Episode Transcript
Peter B: [00:00:00] You've likely heard of Alexander the Great, the warrior prince, who became a legendary ruler of most of the known western world. However, the new Netflix docu series, Alexander, the Making of a God, was not. recounts the historical icon's conquests in a new way, using contemporary accounts and fact based archaeology, much of which is based on ongoing excavations being undertaken still today.
The six part series explores the extraordinary path of the young exiled man determined to find his place in the world following his father's assassination, quickly uniting his country. in a campaign for total dominance. Alexander pursued an unrelenting obsession to defeat the Persian King Darius and this ambition led to his claim of the largest western empire in history in just under six years.
Amanda: So what does Alexander the Great have to do with being more cultured and curious?
Peter B: I thought you'd never ask. He was responsible for laying the groundwork for the global spread of democracy that would come hundreds of years later. And the [00:01:00] King, who enabled various cultures from across the world to interact, share customs and best practices, and ultimately broaden his people's cultural and spiritual perspectives.
Hey everyone! Welcome to Sorta Sophisticated, a podcast rooted in becoming more cultured and curious. Where we endeavor to suspend judgment, expand our worldview, and learn to appreciate varying perspectives and values.
Amanda: But really, it's a show where we hope to enlighten anyone who cares on topics that might make them more interesting and well versed humans, and just dangerous enough to hold their own in this sophisticated world, sort of.
Peter B: And today we will be talking about one of the greatest men in history, Alexander the Great. The leader of one of the largest and most powerful armies of the world. The ruler of the largest empire history has ever known. The Giant.
Amanda: Can we pause for
Peter B: a second? Pause!
Amanda: Isn't that what our podcast is supposed to do?
Did this guy do the same thing that we're trying to do but 2, 300 years ago? Because if so, then I feel pretty insignificant.
Peter B: I know, [00:02:00] right? And he did it all without, like, Wi Fi or Google or ChatGPT or anything. He was totally the man. Good old Alexander. Alright, our word of the day is Incongruous. Our challenge is to work this word into this podcast somewhere and make it seem like we actually meant to.
Amanda: Can we talk about the definition, just to make sure we're all on the same page? You mean like lacking, congruity, not harmonious, not consistent. Yeah. Okay.
Peter B: Yeah. Like that. Like, I don't actually look up definitions when I pick the word Amanda. It's just sort of what comes up on random word generator. I hope you're right.
So I guess we'll see. Lacking congruity. Non congruous. Yeah. All right. All right. Let's go. Let's dive in. As they say somewhere, you can't understand the man until you understand the boy.
Amanda: Nobody says that.
Peter B: Somebody says that. I read it somewhere. I know.
Amanda: Okay. Okay. I'll, I'll, I'll let you have that one.
Peter B: Whatever.
Either way, Alexander's youth or like yute, you know, Alexander's yute.
Amanda: What is yute?
Peter B: Yute?
Amanda: Like is that?
Peter B: [00:03:00] Like, like what you say from New York, like get all those youths off the street.
Amanda: Oh, I mean, I thought he was Greek.
Peter B: He was Greek. Sorry. Alexander's youth was marked by several events that played important roles that shaped his career.
Let's buzz through these. I first, he was born in this place called Pella. I don't know the capital of Macedonia, like way back. In negative 356 BCE, we're talking, well, I guess it's just 356 years, like before Christ. Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. For those non Christians before the common era. Negative 356, right? Son of King Philip II of Macedonia, that means something to us, and, and of Queen Olympias.
Yeah, I know, right? Who really cares? Why do we need to know who his parents are? I'll tell ya. Because legend states that his mom, Olympias, claimed that the god Zeus, yeah, Zeus, was his father.
Amanda: For real? Like, she got impregnated by the [00:04:00] gods?
Peter B: For real. Like, I talked to legend, right? And that's what legend says.
Legend says Zeus was his dad. Which I'm having a moment with, so let's just go with it. We know it was King Philip. The point is, there's some shit here with Greek mythology that's all strewn in here. Second, at the ripe old age of 13, Alexander's dad, Philip, we're gonna use Philip as dad, not, not Zeus. For the rest of this thing, yes.
Hired the philosopher Aristotle to tutor him.
Amanda: Not Aristotle. The knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom, Aristotle.
Peter B: I don't even know how you know that. First of all, you're awesome. Second of all, that Aristotle, that Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers in human history. Like he was just chilling with Alex, teaching him everything he knew about like philosophy and literature and science and politics and probably chicks.
And everything and wars and stuff, probably the ultimate master class.
Amanda: Could you imagine having [00:05:00] Aristotle as your teacher? The guy that we all look up to and all of classical education basically based off of.
Peter B: I think it's unbelievable and it reminds me of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Did you watch that?
Keanu Reeves? They went back in time, they brought back Socrates, like Aristotle's grandpa, but not really his grandpa, you know? Back to the future for his oral report for the end of the year?
Amanda: Kind of. Vaguely. Oh my
Peter B: god. Alright, anyway, it was classic. Alright, third, alongside this crappy education, he also received military training from the greatest military commander of his time, his dad.
Philip or Zeus? Phillip. Good job. Yes.
Amanda: But that's kind of like having Gordon Ramsey as your dad and then learning how to make pancakes for breakfast. That's
Peter B: exactly the same thing. Yes. I love the way you weave that together. Basically every day he was exposed to the Macedonian military system in one way or another, just taking it all in like little by little, like [00:06:00] day after day.
Amanda: Just learning how a baby speaks, right? Just observing and implementing and
Peter B: Exactly. How weird. It must be amazing.
Amanda: For war.
Peter B: War. War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Uh! Okay. Four. Alexander's mom, Queen Olympias, was related to Achilles, and kept whispering to Alex about his sense of destiny and his divine purpose in this world.
Amanda: Hold up. Achilles, like the Achilles heel? Was he a god? I thought he was a god. Was he not a god?
Peter B: He's actually not a god.
Amanda: Oh, interesting. Wasn't there the whole story about him being the most successful soldier in all of the Greek army? Yes. Trojan War. Yes,
Peter B: that's him. That's him. That Achilles.
Amanda: But was it, he wasn't a God?
Peter B: No, wasn't a God. He was human, but there's some controversy. Zeus was nervous that his lover at that time, Thetis, was going to cheat on him with another God. And so he demanded that she marry a mortal man instead. [00:07:00] And she does. And subsequently out popped baby Achilles like man and all.
Amanda: Then he's half God?
Peter B: He's not half God because Thetis wasn't a God. She wasn't a goddess. Zeus was Dayton. A mortal chick, who then Zeus got jealous that some other god, mainly his brother Poseidon, was gonna like. So he said, never mind, and said, you have to marry a regular guy, like a mortal guy. So she did, and then, out comes Achilles.
Amanda: I feel like I'm getting a Greek mythology lesson here, that I don't even know. It's
Peter B: starting to get a little weird, like what's real and what's not real now. Like is mythology really mythology, or is this like shit sort of real because Alexander the Great was real, and Achilles was real, and so like this is some stuff
Amanda: now.
So it could be real.
Peter B: Right. Hey, fun fact, you said Achilles heel earlier. Do you know where the term Achilles heel actually originated?
Amanda: I'm gonna take a stab at it.
Peter B: Go for it.
Amanda: Alright, so, His mom, however you say her name.
Peter B: Theodos.
Amanda: Yeah, mm hmm, that one. Theodos, uh, attempts to make Achilles immortal, [00:08:00] and I guess she'd like try to dip him into the river of s sticks?
She dipped him, in sticks. Okay. Yes! And that's like the underworld river. And then I guess while she was holding him, she only held him by his, like, foot, his heel. His heel. And that was the only part that didn't get into the water. You got it. And then, Yes. So you
Peter B: remember, you remember stuff from, like, Greek mythology?
I mean,
Amanda: maybe just, like, a smidgen, but, You're
Peter B: total, like, a Greek historian buff chick, dude. Proud of you. Thanks. Okay. Last sort of, like, important character shaping event. If Achilles and Aristotle aren't enough. Growing up in the Macedonian court, Alexander was exposed to the politics and power dynamics of the royal court at the time.
And he developed close friendships with some of his contemporaries, including Euclid, the father of geometry. Yes. One of my favorite humans. That Euclid, seriously. This guy knew fucking everybody. I totally wish I lived [00:09:00] during this time.
Amanda: It's kind of like a big mind screw of how many really cool people were in his era.
Right. It's insane. It really is. And what
Peter B: do we have? Elon Musk? Like, we got nothing.
Amanda: Wait, but have you seen the docuseries?
Peter B: Not all of it yet. I watched the first two episodes.
Amanda: I thought it was going to be a hot mess. I don't know how you felt about it.
