![]() ![]() Having drawn inspiration from the epic, Alexander gave back to Homer by turning Greek into the common language of a large region, thus laying the infrastructure for turning the Iliad into world literature. ![]() The influence between the Iliad and Alexander went both ways. For the entire duration of his conquest, he would sleep on his copy of the Iliad, the one annotated by his teacher Aristotle. When he embarked on his conquests, Homer’s story of an earlier Greek expedition to Asia Minor served as a blueprint, and he stopped at Troy, even though the city had no military significance, to re-enact scenes from the Iliad. He had learned to read and write by studying this text as a young man, and thanks to his teacher, the philosopher Aristotle, he had done so with unusual intensity. Not only did he secure the safety of his kingdom, but he also defeated the entire Persian Empire, conquering a vast realm that stretched from Egypt to Northern India.Īlexander possessed an additional weapon: Homer’s Iliad. ![]() When his father was assassinated Alexander ascended the throne, he quickly exceeded all expectations. The small kingdom in northern Greece was perpetually at war with its neighbors, above all Persia, which meant that Alexander had to learn how to lead armies into battle. History of Storytelling How stories have shaped the worldįrom a young age, Alexander the Great was groomed to be the leader of Macedonia. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |