alexander

Leadership Process Three: Establishing Identity 87
18: On Heroes
Whom we admire, openly, speaks volumes about us. It helps
establish our identity (i.e., who we are). The actions we take to
substantiate our regard for those heroes also reveal a bundle
about us. Contrast the heroes of someone who collects sports
memorabilia with the heroes of someone who collects rare antique
maps.
Alexander desired to start his campaign as auspiciously as
possible. He made appropriate sacrifices everywhere he
went in order to create the appearance that he wasn’t a conqueror
but a liberator, and wasn’t a threat to the locals.
When Alexander crossed into Asia, near the site of ancient
Troy, he did several things in recognition of his heroes
from Homer. For example, he was the first to leap ashore
and throw his spear into the ground, which signified that it
was ‘‘spear won’’ land. He is said to have paid obeisance to
the tombs of all the Trojan War heroes, especially Achilles,
Ajax, and Priam. He even went to the trouble of visiting
the Temple of Athena in Troy for further dedications. In
particular, he took from the temple a set of armor from the
time of the Trojan War and had it symbolically carried before
him when he went into battle, all the better to make
clear who he was and whom he emulated and revered.
All of the extant classical sources refer to Alexander’s
near reverence for Homer. Plutarch even relates that Alexander
slept with a copy of the Iliad under his pillow. We do
not know if this is a veridical assertion, but that we even
discuss it today buttresses Alexander’s identity.