Peter B: Pretty cool. Pretty cool so far. I like it. I'm in. I'm watching the rest of them for sure.
Amanda: I've been enjoying it. Probably every minute of it. And, even though there's probably some historical inaccuracies within it, if history was taught this way all the time, I probably would have been a history buff.
Peter B: I agree.
Amanda: But, I mean, I know they're playing it out for the drama , but it really, the pacing's good.
It's just a way how they weaved in historians, so it makes it feel like it's legitimate.
Peter B: That's like my favorite part. Right, it goes from the movie part to the historian part. They give you some context, and it goes back to the movie part. And it doesn't really mess with it. It like, it's good. It's like a
Amanda: seamless timeline.
Yes, job well done there. [00:10:00] And not a boring documentary at all. And I mean, I'm sure if you're a purist and historian, it's probably going to offend you because it takes a lot of poetic license. But
Peter B: I'm not a purist.
Amanda: Okay. Well, that's good.
Peter B: So I'm not going to be offended. But if I was a purist, it'd piss me off?
Amanda: Probably. Yeah? I'd assume so.
Peter B: Because they make
Amanda: I mean, there's just some things that is a little bit They stretch. They stretch, right? Yeah. They stretch?
Peter B: Okay.
Amanda: But if you can appreciate that they are trying to bring history alive for, like, our modern day ADD culture, I really think they nailed it.
Peter B: Yes. Yes, I would agree.
It's probably something my 17 year old kid could sit down and actually watch.
Amanda: Yes.
Peter B: I would agree. Yeah.
Amanda: And you could watch with. You wouldn't be bored.
Peter B: Two thumbs up, I'm hearing Siskel. Huh?
Amanda: Who's that?
Peter B: Siskel? Siskel and Eberl. Oh, the old Yeah, and when did you become a movie critic anyway? Can we just get back on track now?
Amanda: I guess so. Okay, go ahead.
Peter B: Alright, so we know Alexander inherited a pretty kick ass army from his father, Philip, after he was brutally assassinated. You Which is totally in [00:11:00] episode one, and he would go on to continue to expand and train and sort of refine his army into the ultimate fighting machine. And we know his military campaigns were strategically brilliant, but really it was his courage.
I would say out of anything else that probably earned him this reputation of like one of the greatest military commanders of all time. So I want to run through a few of his like military exploits. Really quickly.
Amanda: Okay, go.
Peter B: So first, we have the conquest of Greece. Like, I mean, I know he lived in Macedonia, but he had to take over, like, more of Greece.
Because back then, like, Macedonia was like, Greece was part of Macedonia.
Amanda: I always have this conundrum of, geographically, of Greece versus Macedonia. So when we're saying that we, we mean like all of Greece.
Peter B: Yeah. Like he had to keep going far. He, he like broke out of Macedonia because Macedonia is like the northern part of Greece plus some other like Baltic stuff.
I don't, dude, don't, I don't remember negative three 56. I wasn't around, but [00:12:00] yes, he had to like take over like all of Greece before launching larger. It's a pilot program. That's what he was doing. He was, he was piloting the army, making sure like he sort of got everything figured out, stopped all the revolts, like take, took over all the city States, like I got, I know what I'm doing.
Amanda: Yeah. Testing the waters.
Peter B: Yes. Yeah. Learning how to ride the bike. Then he moves on to Persia and this is where like shit gets serious. Where is Persia you ask? Well, technically Persia today means like modern day Iran, but back then it was Afghanistan, it was Armenia, it was Georgia, it was Bahrain, it was Iraq.
Pakistan, parts of Russia, a
Amanda: whole lot of Persia, it was like the Asia.
Peter B: Yeah, it was like the Asia back in Persia was the Asia of now it was huge. So, okay, so 20 year old Alex starts his Persian campaign with a battle of Granicus, his first major battle. And he secures the westernmost, like, coast of [00:13:00] Asia Minor, which is across the sea from Greece.
Amanda: So getting his proverbial foot in the door? Kind of like a big deal.
Peter B: A big deal, right? Because now he's on, like, another land mass, altogether. Like, I did Greece, I did that whole thing, now I had to like, travel, do do do do do, now I'm, boom, uh, like Normandy, man! When we had to like, storm the beaches of Normia, get the stronghold, the beachfront, that's the same thing, that's what he had to do first.
