or tales of events that represent that of a game of telephone. The ultimate goal of a historian is to accurately depict events and translate them as they occurred. With modern news and technology our future descendents of this planet will have no problem gaining a vast understanding of how we lived and the historic events that took place. This however is not true of past and present historian’s analysis of one of the greatest leaders in the history of the ancient world. Alexander, son of Philip the II, king of Macedon is brought to light with many different opinions. Was this man the ruthless ruler that brought down empires and siege cities while killing innocent in droves? Was he a gracious man of honor that sought to unite the ancient world? Perhaps he was a mad man who thought of himself as a God and his conquest was sought in vein. These are some of the questions that I asked myself while researching this one man’s life. There is a plethora of hard evidence that all historians and journalist agree on about his conquest and his life, but when it comes to his character the discrepancies are remarkable. “To some, he is perceived as a blood-thirsty megalomaniac who should be ranked in the annals of history with Stalin and Hitler, while to others he is a visionary devoted to harmony among races and a united world. Many see him as a man motivated by a need to explore the world while others are convinced that he was only out to plunder the riches of the east” (Borgia 1). To know a man is to know where he came from, who he was surrounded by and what influenced him the most. At a young age he possessed the skills of greatness. “From the time Alexander was a boy he was fearless. When no one else could tame the giant horse