# Alexander the Great is not Great
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [January 2, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886 "2013-01-02T21:50:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/41 "2013-01-03T14:27:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> The OP is not your best work, Mr. Hitchens.
I’m looking forward to the next in the series, though: “Frosties are Not Great: the Turpitude of Tony the Tiger”.
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### Author:  [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/42 "2013-01-03T14:45:18Z")
Does the general public believe that Alexander the Great was good or bad?
Like with Socrates, almost everyone thinks he was good (including me). He really was an awesome, intelligent man. At the time, the Athenians had to be such jerks and accuse him for 'corrupting the youth, and ‘blaspheming the gods’. It was ridiculous. Socrates was actually religious and looked up to the gods. And saying he ‘corrupted the youth’ is lame too because all he did was teach his students how to think using the Socratic Method. He even told Plato to educate young children to be good, democratic students, and on top of that, Socrates said not to question built in customs.
I know I got a little side-tracked there, and I will probably be doing a pit thread on Socrates’s persecution because that’s just bogus.
But what does the general publc think about Alexander the Great?
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/43 "2013-01-03T14:53:12Z")
That his movie sucked. If they think about him at all.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/44 "2013-01-03T14:54:34Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> Well, the Russians called him _Ivan Grozniy,_ a word meaning “terrible” not in the sense of “horrible” but in the sense of “awesome,” “mighty,” “awe-inspiring,” as in “Oz the Great and Terrible.”
>
> Ivan was terrible in **both** senses, of course.
Like, awful and awesome used to mean the same thing. Causing awe.
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### Author:  [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/45 "2013-01-03T14:56:02Z")
I don’t think that the general public thinks about Alexander the Great at all. I don’t think that he was any different than any empire builder.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/46 "2013-01-03T15:32:14Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> Like with Socrates, almost everyone thinks he was good (including me). He really was an awesome, intelligent man. At the time, the Athenians had to be such jerks and accuse him for 'corrupting the youth, and ‘blaspheming the gods’. It was ridiculous. Socrates was actually religious and looked up to the gods. And saying he ‘corrupted the youth’ is lame too because all he did was teach his students how to think using the Socratic Method. He even told Plato to educate young children to be good, democratic students, and on top of that, Socrates said not to question built in customs.
>
> I know I got a little side-tracked there, and I will probably be doing a pit thread on Socrates’s persecution because that’s just bogus.
Of course, the only accounts we have of the trial and death of Socrates were written by his friends and pupils, Xenophon and Plato. Just sayin’.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/47 "2013-01-03T15:52:28Z")
> [@Caffeine.addict](#):
>
> I don’t think that the general public thinks about Alexander the Great at all. I don’t think that he was any different than any empire builder.
State, the Empire Builder, seems to thought of fondly and has stood the test of time.
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### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/48 "2013-01-03T16:05:31Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> I know I got a little side-tracked there, and I will probably be doing a pit thread on Socrates’s persecution because that’s just bogus.
I pray to “Mod” for your banning before you start more of these stupid pit threads.
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### Author:  [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/49 "2013-01-03T16:16:39Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#):
>
> I pray to “Mod” for your banning before you start more of these stupid pit threads.
How is this stupid? And what rules did I break that should get me banned?
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### Author:  [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/50 "2013-01-03T16:21:45Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#):
>
> I pray to “Mod” for your banning before you start more of these stupid pit threads.
Wow, somebody piss in your Cheerios or something? I mean it may be a little different, but it is hardly worthy of a Mod coming in and banning. Now if he or she keeps putting up similar threads (“Leibniz was Screwed!” and “We get it, you’re deaf Beethoven!”) then there might be an issue.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/51 "2013-01-03T16:50:34Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> He never got his picture on bubblegum cards, did he? Have you ever seen his picture on a bubblegum card? Hmmm? How can you say someone is great who’s never had his picture on bubblegum cards?
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#):
>
> [Topps, 2012](http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDU0WDI2Mw==/$T2eC16JHJIkE9qU3iylHBQCPjGCtvQ~~60_1.JPG?set_id=8800005007).
Interesting.
Do you happen to know if they ever made one for Beethoven?
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/52 "2013-01-03T16:51:18Z")
> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> Me, I’ve got more empathy for all the Alexanders who were almost as good but not quite - Alexander the Quite Alright, Alexander the Very Decent, Alexander the More Than Adequate, Alexander the Above Average and Alexander the Great-ish.
Alexander the Curve Breaker?
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#):
>
> I pray to “Mod” for your banning before you start more of these stupid pit threads.
>
> > [@Gangster\_Octopus](#):
> >
> > Wow, somebody piss in your Cheerios or something? I mean it may be a little different, but it is hardly worthy of a Mod coming in and banning. Now if he or she keeps putting up similar threads (“Leibniz was Screwed!” and “We get it, you’re deaf Beethoven!”) then there might be an issue.
This isn’t quite Pit material, but I imagine it would be fine in MPSIMS.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/53 "2013-01-03T16:55:10Z")
Obama made it on baseball bubblegum cards. Seriously, a kid this christmas opened a pack and there was Obama (well his pic anyway…he’s thin but not that thin).
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/54 "2013-01-03T17:05:59Z")
So then call him Alexander the Grate.
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/55 "2013-01-03T17:07:15Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> He walks around with this huge hat that shows he is not afraid of anyone and acts all cool and cocky.
A huge _hat_?! No wonder he never did better than great if all he had was a huge hat. He should have whipped out that ‘cocky’.
😃
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/56 "2013-01-03T17:33:59Z")
Next you’ll be telling me that Captain Bluebeard didn’t have a blue beard at all!
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/57 "2013-01-03T17:46:22Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> Okay so when his father, King Phillips dies, he basically is “happy” because he gets to rule - so selfish! He actually kills all of his cousins so that he has no competition. Then he kills tens of thousands of innocent Greeks, Thebes, etc. just to show that he is tough and that he should be feared. He showed no mercy. I believe he killed about 6,000 Thebes and sold the rest 30,000 into slavery, and those Thebes didn’t do anything. They were completely innocent. **He walks around with this huge hat** that shows he is not afraid of anyone and acts all cool and cocky. He’s so smug. Then he just goes on and on. And the reason this whole thing is so bad is because he does this just so he can be in control of a huge amount of land stretching from Western Greece to Eastern India. So all that merciless killing and selfish behavior towards his family just so he can essentially rule the whole area is way over the top. I mean someone needed to control this guy.
WTF? Were you there? I’m not being snarky, I really want to know! It sounds like you saw that in person! If so, I must say this is the longest delay between event and personal pitting I’ve ever seen! :eek:
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/58 "2013-01-03T17:55:59Z")
Took a long time to develop the hamsters.
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### Author:  [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/59 "2013-01-03T18:00:52Z")
You know, there was an old poem in some collection I read once. It may have been written in the early twentieth century, but it’s called “How Big Was Alexander?” It was a dialogue between a father and a son.
To sum it up:
Son: If Alexander was called “The Great,” then how big was he, Dad?
Father: Well, probably not as tall as me or your uncle, son. It was his NAME that was great.
Son: It isn’t that long–I can spell it easily.
Father: That’s not the kind of “great” I mean, son…it’s the deeds he did that made his name famous. He was a great warrior who slaughtered armies and conquered nations.
Son: Then killing made him great? Then why did this murderer the papers are talking about get hanged? Nobody called HIM great.
Father: Well…it’s different if it’s in war, son…not just killing a single man.
Son: So, if I wanted to be called great, I’d kill hundreds of men, and not end up getting hanged?
Father: No, son, we’re supposed to love our fellow man.
Son: So why DID they call Alexander “The Great”? Did the people he conquered or the families of the soldiers he killed think he was “great”?
The poem ends without the father having any answer for this.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/60 "2013-01-03T18:01:38Z")
Not so much “huge” as just plain [awesome!](http://www.niximperial.com/nixp02d.html)
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