Andy Hogan's Midterm Parte Duae

A MULTIPERSPECTIVAL PRESENTATION OF THE MANY FACES OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT: PRINCE, SOLDIER, WARRIOR

Abstract

I am exploring the many historical interpretations of Alexander the Great in an attempt to determine how ancient historians, a well as writers throughout the centuries, have looked at the body of work existing about Alexander and interpreted this to form a comprehensive picture of the man (unfortunately, without the benefit of any digital help). Of course the written word will be an integral part of this project, but Alexander will also be seen through the eyes of the sculptors, painters, and countless artists who have tried to form the visual images throughout recorded history of this enigmatic man. The primary goal of this work is to aid whoever is experiencing the total project in understanding how one of the most dynamic leaders in world history accomplished what he did and how he and his actions were later seen. As a part of this, recent work in the field of Alexandrian studies will be included which calls into question many of the ancient sources and their interpretation of certain aspects of his life, i.e. his mother, Olympias, and her influence on his subsequent undertakings, the burning of the Persian royal palace of Persepolis, and others. Simply stated, I want to produce a muti-perspectival project aimed at the academic reader (or any serious lover of history) that will have several elements of the documentary style as well. This would more than likely take shape as a DVD (much like what we saw with the Labyrinth project on Bobby Kennedy) which would engross the participant with information and various interpretations of the man, the world he lived in, what drove him to undertake what he did, how he was seen then, now, and the position he assumes in recorded history. Ultimately, this will force people to see how the sources are not in concordance and how even the simplest facts cannot be agreed upon. Moreover, while experiencing the project, the viewer will learn what various scholars (ancient and modern) claim regarding Alexander, because, in the final analysis, all that can be known about one of the most dynamic leaders in history is what we can glean from several contradictory authors.

Methodology

As stated above, and worth bearing repeating, Alexandrian studies are a paradox because nothing can truly be known about the man himself to a certainty, despite the corpus of works concerning him. Many of the sources disagree; what I would attempt to do is allow a participant to physically see where the disagreements occur and how little moments of disharmony add up over the course of the main narratives. The focus of the project would center on answering what we, as scholars, can truly know about Alexander, and then view the many ways he has been reinterpreted throughout the years based on various findings that continue to come to light. Can we only know, as most academics believe, that all we can take from the histories are what the author says Alexander did, or, can we say with any degree of certainty that he actually acted in that manner? The modern scholarship that does exist about Alexander is quite fascinating and is worth contemplating alongside the ancient scholarship as well. There is one particularly fascinating book that was recently published by Elizabeth Carney in which she completely rejects every negative interpretation of Olympias, Alexander’s mother, in the secondary sources as a misrepresentation of a strong and powerful woman who lived in a brutal time. I feel that the modern scholarship will give the project the extra component that will aid the viewer in appreciating how many ways something can be reinterpreted, which is a major portion of what I am attempting to do.

Media Presentation & Justification

First and foremost, I find that most people can’t make their way through the ancient corpus of works about Alexander, much less make the distinctions among the different traditions that they hail from. Even academics find actively keeping that information in mind and in an organized fashion to be a challenge. Trying to guide most people through the visual representations is easier by far. There is a rich and varied body of visual interpretation including incredible sculpted busts of the man, both as warrior and civilian, ancient statues, coinage, medieval illuminations, and a host of art from the Renaissance through the 19th centuries. By combining the two elements of the written and the visual, interest in the subject would be greatly bolstered. Moreover, by making the sources painfully obvious via tabs or citations of some sort, people could literally see the similarities as well as the discrepancies side by side. I haven’t decided beyond the historically accepted artistic representations of Alexander if any cinematic projects deserve to be spliced into the project proper, but some (such as certain portions of Oliver Stone’s Alexander) do capture certain moments which are in concordance between sources. As stated above, I want to do this on a DVD somewhat in the same comprehensive method as the Labyrinth project viewed on Kennedy. I truly believe that this could be a fascinating experience wherein the viewer could learn in one place about the many aspects of the man. Keep in mind, though, that this knowledge would not be presented as “this is what Alexander did”; it would be “this is what Arrian or Curtius said Alexander did”. From that basis, and after experiencing the project, I would allow the participant to make their own decision as to whether the source serves a more literary purpose (Callisthenes says Alexander did this and there remains some degree of suspicion as to its historical veracity) or a more historical purpose (Alexander did this and Ptolemy reported it). This needs to be done in a multimedia format because of the efficiency in assimilation and presentation of the information. I would attempt to arrange the project in such a way that the person experiencing it would be able to guide their learning in fields that interest them.