alexander

Concluding Thoughts About Alexander 153
mother, given his mother’s extreme religious beliefs (she
claimed Alexander was conceived by a god), was remarkable.
Much of his character was hers. In contrast to this
extraordinary relationship, his relationship with his father
was more variable, to say the least. Early, Alexander was the
light of his father’s life. At a very young age, he became a
general in Philip’s great army. Philip recognized how precocious
his son was with the statement: ‘‘This kingdom is not
big enough for the two of us, go find your own.’’ However,
later his father pulled a sword on him and banished him,
declaring him no longer heir.
Magnanimity. Another theme that runs through Alexander
the Great’s life with high tension is that of magnanimity.
The tension was because he was at times utterly
ruthless, impossibly so, and then utterly magnanimous.
One can parse the data and draw very different conclusions
about his life: monster or saint. Obviously, both have some
truth and both are wrong. The data to support the monster
image comes from Thebes, the reduced hilltop town, Tyre,
Cleitus, the Mallians, and all conspiracies. His saintly characteristics
are more subtle: his relationship with his soldiers,
his commitment to the Companions, Babylon, all ablutions
and ceremonies throughout the campaign at local temples,
his treatment of women (except the hilltop rapes and the
Mallians), his wives and mistress, his friendship with Sisygambis
(Darius’s mother), his reverence for his own
mother, and hundreds of other small actions. Despite the
appearance to the contrary from the examples in Alexander’s
life, professionally (and perhaps naively) I counsel