I just found out this morning that no one knows where Alexander the Great is buried. Here’s how the story goes, according to the ancient people who were telling the histories back then. One of those guys was Diodorus. I did not look up his credentials, but he wrote that Alexander’s body was mummified. If that wasn’t enough, old Alex was placed in a golden sarcophagus, which was then placed in another golden casket. To me, that seems like overkill. But he was Alexander the Great after all. That golden casket, with him in it, was transported on a wagon to his burial site, which was said to be the Temple of Amun at Siwa in Egypt. The Temple of Amun at Siwa, in Egypt. Why can’t they just call it Middletown, or Centerville, Egypt?
Anyway, they were just rolling along when another guy came along. Yep. He met them on the way. His name was Ptolemy, and he was a close friend of Alexander’s. Heck, he was even a general in his army. Anyway, he met them traveling from Persia to Egypt, and he said, “Hey. Why don’t I take Alex and bury him in Alexandria instead of Siwa?” Now, this seems right to me from afar. I mean, if I had a town named after me, called Pollyandria? I’d want to wind up there, I suppose.
But what happened after that is unknown because to this day, the burial site of Alexander the Great has never been found. And if they ever do find it — because people are still looking — it is anticipated to be among the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time.
But my question is this. What makes Alexander so dang Great? He was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. But all kings aren’t necessarily great. I read a little more about him. He was born in Pella, which is in Greece, sort of near the top, middle of the country. His birth year was 356 BC, which always amazes me, that we have this type of information, from that long ago. Anyway, his dad was Phillip II and Alex succeeded him to the throne at the age of 20. His mother was Olympias, by the way. And his sister was Cleopatra of Macedon. I bet they had some doozy conversations around the dinner table. Cleo, pass the potatoes, please.
But back to His Greatness. He spent most of his King years on an unprecedented military campaign. He was all over western Asia and northeast Africa. He was conquering first, asking questions later. By the time he was 30 years old, he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world. It stretched all the way from Greece to northwestern India. I guess the biggest thing was that he was never defeated in battle. They say Alexandria is widely considered one of history’s most successful military commanders.
And I guess that is what made him great. He died when he was 32. It was either on the tenth or eleventh of June in 323 BC. He was at the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon. His death is all sketchy too. Like it might have been poison, as there were all sorts of people wanting to overthrow him.
There are books this thick about him if you want to know more. I can just offer the condensed version. I simply wanted to know what made him so great, really.
I wonder if he ever painted a gorgeous painting or wrote a beautiful song. Or if he planted a garden, or took his mother to the grocery, or picked up litter on the sidewalk. It just seems that other people have done some pretty worthwhile things and they didn’t get the moniker. How about Michelangelo the Great? Or Beethoven the Great?
I think from now on when we introduce ourselves, we should say, “Hello. I’m Such and Such the Great.” Like, “Oh, hi. I’m Patty the Great.” And when they ask us why, we should give them any little reason about ourselves.
Because, all of us, at our good, good cores — are truly, truly great.
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“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
― Mark Twain
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“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
― Mark Twain
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“A great man is always willing to be little.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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