…was king of Macedonia and one of the greatest generals in history. He conquered much of what was then the civilized world. Alexander brought Greek ideas and the Greek way of doing things to all the countries he conquered. This great general and king made possible the broadly developed culture of the Hellenistic Age.
To achieve his goal, Alexander encouraged intermarriages, setting an example by marrying a Persian princess himself. He placed soldiers from all the provinces in his army. He introduced a uniform currency system throughout the empire and promoted trade and commerce. He encouraged the spread of Greek ideas, customs, and laws into Asia. When he heard that some of his provincial officials ruled unjustly, he replaced them. To receive recognition as the supreme ruler, he required the provinces to worship him as a god.
I can go on and on about the many contributions of Alexander The Great to the civilized world and especially to the region known today as Pakistan however let me point out something very interesting that hits close to home. My family relatives are from Chakwal in northern Punjab (Pakistan) which is close to an area called Bucephala which incidentally is named after Alexander The Great’s loyal horse Buchephalus. In addition, near Chakwal, archeologists have recovered many gold and silver coins of the period when Alexander’s generals ruled the region. These are currently housed in a nearby museum for the general public.
Alexander the Great is quite a marvelous kind of man, he is about 19 years old, his father is Philip of Macedonia. Philip is uniting all of Greece. Somebody assassinates Philip, and Alexander takes over the Greek army at 19 years old. This young Alexander believes that he is a god. His mother was a worshiper in the temple of Diana and the day that he was born lightning struck the temple of Diana, Alexander believes that he is going to have a short, but glorious life. He has stirred up all of Greece to go with him, and has gathered about 40,000 men. The Greeks were already mad at the Persians because a hundred years earlier one of the Persian rulers had invaded Greece and was not totally successful. The Greeks were holding a grudge and wanted to settle the score.
Alexander the Great in 13 short turbulent years conquered his known world all the way to India, and this man was great and fearsome, he was brilliant. There is a little story about Alexander the Great that when he was travailing through the country conquering, he sent word to Jerusalem and said he wanted some help from them, he wanted some troops to join him in overthrowing the Persians. They replied and said we have a good relationship with the Persians, and we are not going to break our covenants with them.
So Alexander went to Jerusalem to destroy it for their lack of fear, and when he got there the High Priest came out in his royal robes and met him. And when Alexander saw the priest he just saluted him. Alexander’s generals wanted to know why did he saluted him instead of destroying him. Alexander said I saw this man in a dream and in the dream he was going to show me how to conquer the world. So he honored him and the High Priest opened the book of Daniel and showed Alexander his life story that was written before he was born.
Actually, several of the Greek coins of this era and area can be bought pretty cheaply. I collect coins but never bothered much with these so I can’t really help pointing anything out.. but there is a lot of info about them online, and places to buy. Most of the stuff from the east is not from Alexander’s time, rather later remnants of the Greek settlers.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by spoon: *
Actually, several of the Greek coins of this era and area can be bought pretty cheaply. I collect coins but never bothered much with these so I can't really help pointing anything out.. but there is a lot of info about them online, and places to buy. Most of the stuff from the east is not from Alexander's time, rather later remnants of the Greek settlers.
[/QUOTE]
Wow, glad to see someone else who is into this stuff as well. Coins of that period are very intriguing and true, most originate from the period shortly after Alexander's rule when the area was ruled by his generals (Bactrians and Parthians).
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Faisal: *
Interesting stuff. I believe India was his last stop, and he died shortly thereafter. Poisoned?
[/QUOTE]
I believe his troops refused to go further than North India (Pakistan) as they were homesick. So he set sail in the River Indus and left for home. On his way back, he was shot by a poisoned arrow in Babylon and fell sick. He died in Babylon and was buried there. (so the legend has it).
^ That's correct, and unfortunately he died young. Isn't it fascinating how he conquered half the "civilized" (known) world in such a short period of time? I believe there is also a mention of Alex in the Koran.
wow Sweet!
great topic! it seems you hold great interest in the history of warriors and their conquests like i do. great to find someone to have dscussions on the topic with :)
i also collect coins and other antiques and the Alexander invasion of northern india fascinates me particularly. his invasion changed the whole race and most northern pakistanis today are descendants from hs era. He sure was a great man possessing great leadership qualities.
sometimes i just hate scientists for not having invented a time machine yet!
Khattana youre right i think, but ive also heard that when he began his journey home after fighting the famous battle with Porus ( after defeating whom alexander returned all the conquered empire just because Porus's brave and royal manner impressed him alot) he was injured by a poisoned arrow while trying to conquer a fort near Multan, after which he began his journey homeward through Persia and ended up dying on his way perhaps at Babylon. thus came an end to the world's greatest conquerer's life.
i wonder what would the world today have been like if he had gone farher east than he did. the whole civilzation as we know today would have been entirely different. the orientals remained uninfluenced.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Haris Zuberi: *
wow Sweet!
great topic! it seems you hold great interest in the history of warriors and their conquests like i do. great to find someone to have dscussions on the topic with :)
i also collect coins and other antiques and the Alexander invasion of northern india fascinates me particularly. his invasion changed the whole race and most northern pakistanis today are descendants from hs era. He sure was a great man possessing great leadership qualities.
sometimes i just hate scientists for not having invented a time machine yet!
[/QUOTE]
Yes exactly! It's fascinating indeed and like you, I also sometimes wish it was possible to go back in time to witness this era of Greek conquest of the region. His invasion was the turning point for many factors related to northern Pakistan and in my opinion, these factors cannot be ignored even today (in terms of ethnicities, cultural differences, philosophy, etc).
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by sweetpie: *
My family relatives are from Chakwal in northern Punjab (Pakistan) which is close to an area called Bucephala which incidentally is named after Alexander The Great's loyal horse Buchephalus.
[/QUOTE]
Dear Sweetpie, Bucephala is actually spelled and pronounced as Bhoosay-wala. Bhoosa in punjabi is hay... that you feed to the jaanwers. This village of yours was named after a kisaan who was a big producer of bhoosa. Hence Bhoosaywala.
*Alexander brought Greek ideas and the Greek way of doing things to all the countries he conquered. This great general and king made possible the broadly developed culture of the Hellenistic Age. *
I wonder if they broadcast Greek channels on Pakistani television? With the ban on Indian channels this could be the answer.
Incidentally, that second link provided there's some pretty cooky theories about some Iraqi being the anti-christ but interesting nonetheless.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by funguy: *
Bhoosa in punjabi is hay... that you feed to the jaanwers. This village of yours was named after a kisaan who was a big producer of bhoosa. Hence Bhoosaywala.
[/QUOTE]
Using adjectives such as "The Great" and "Mighty" next to a person are very much against the practices of Islam. Please refrain from committing useless sins.
