Alexander the Great Became a Persian King
The continuity of the empire
The conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great stands amongst the greatest events of the ancient world, but the most interesting aspect of it was its outcome. Through the fighting, chase and desperate attempts to save the crumbling empire, the integrity of the Persian bureaucracy and administration remained virtually untouched. The survival of the Persian administration was the result of Alexander’s own upbringing in the Macedon and his intense propaganda campaign that secured his conquests. In addition, the Conquest of the Achaemenid Empire hints at the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Ancient World, as instead of an empire crumbling at the hands of a foreign invader, contemporaries and future scholars painted Alexander the Great as a Persian Noble that overthrew a tyrant. The duality of Alexander’s role as a champion of the Greeks and a Persian King made him a bridge between two worlds and issued a new era for the Ancient World.
The Twilight of the Achaemenids
Contrary to popular belief, the Achaemenid Empire was not in decline and weakened by moral impurity as commonly depicted at the time of its fall. The empire was still the richest state in the world, and the administration was functioning to a similar extent to the times of Darius the…
