How did Rome perceive Alexander's wars? |The General Context|
|"||[sic]…All the world, too, made up their minds that the rise
of Alexander was a great turning point, when an older volume of
history was finished, and a new one begun. Nobody ever thought
of going back beyond Alexander and his conquests to make a
historic claim, or to demand the restoration of ancient
sovereignties. His conquests were regarded as perfectly lawful,
the world as his natural heritage, his will as a lawful
testament. So, then, we may begin with him without much
retrospect, and see what he founded, and what he did for the
advance of the world " | -- John Pentland Mahaffy and Arthur
Gilman, Alexander’s Empire chapter 1 Striking words, and even in
the face of new, modern historiography and despite the fact that
they were from a 19th century ancient historian, they still hold
as much weight and are as relevant today as they where then.
This is the one indisputable fact for all ancient historians –
Alexander’s empire marked a turning poi