Weekly #5

Adam Beard

Honors Western Civilization

Question: Does Power Corrupt? How or How Not? Why or Why Not? Do you think Alexander was corrupted? And who influenced whom the most: Did Persia become more Greek or did Alexander becoming more Persian?

Power was extremely important in the ancient world, as it showed which leader was the strongest out of the bunch. When a leader had a lot of power, they were worshipped like a god by the people. The amount of power a leader had during the ancient world separated him from every other leader. But sometimes if a leader had too much power, he could have used it all in the wrong way by making poor decisions that affected him and the army that he had. Too much power by any one leader could sometimes result in a huge mistake that the leader will regret for the rest of his life. It is important to use the power that one has wisely. Power does corrupt and when it is used in the wrong way, a leader can lose their common sense and make poor choices that have serious consequences.

Power can corrupt in a multitude of ways. When a leader possesses too much power, they can lose their sense of leadership. Then the leader can use his power for evil and not good. Leadership skills are probably the most important skill in being a good leader, and when you lose this quality, power can be used in the wrong way. Power can also corrupt through too much confidence shown in the leader. When a leader is over-confident, he thinks he can use his power for good when it only results in evil actions. It is as if too much power causes the leader to be ignorant from too much confidence. Power can also corrupt when a leader thinks that he has the opportunity to do something that will make him and his army along with his homeland the strongest in the ancient world. The power then can be used by the leader without even thinking the situation through. When the power is not used wisely by the leader in the right way, this can come back to haunt him forever, depending on the importance of the situation.

I do think Alexander the Great was corrupted since he had the most and if all the power during his time. Alexander assumed king as soon as his father, Philip II, died and this gave way to an unlimited amount of power. With so much power, Alexander had corrupted his power during his goal of conquest. Alexander the Great wanted to avenge the Persians for what they did to Greece, and he had so much power in his journey that it was corrupted in the process. Even though Alexander corrupted the power that he gained on his journey, he was still unstoppable and could not have been stopped. But with total domination came corruption of power, where his army did not even know or care about it. They just accepted the commands of Alexander and did what they were told. So even though Alexander conquered the whole Persian Empire, corruption was a major problem in his journey where he was “mad with power”.

Alexander also corrupted his power through complements from the gods. The gods of Egypt told Alexander that he would defeat the Persian Empire and rule the world at the oracle at Siwa. With this, Alexander was motivated and overly assertive in his rule. This led to Alexander corrupting his power from too much excitement and confidence where he then went straight to Persia without thinking many things through. A similar thing happened with the Gordian Knot. After untying this knot, gods told him that he would be the king of Asia. This event had a similar effect on Alexander’s journey where his power would corrupt from an excessive amount of it. Alexander may have been one of the best military commanders of all time, but the amount of power that he had would eventually lead to wrong uses of his power.

In the end, I think Alexander became more Persian because he conquered the whole Persian Empire, bringing influences from this empire with him on his journey. When Persia did wrongdoings in Greece by burning their temples, Alexander came to Persia and slaughtered many warriors in Darius’s army and eventually conquered this once great empire. With this, Alexander developed some Persian qualities that they possessed when they did bad crimes in Greece. Also like Persia, Alexander gained an unlimited amount of power that Persia possessed after the Golden Age of Athens. As a leader, Alexander did things that were similar to Persia when they were one of the leaders of the ancient world. Alexander did so much in his life that was influenced by Persian traits. Alexander also trained Persian soldiers to be in his army, so Persian soldiers started to influence part of Alexander’s army. Alexander even wore Persian garments at the end of his journey, after he conquered the Persian Empire. Conquering the Persian Empire gave Alexander a great view on Persian life and influences. So in the end, Alexander the Great was heavily influenced by the Persian Empire and the power that he possessed was corrupt when he had an infinite amount of it. With so much power, Alexander the Great relied on it too much and spent less time thinking important decisions through with his army, even though he was one of the greatest leaders of all time.