The Mentors of Alexander the Great

The Greek-Trojan War, celebrated by the poet Homer in the The Iliad and The Odyssey, has been a source of inspiration to both poet and soldier for roughly 28 centuries. According to Homer, the Greeks were involved in a ten-year war with the Trojans of Ilium, the most ancient and famous of all wars between whom we know now as ancient Balkan and Turk warriors.

Today, the heroic tales of Odysseus, Achilles, and Hektor are fascinating tales of ancient peoples that are studied in college classrooms and fodder for the occasional film script, poem, or novel. However, for centuries the stories of love, lust, and battle enjoyed and suffered by Homer's characters were considered literal descriptions of the actions of ancient Greeks and Trojans. These characters inspired not only other poets and playwrights but soldiers and commanders as well.

The Songs of Homer and the Lectures of Aristotle

Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king that would conquer the known world in the third century B.C., inherited his crown from his assassinated father Philip, a great warrior and king in his own right. King Philip acquired Aristotle as a teacher in 343 B.C. for his son Alexander. Aristotle's father was a court physician in Philip's court. Legend tells us Alexander's father Philip said, possibly to Aristotle himself, "Take this son of mine away and teach him the poems of Homer." Though Aristotle never wrote of the Macedonian capital Pella or his relationship with Alexander, historian Michael Wood writes that letters exist between the two.[1]

It is said that Aristotle gave Alexander his annotated copy of Homer's The Illiad, a book that Alexander considered a handbook on the art of war. He had this book by his side during his legendary conquests. There can be no doubt that Aristotle taught Alexander much about persuasion and motivation considering that one of the Aristotle's great books The Art of Rhetoric is a primer in the subject of finding "all the available means of persuasion."

During Alexander's remarkable march throughout the known world, it is said that the love Aristotle gave him for books led him to collect them. Whatever happened to that collection is unknown but some of those volumes may have made their way back to his beloved teacher. Aristotle was one of the first scholars to collect and preserve the written word. Aristotle's collection included versions of Homer that were certainly different than what we know today. Aristotle bequeathed his collection to a favorite student who subsequently left the library to a relative (Nelius of Serpris). It is believed that Nelius eventually sold part of his collection to Ptolemy who was responsible for starting the great Alexandrian Library in a city that Alexander is responsible for establishing, Alexandria, Egypt.

The Prophecies of Oracles

Armed with the inspiration of the Trojan War in the form of Aristotle's annotated version of Homer's tale, Alexander set out to seek revenge on the Persians and spread the Hellenistic culture. Undoubtedly, he believed the mission to be a divine one for he believed he was the son of Zeus. His belief that he was an immortal, like his hero Achilles, was most likely fostered by his mother and possibly supported by prophecies provided at the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi.

The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was situated at what the Greeks believed to be the exact center of the earth. For centuries people visited Delphi to consult the oracles on prophecies as grand as whether a son was a deity to as mundane as to when to plant crops. A contemporary four-year study of the area showed two faults intersecting below the Delphic temple. Professor Jelle de Boer of the Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, working with Dr. John Hale, an archaeologist at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. Professor de Boer and colleagues found ethane, methane, and ethylene in spring water near the Oracle, all gases that could provide a narcotic effect on anyone inhaling them. It is believed that the priestesses that provided oracles breathed these intoxicating vapors and then passed on the prophecies to their paying clients with the prophecies told in such a way that they could be interpreted any way the client wished.

Alexander believed in consulting oracles and not only just the priestesses of Delphi. It was written by numerous historians of antiquity that he traveled with a small group of his army to Siwa in Africa to visit the Oracle of Ammon. It is here he may have had more reason to believe that he was the son of Zeus, not Philip, and thus more akin to his hero Achilles than his father who had led the Macedonians in victorious battle over most of the Greek city states. With a formidable army at his command, immortal blood in his veins, and lessons from the genius Aristotle could there be any doubt in Alexander's mind in his chance to conquer the world?

A Unique Form of Immortality

Tutored by Aristotle in persuasion, told he was a god by his mother and various oracles, inspired by the works of Homer as to the ways of war and the conduct of the warrior, Alexander inherited the Macedonian crown upon his father's assassination and went on to conquer the known world according to the Greeks. He believed he was the same kind of warrior of Homer's songs, and, without a doubt, directly related to Achilles, The Iliad super hero. He spread the Hellenistic culture throughout that world and created numerous cities that would never forget, for better or worse, his presence. He founded numerous cities and named them after himself; the most famous, Alexandria, Egypt, became the crown jewel of the Mediterranean, home of one of the seven wonders of the world (Lighthouse of Pharos) and the world's greatest library and museum that survived no less than six centuries. It is said he showed remarkable cruelty during his life to friend, family, and foe, but this cruelty was tempered frequently with a remarkable strain of bravery and fairness toward his soldiers. He would often lead his men into battle, was scarred with numerous battle wounds, and would never accept any food or water before his entire army was properly attended.

On June 10^th or 11^th, 323 B.C., he died in the palace of Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon, more the son of Philip than the son of Zeus. He was not an immortal, not a deity, merely a man felled by a malarial fever or a poison. What killed him is not known for sure, but what is known is that his name has not been forgotten for 23 centuries nor will it be forgotten for centuries to come - a form of immortality that he undoubtedly believed in until his final breath.

[1] Wood, Michael. In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: Journey from Greece to Asia, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.