Alright, then, he captures Halley Karnassus, right? Oh wait,
Amanda: isn't that the whole same thing as from the Seven Wonders?
Peter B: Oh, you are totally listening! Good for you! So
Amanda: weird, how it's all connected! Yeah,
Peter B: yes! But focus. This was THE major stronghold of the Persian government in Asia Minor.
Amanda: That makes so much more sense!
Peter B: Right. Proverbial Foot then takes over the stronghold. Then the Battle of Issus. He defeats King Darius for the first time. That's gonna come back later. Next, [00:14:00] Tyree. Then he Gaza. Basically just taking over massive swaths. That should have been our word of the day as he goes along. After that was Egypt where, believe it or not, they actually welcomed him as a liberator.
Amanda: So they're basically a kiss assers.
Peter B: Egyptians are totally Ass
Amanda: kissers. Oh my god.
Peter B: There's kiss assers. It's
Amanda: all
Peter B: the In Egypt, that's where he sets up the city of Alexandria, which would later become THE major center of Greek culture. Then, the Battle of Guagamela. If I said that right. I don't know why I said it with a Spanish accent, because we're somewhere in Asia Minor.
Where Alex defeats Darius again.
Amanda: I feel like it's the Rocky sequel or something.
Peter B: Right? Totally. This is it.
Amanda: How do you defeat someone twice?
Peter B: Darius was his Apollo. Apollo Creed. Yes. But this time it results in the fall of the whole Persian Empire. So it's like totally Rocky 2. Right? Where Rocky just comes back.
And if that's not enough, he Darius across [00:15:00] the rest of Persia until ultimately Darius was assassinated by his own fucking government.
Amanda: I mean, they probably just wanted it to end.
Peter B: Probably because he kept losing to Alexander. To Rocky. Alright, so that was just Persia. He keeps going. Then he goes on to Central Asia, and then into India.
Amanda: This is kind of absurd. Why did we think he was so awesome? I'm starting to get the vibe that he's more of a, like, narcissistic asshole. Rather than this.
Peter B: Tell me how you really feel. So he goes on to invade Bactria and then Sogdiana. Sogdiana, you ask? Modern day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. That's like, in Asia, people.
Like, that's where, like, when Russia, like, separated out, like, The USSR, back in, I don't know, the 90s? Like, these countries were all made. And he goes like 10 rounds with these guys. Cause these guys were like serious fighters now. So we're, we're like, this is like Yvonne Drago stuff now. I mean, they already
Amanda: killed off all the weakest ones.
Right, so now
Peter B: it's getting serious. But he [00:16:00] eventually still won.
Amanda: But how many people died?
Peter B: I, so I, I don't know, I didn't Google it. But he had quite a few people die. His army, I don't know, hundreds or thousands, whatever. But as far as people he killed, I mean, tens of thousands could be hundreds of thousands.
It was, it was remarkable how far he went with this. Then he beat some other King named Porus of the, the Pura. I don't know how to say it. Parava kingdom. I don't know. Pakistan takes over another spot. So, and finally his troops get tired after basically like winning the championship. And they just flat out refuse to keep fighting.
Amanda: Go figure, they're kinda like tap tap out. I'm sure they were exhausted. Yeah,
Peter B: and they're like done, like everything's the same. This is like
Amanda: hand to hand, sword, spear, combat.
Peter B: Repeat, reuse, recycle, same thing, right? So, Alexander finally has got a cave, cause his peeps are pissed. And they're all tired, and so they start the long trek all the way back home.
And so Alexander stops in Babylon, where he finally chills out, while some of the rest of his troops make it all the way back to Macedonia, where it all started.
Amanda: It sounds like it [00:17:00] just kind of started to all unravel, and he also was exhausted from this whole endeavor, and where maybe he was becoming less Macedonian, and for Macedonia!
Peter B: So I, I think you're probably on to something, right? I, I, I wouldn't doubt it, because I think that's all his conquering sort of ended there, right? Well. At the end of the day, whether you think he's a warmongering a hole or not, it can't be denied that his conquests had a profound and lasting impact on the world.
Amanda: How so? Besides, obviously, conquering all these other nations. Well,
Peter B: because the period that followed his fighting saw the spread of all this Greek culture now throughout the known world, which emphasized Individualism, democracy, philosophy, the arts, and these military tactics and strategies continue to be studied and admired to this day by some of the greatest minds of even our time now.
So narcissist or not, man, he was pretty effin smart.
