10 Things We’ve Learnt from Alexander the Great…

Last updated on 8 January 2025

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase with one of these links, I recieve a small commission at no additional cost to you. Read the full Affiliate Policy.

In year 12 of high school (so, that’s the second to last year of school in NZ), my friend Roz and I took a year 13 Classics class, and it was actually the best.class.ever. Our Principal was our teacher, and it was so much fun, and I loved the topic.

Because of that class, I went on to do Classics at Uni too (though only the odd paper here and there), and we even went to Greece. My favourite topic from that year was by far the term (1/4 of a year) on Alexander the Great. July marks the month of Alexander’s birth (sometime in July, no one knows the exact date), so Roz and I thought to celebrate we’d make a list (oh, how I love lists) of 10 things we learnt from Alexander the Great; 5 things each.

Anjali Learnt …

1. Smart teacher = mostly smart student

When Alexander was 13, Philip of Macedon (Alex’s dad) hired the famous Philosopher Aristotle to teach Alexander. If that’s not the best possible tutor/teacher you can get, then I don’t know who it is. Out of the three arguably most famous Philosophers (Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle), I always liked Aristotle the best, so yes, I’m a bit jealous of Alexander’s schooling. No, but seriously, if your teacher is great, you’re gonna learn stuff.

2. Slaughter everyone in your way to get to the top by a young age

When Alexander’s father, Philip, was assassinated, Alexander become King…and he was only 20 years old. He did go and kill everyone who he thought might have had any sort of claim to the throne and might overthrow him…just to be sure, but King at 20! Sure, the circumstances weren’t fantastic, but that’s a pretty good accomplishment all the same. Start young; get far!

3. Germs are very real. Wash your hands

At age 32, Alexander carked it because he got sick. No one really knows how exactly he died. Some people suggest he was poisoned, some think he got a disease…whatever it was, it wasn’t the most elegant and memorable death. My suspicion is he just got the flu, and because he’s a man he couldn’t handle it and his body simply gave up. He had man-flu. Germs were very real, even back in Ancient times. If you had just washed your hands, Alexander…!

4. Elephants are often surprising and are not as cuddly as Dumbo

As Alexander and his army discovered at the Battle of the Hydaspes, elephants are death when they’re in the middle of a battle. On the banks of the river in modern-day Pakistan, Alexander’s army crossed to the other side where they fought King Porus, who was basically just in the way of them getting further into India, and expanding the empire. King Porus, a sneaky man, had war elephants, and by golly was this a surprise. While Alexander and Porus later became allies, I bet Alex never wanted to see another life-destroying not-cute-at-all elephant in his life. What he really needed was a helping elephant-taking-down hand from Legolas.

5.  The masses have good ideas too

Alexander and his army had come so far into the world that they could see the Himalayas in the distance. Even after the notion that this was surely the end of the world was thwarted and rumours start circulating that there was more world to conquer on the other side, Alexander’s men had had enough. To go on? Or to no go on? That was, indeed, the question, and one dude in the masses of army come forward and suggested to Alexander that he take a breath, turn home to see his family, rethink everything and start out a fresh. Alexander spent 3 days alone in his tent thinking about this, and finally decided that perhaps they were right. They had come to the end for now, and would return home. Sometimes listening is a good idea…

Roz Learnt …

1. Choosing the right horse is key

…especially if you plan to have him forever. At age 13 Alexander used all his awesomeness to tame this wild beast. His horse’s name was Bucephalus, and he went into battle with Alexander until he, sadly, died of exhaustion in the Battle of Hydaspes…but never fear! If you chose the right horse from the beginning, you and your horse will be inseparable, and even after they die you can go ahead and name a city after them (true story…the city was called Bucephala).

2. Geography is important if you’re planning to take over the world

If you’re gonna conquer one place, you might as well keep going and the entire set. To do so, of course, you kinda need to know a little bit about where you’re headed. By the time Alexander died, he had conquered the known world. Sure, the ‘known world’ wasn’t actually that big (all of Greece, up through Macedonia, over to modern-day Turkey, all the way through to the edges of India, and then down to Egypt too), but that’s a lot of conquering for a) one so young and b) such a little time. He really ‘got’ the military leader thing. He really did get the entire set. Even when they reached the Himalayas, and realised they didn’t know what was on the other side, they still made it that far, and I bet that they knew the geography of the entire area really really well.

3. Move around a lot to throw people off their guard

Conquering the known world means moving around…a lot. Even in the numerous battles he fought in, Alexander was constantly on the move, and a lot of the time it was these actions that completely threw the enemy. Of course, he had to continue his ‘let’s move everywhere all the time’ notions even thousands of years later, as proven by the fact that we travelled all the way to Greece last year to discover that Alexander’s bust had been taken away temporally. Seriously, Alexander, just stay in one place.

4. Have a highly recognisable hat

Not only does a large impressive hat make you stand out in a crowd, if it’s a hat with as much flair as Alexander’s military hat, then people will know who you are even when you’re miles away. Large, feather-adorned hats also make it very easy for people to find you, and while this probably isn’t so good in the middle of a raging battle, this would be handy in a flash mob, on the subway, or even in a large shopping mall. Thanks, Alexander, for the hat tips.

5. Game of Thrones is obviously based on Alexander’s life

Blood, guts, gore, sex, violence, power, betrayal, war, politics, family members being killed off, spears being driven into people, lands being taken over, fights about who should rightfully be on the throne…need I go on? It’s like George R.R. Martin read about Alexander’s life and thought ‘hey, if I just chop his story into like a million different parts then that’ll make for a best seller’. The only thing that’s different is that unfortunately, Alexander did not have pets dragons. He did, however, have Bucephalus, and from what we read, he was pretty dragon like.

---

Boom. 10 things we’ve learnt from Alexander the Great…not the 2004 movie though. It’s just not as good as the real story! Roz and I hope you’ve enjoyed this and a) learnt a little about Alexander the Great and b) learnt some helpful things for life in general. So here’s to you, Alexander. Happy Birthday.