# 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:** 5
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/81 "2013-01-03T22:30:15Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> I don’t even understand your last point about needing a “sense of humor”.
My point is “Develop a sense of humor.”
> [@](#):
>
> We are actually going to do a silent debate and write an essay in class about why or why don’t you think “Alexander the Great” deserves “the Great” after is name. He split up the class and I’m on the “Not Great” side.
This might be the first Pitting that started as a homework assignment. It’s about as much fun as homework, too.
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### Author:  [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/82 "2013-01-03T22:40:27Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> My point is “Develop a sense of humor.”
>
> This might be the first Pitting that started as a homework assignment. It’s about as much fun as homework, too.
So are you saying I do not have one. And what does sense of humor have to do with this? You think this is funny?
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/83 "2013-01-03T22:42:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> And not only that, besides killing all those people he cut that knot.
>
> Everybody _knows_ the whole point was to untie it, but Alex just pulled out his switchblade and sliced it through, as if that’s an accomplishment! And all those people who should know better say he’s wise for “thinking outside the box”, when he was really just a lazy vandal.
Well, there are **two** versions of that story. In the other version, Alexander pulled the hitching-pin out of the knot (remember, it was tied around the end of the shaft of an ox-cart), thus allowing him to get at the ends of the rope that Gordias had somehow hidden inside, and then he simply untied the knot.
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> Plus he made that poor elephant walk all the way back to Greece from india.
At least L. Sprague de Camp got a [good novel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Elephant_for_Aristotle) out of that.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/84 "2013-01-03T22:45:10Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> So are you saying I do not have one. And what does sense of humor have to do with this? You think this is funny?
It is _now_.
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### Author:  [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/85 "2013-01-03T22:50:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> It is _now_.
I don’t understand. What is so funny?
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### Author:  [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/86 "2013-01-03T22:49:34Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> Interesting.
>
> Do you happen to know if they ever made one for Beethoven?
I didn’t know that there was an Alexander card, I looked it up. And yeah, there’s at least one Beethoven card.
> [@](#):
>
> 6 - 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter Beethoven 1/1 DNA Relic _Hair_ Card
> Watchers: 728 - Final Price $4,050.02 - July, 2010
>
> Was it a good buy? This Beethoven card got a lot of attention from collectors who normally don’t purchase baseball cards. Beethoven is considered one of the most influential musical composers of all time. The price for this hair card makes you wonder how much a cut autograph would sell for.
> **[Most Watched Sports Trading Cards In 2010 – Sports Card Radio](https://www.sportscardradio.com/most-watched-sports-trading-cards-in-2010/)**
That’s right, a hair. I don’t know much about trading cards, but I’m guessing that 1/1 means there was only one made that year.
[http://media2.cardboardconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/BEETHOVEN.jpg](http://media2.cardboardconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/BEETHOVEN.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/87 "2013-01-03T22:52:10Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> And what does sense of humor have to do with this? You think this is funny?
This thread is freaking hilarious. It’s treading that fine line between street performance and delusion.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/88 "2013-01-03T22:58:23Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#):
>
> I didn’t know that there was an Alexander card, I looked it up. And yeah, there’s at least one Beethoven card.
In case you actually didn’t get it, the whole Beethoven bubblegum card thing was from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. Lucy and Schroeder.
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### Author:  [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/89 "2013-01-03T22:59:38Z")
Anonymous, you’re not the first to notice that Alexander wasn’t great like Frosted Flakes are great. I posted a link to Will Cuppy’s _Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody_ yesterday. I really enjoyed that book when I was an undergrad. It’s informative and takes a few overblown accomplishments down a peg or several, like how he points out that it’s not amazing or mysterious that Egyptian pyramids are still around. They’re piles of rocks.
I suspect that in a few years you’ll read _A People’s History of the United States_ and will tell everybody who’ll listen about supposedly overlooked historical incidents like the New York draft riots and how Patton charged on peaceful protesters. Maybe you’ve already read it-- if not, it’s worth reading, IMO.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/90 "2013-01-03T22:59:49Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> I don’t understand. What is so funny?
A 15 year old student getting all hot and bothered by Alexander the _Friggin’_ Great being not worthy of his name, partly because of his silly hat! I mean, that’s comedy gold. Your next thread should be how arrogant William the Conqueror was because the Danes kept raiding York.
Your passion is admirable if hopelessly misplaced. Getting upset about a name given to ruler who died over 2000 years ago is almost cute in its naivety.
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### Author:  [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/91 "2013-01-03T23:00:42Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> In case you actually didn’t get it, the whole Beethoven bubblegum card thing was from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. Lucy and Schroeder.
Totally didn’t. I found the hair card interesting, though.
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### Author:  [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/92 "2013-01-03T23:03:24Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> A 15 year old student getting all hot and bothered by Alexander the _Friggin’_ Great being not worthy of his name, partly because of his silly hat! I mean, that’s comedy gold. Your next thread should be how arrogant William the Conqueror was because the Danes kept raiding York.
>
> Your passion is admirable if hopelessly misplaced. Getting upset about a name given to ruler who died over 2000 years ago is almost cute in its naivety.
Alright, maybe it is funny. I actually laughed reading your post. 😃
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/93 "2013-01-03T23:03:47Z")
Josh Green from [Crash Course World History](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LsrkWDCvxg) kind of agrees with the OP.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/94 "2013-01-03T23:11:06Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> So are you saying I do not have one.
Yes. And that’s also what you are saying.
> [@](#):
>
> You think this is funny?
Yes. This was one of the funniest things I’ve read lately:
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> That’s [killing 100,000 people] just out of hand. You have to realize how many that is for a person to kill.
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### Author:  [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/95 "2013-01-03T23:15:10Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Yes. And that’s also what you are saying.
>
> Yes. This was one of the funniest things I’ve read lately:
How is that phrase funny.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/96 "2013-01-03T23:15:11Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#):
>
> Totally didn’t. I found the hair card interesting, though.
I’ve seen an ad for that – The Hair Card for Men
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/97 "2013-01-03T23:19:49Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> How is that phrase funny.
You described the deaths of 100,000 people with the same words people normally use to describe inconveniences like bad traffic or overpriced movie tickets. The sheer understatement makes it funny.
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/98 "2013-01-03T23:25:32Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> Yes, I am pitting him for being arrogant, so is that not a good enough reason? Maybe not by itself, but remember I’m also pitting him for being selfish. Remember, the other reason he did this whole thing was power and rule.
>
> …
Hum. Anyone want to change their name to Alexander the Great and respond to the OP? I’m afraid the real ATG isn’t going to show up.
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### Author:  [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/99 "2013-01-04T00:03:10Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#):
>
> I’m afraid the real ATG isn’t going to show up.
Zombie Alex? I LOVE that guy. Once you get past the megalomaniacal brain-eating, he’s the life of the party.
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### Author:  [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexander-the-great-is-not-great/645886/100 "2013-01-04T00:16:54Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#):
>
> Like with Socrates, almost everyone thinks he was good (including me).
Socrates was a smug troublemaker who got what he deserved.
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