Amanda: Alright, I mean, I guess I get it, but what do we actually [00:18:00] know about him as a person? Was he a good ruler? Was he just a fighter? Did he ever even rule or was he just always out on the battlefield?
Peter B: Oh, he was a ruler. He was the ultimate. He was like George Washington, man.
He was leading the troops across the Delaware. So first off, let's be clear. He only ruled 12 years. So not that long compared to some other historical leaders, right? 12 years, not long. But in that time, he was able to establish a huge empire that spanned several subcontinents, most of which, uh, We now know as Aisha.
I
Amanda: mean, that's a lot to conquer and accomplish in 12 years.
Peter B: Yeah, he was probably doing coke. Like, he was going so Cause most of this shit he did in under 6 years. And then ruled for a while. Right, so I mean, he was, he was flying through this. No wonder his people were so tired, right? And one of the things that made Alexander so great was his rational thinking.
Wherever and whenever possible, he would always try to take roads that led to peace and avoid violence. I know it doesn't seem like that, but he was [00:19:00] very pragmatic that way, and his people actually loved him for it. That's why they would fight for him.
Amanda: Is this before or after he slaughtered all the Greeks?
Peter B: That's a strong word. He used words first. He just did it very fast and very methodically. He was also a voyeur.
Amanda: Hold on. Now we're calling him, now he's a voyeur? Like seriously, this dude is not racking up points. No,
Peter B: no, no, no. Okay. Wait a second. His people loved him because he was pragmatic and his people loved him because he was a voyeur, but not a voyeur, like voyeur, like that.
Like, like an observer, like he would watch before he made changes and figure out which customs were worth it to keep from other cultures, which ones were worth throwing out, which ones were best practice, and then he would assimilate them all into this new and growing empire. So people really admired and liked this about him.
Amanda: That's kind of brilliant.
Peter B: It's totally brilliant. That's why he had so many followers. He had this special level of respect for his rivals. So even though he murdered them, he totally appreciated how well they were running their [00:20:00] empires, and he had no problem giving credit and then copying. So folks loved the way he put it all together.
He was 25 years old while he was doing it. My 25 year old is sipping a coffee latte at Starbucks. All right. And finally, people respected him because he was a democratic leader. That like, that wasn't a thing then, right? So that's a big deal. As I stated earlier, by spreading this Greek culture across his empire, he laid the groundwork for the global spread of democracy that would come hundreds and hundreds of years later.
Amanda: And just to be clear, you mean our democracy today?
Peter B: The foundations of our democracy, yes. I mean, I gotta give it to our forefathers for putting together our specific democracy, but yes, you're absolutely right. He also enabled many aspects of various cultures from across the world to mingle and interact for the first time.
So this exposed people in his empire to like, unseen cultures, inventions, food, music, the [00:21:00] stories that were passed down from generations, this didn't, we didn't have Google, you couldn't look this stuff up. He was like the first Google, the way he put this all together, it like broadened everybody culturally and spiritually, and they totally appreciated him for that.
One of Alexander's most famous quotes is, I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my power and dominion. And I think that says it all.
Amanda: Alright, I give it to you, I guess he's a pretty good ruler. I'm still going to go with, uh, that he's a narcissist and it's 25 year old.
Let the
Peter B: narcissist go. He did way more good than he did bad.
Amanda: Minus all the people that he killed.
Peter B: I don't know what to say there. Right. So let's talk about some of his mistakes then. Why don't we?
Amanda: Okay. I think that would be perfect. Yeah. For myself. Right.
Peter B: Okay. Nobody's perfect. I get it, Amanda. Alright, after all, this Netflix special is called Alexander, The Making of a God, and I [00:22:00] don't want to turn our listeners off.
Obviously, he wasn't a god. He screwed some shit up, for sure.
Amanda: Thank goodness. Or else he would be a god, it sounds like, because all these people loved and idolized him so much.
Peter B: It's, it was a close call. Like, I'm gonna say a few things now, and you're probably now not gonna like them again, so here we go.
Let's start with when he captured the island of Tyre, he was so pissed that it was so well fortified and that he lost both a bunch of his time and a bunch of his men that he massacred like 8, 000 civilians and enslaved 30, 000 other people.
Amanda: Peter, that's bad.
Peter B: That is, that is some bad shit. That's awful. I told you you weren't going to like this.
It gets worse. So after capturing the Persian capital of Persopolis, he burned the fucking city down.
Amanda: I can't. I can't. I know. Like, there's people there. No,
Peter B: but remember the culture part. Like, remember all the Kill
Amanda: everybody and bring in culture?
Peter B: Sorry. Okay, fine. So maybe he's kind of a dick. Then, there was the refusal to acknowledge his divinity by his supporters.
Right? Like, yeah, he wanted people to think he [00:23:00] was a god.
Amanda: Okay, I told you! He was a narcissist, and I really wish our word of the day was narcissist, because I'm pretty sure I would have nailed it, because I've called him this like ten times. You
Peter B: have, and we can't change it now, so we're sort of stuck with Incongruous, , I think it was.
Lacking congruity. Okay. So we're sort of in way too deep. So When his support, so, a little bit about this divinity thing, like when his supporters refused to prostrate themselves before him as a god. Wait,
Amanda: what does prostrate even mean? I,
Peter B: I,
Amanda: Not like, castrate?
Peter B: No, not castrate, I will explain prostrate.
Prostrate means to lay flat on the ground with your face pointing down. It's a sign of respect to deities. Anyway, it ended up severely straining the relationship between Alex and all his closest supporters. And some of his army openly started to oppose his ambitions because he was taking it too far.
Amanda: Well, no shit. I would have done that, like,
Peter B: ten cities ago. I still think there's more good than bad here. Alright. And finally, he never established, like, a clear succession plan. I mean, talk about a [00:24:00] mistake, right? So before he died, like, literally left nobody with nothing. So it left a power struggle, a huge gap, his generals ultimately screwed everything up that he worked so hard to achieve.
And it, like, fragmented his
Amanda: Didn't he have kids? I feel like he had multiple wives.
Peter B: So funny you say that. He might have. Because just recently, if you remember, we were talking about how they're still excavating. They just recently found a tomb that had His father's remain, Philip II, and ma, ma, ma, Alexander's son?
Oh. Question mark. No. Dude. It just happened. Like, this is, I'm talking a month or two ago. That's crazy. Like, it's, yes. It's happening right now. So, more to come on that. Anyway, even in the face of all this, I must say that he really did reshape the known world and left a lasting legacy. So mistakes [00:25:00] are no mistakes, Amanda.
Yeah. I'm still appreciating him. What say you?
Amanda: I'm going to let you have that one. I'm still a little on the fence.
Peter B: All right. Let's lighten things up a bit and move on to some fun factoids.
Amanda: I mean, I appreciate some fun factoids. Let's go.
Peter B: Who doesn't
Amanda: like fun factoids?
Peter B: All right. One. During his reign, Alexander never lost a battle.
That's insane. If he were a boxer, he'd be like 20 and 0 right now, right? Like all knockouts, baby. All, well, not all knockouts. Like maybe a few, like 12 rounders, but like a lot of knockouts. The narcissistic freak. As you like to call him, named 70 cities after himself. Just saying. 70. Would it all be the same name or would he, would they all variations of Alexander?
Cause there's not 70 variations, so I don't really know what's going on there. 70. And one after his horse, Bucephalus. Yeah, you heard me just say that. Bucephalus. In fact, Bucephalus was more than just transportation to Alex. The bond between horse and man was legendary. [00:26:00] The horse accompanying him on all his conquests.
I mean, I like to think the relationship symbolized Alexander's ability to form strong, lasting connections with those around him, even with animals.
Amanda: It's because the horse couldn't get away.
Peter B: What if I would have told you Alexander was incredibly handsome?
Amanda: That doesn't help.
Peter B: Okay, fun fact three, his favorite book was the Iliad, written by Homer.
Fun fact four, during his life, Alexander the Great had three wives and maybe one baby, and I think they were all his wives at the same time?
Amanda: I have no words. I'm telling you, this guy is not winning points in my book.
Peter B: Whatever. Finally, five! Which was already mentioned, Alexander was king for just 12 years and died at the ripe old age of 32.
What. A. Life.
Amanda: He died at 32? What's up with that? Was it tragic?
Peter B: I figured you'd love it. Karma! He was a narcissistic megalomaniac asshole, Amanda. So he died at 32 because God, God smited [00:27:00] him. God smited, he smited him.
Amanda: Fair, he was deserving of it. But it would only be like, I don't know. Retribution, if it was like in some tragic, miserable way.
