How the epic poem Iliad influenced Alexander the Great Research Paper

How the epic poem Iliad influenced black lovage the groovy - Research Paper ExampleThe paper How the epic poem Iliad influenced Alexander the Great states the influence of Iliad to Alexander the Great. To a great extent, Iliads cosmos was a world of heroism for Alexander. Homers heroes -especially, Achilles- had influenced the unripened mind of Alexander in his youth. But this world also taught him morality and courage to a consider satisfactory extent. It was the courage of Achilles courage -to go against Agamemnons tyrannous, unreasonable and despotic behavior- that inspired Alexander to raise his voice often against his fathers royal policies. Though he inherited much of the state of war-tactics and the wisdom of fighting and winning a war from his father Philip of Macedon, textual evidences from the Iliad show that a significant part of Alexanders war-tactics had been induced and modulated by the war-tactics of Homeric heroes. This paper will look for into how Alexander had been influenced by Homers epic poem Iliad. Alexanders real-life activities will be compared with the textual evidences in the poem. During the formative years of his untimely life Alexander had been greatly influenced by the Iliad. Since his time, he has turned into a legendary personality. He appears to one of the most influential historical personalities who tamed the world by their courage. But this legendary personality himself has been inspired tremendously by the classical mythologies and legends. During the early years of his life, Alexander studied the Iliad. The courage and heroism of the Greek heroes.... The courage and heroism of the Greek heroes in the story were greatly shaping the young mind of Alexander. Especially the Homeric hero Achilles attracted him so much that he decided to imitate him in his real life. Till his death, the Achillean motivation to fight in a war has haunted Alexanders mind. This Achillean motivation is top hat described in the following speec h of Achilles If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy, / my journey home is gone, but my triumph never dies. / If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, / my pride, my glory dies. . . .1 The famous Historian Plutarch comments that being pleased by Alexanders passion for Achilles, Aristotle himself prepared an annotated copy the Iliad and gave it to the young boy. This annotated copy of the Iliad accompanied Alexander till the last day of his life. He even slept with it under his pillow, as Chris Whitten says in this regard Emulating the famous hero was apparently encouraged by his teacher, the great philosopher Aristotle.Aristotle personally annotated a copy of the Iliad for Alexander. Alexander kept it with him throughout all his after travels, even sleeping with it under his pillow.2 Another event in Alexanders life inspired him to mould his life after Achilles. His mother, Olympias, had been able to convince young Alexander that he was the descendant of Achilles and Hercules . Though Olympiass story seems to be a sheer fantasy, it shook Alexanders young mind vehemently and prepared him mentally to keep the fantasized Achillean heroic family tradition intact. Iliads Role on Alexanders Conflict with Philip II From the truly beginning of his career in the Macedonian Army, Alexander began to react against