Peter B: Yeah, so we have no idea. Really? No. He died in Babylon, because he never went back to Macedonia, right? He ended up staying in Babylon under mysterious circumstances, quote unquote, at the age of 32. The exact cause of his death remains unknown. Could have been illness. Could have been poison. I think they're ruling out suicide.
I don't know, but either way, I think there was some shady shit going on here because he was only getting started. Totally was an inside job. IMO. In my opinion.
Amanda: I mean, okay. I guess I can get on board with inside job and someone taking him out because I can relate to that. But, even though some of his ideas were conflicting and I mean, wait for it, incongruous with his supporters.
HA
Peter B: HA! You worked in the word of the day. How long did you have that one [00:28:00] loaded?
Amanda: I totally didn't. Yes, you did. I talk like that. You know.
Peter B: I don't believe you for a second.
Amanda: Totally don't. But, I mean, he had these ideas that a lot of people followed him for.
Peter B: Right, like all, like all leaders, what do you want me to say?
Like all leaders. They're all, they're all freaks. Yeah. I mean, they are to some degree. And that's why so many people get assassinated. Right, I get it. But they also push the boundaries of normalcy. I don't want to get into a whole political discussion right now, but it's happening today. Right. Right. And there's people that are polarizing, and they're freaking us out.
But at some future state, that is what will make us move forward faster. Ultimately.
Amanda: Okay, alright. Alright. We're wrapping up. It's wrap
Peter B: up time. So let's wrap up our exploration of why Alexander was so, air quote, great. It's clear that his unparalleled conquests and visionary leadership transformed the ancient world.
Duh. It left an indelible mark on history. His military prowess, diplomatic finesse, and cultural [00:29:00] assimilation helped him forge an empire that stretched from Greece to Egypt, from Persia to India, shaping the geopolitical landscape for centuries to come.
And despite his very short life, in my opinion, Alexander's legacy endures as a testament to the power of ambition, strategy, and wisdom. And the enduring quest for greatness in human history.
Amanda: All right, Pete. Well, this is fun and all. Sum it all up for me here. What real world crap can we really take away from this podcast that is actually meaningful?
I do.
Peter B: So here's what you got to know. If you don't remember anything, remember this. First, watch Alexander, The Making of a God on Netflix. It's amazing. Second, at your next human interaction, after you introduced yourself to someone, you got to bring up what they're binging. Third, listen in faint interest, ask a few pertinent questions.
Hey Amanda, what are you binging right now?
Amanda: Oh, Alexander the Great.
Peter B: You have to pick something so I can figure it out. Hey Amanda, what are you binging right now? [00:30:00]
Amanda: Well, I actually have nothing to watch because I'm waiting for Bridgerton to come out in 30 days, 60 days.
Peter B: Have you seen the first two seasons of Bridgerton?
I have. Oh, what do you like about them?
Amanda: I like the mild historical.
Peter B: I like that. Hey, do you know what I'm binging?
Amanda: What are you binging? Alexander
Peter B: the Great. There, there you have it. How hard is this? Fourth, wait for a timely break in the conversation and tell them you just finished watching the cool Netflix series called Alexander the Making of a God.
A six part docuseries that reveals the extraordinary life of Alexander the Great through his radical transformation from warrior prince to living god. And finally, share these interesting and relevant details to seem sort of sophisticated. One, Alexander 4th century BCE. Like, a really long time ago, before Common Era, before Jesus was even born.
2. He became a boy king at 19 years old. That's some crazy stuff. 3. He was educated by Aristotle. Yes, that Aristotle. And, he was just [00:31:00] chillin with Euclid, the father of geometry. 4. He truly believed he was part God because of his lineage on his mother's side, back to Achilles. 5. In his 12 years as ruler, he amassed the largest empire in the entire ancient world.
6. His death is shrouded in mystery, maybe poison, maybe an inside job, you be the judge, you be the judge. And seven, finally, his visionary leadership shaped a unified world where diverse cultures could coexist and interact and continue to live on and remain an aspirational ideal in our globalized society even today.
He was the Google of that time.
Amanda: And there you have it, dear listeners. Thank you for joining us on this journey back in time into the sensational world of Alexander the Great. We like to think we shared just enough information to make you more sophisticated and either a flaming nuisance or a bit more interesting to your fellow humans.
Sort of. If you enjoyed this podcast and found it particularly interesting, don't forget to [00:32:00] subscribe, leave a review, and share with your peeps. Until next time, stay curious, stay inspired.
