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Summary of Life of Alexander by Plutarch

In his Life of Alexander Plutarch first tells us about Alexander's childhood and his parents, Philip of Macedon and Olimpias. We learn about his abilities and talents that were revealed fairly early in his life. Plutarch portrays Alexander as quite an extraordinary child. For example, in his conversation with the ambassadors from the King of Persia, he asked them questions, which were "far from being childish or trifling". Whenever he learned about Philip winning over a city, the young man got upset that he himself would not have anything left to conquer. Historian presents the Macedonian as a man with whose mental and physical abilities were close to supernatural. Taming of a horse that nobody was capable to manage is an example of that.

Next, the author tells us about twenty-year-old Alexander taking his father's place after Philip's assassination. Despite his quite young age, he did an outstanding job not only in ruling Macedonia but also in taking over and capturing other countries. He lived a life of warfare, which brought glory to him and transformed the minor and insignificant state into an impressive and mighty empire.

We also learn about his character. Accordingly to Plutarch, the emperor generally was being somewhat considerate about his enemies. For instance, he treated family of Darius very kindly while holding them captives. He tried not to be too hard on the states in his power that attempted rebellion. An obvious exception from this rule is a revolt in Thebes. There, around six thousand people were executed. In addition, pretty much everybody, except for the priests, those who had connections to the Macedonians and those who have opposed the public vote for the war, "were publicly sold for slaves". These people were around thirty thousand.

Even though Plutarch tried to give to his writings the least bias possible, I could definitely sense an admiration, high regard and appreciation of the monarch by the historian. And if we add the extreme loyalty of a Greek to a Greek present in the society, we can see the tremendous role the author played in our understanding and acknowledgment of the life and deeds of the Macedonian king.

I need to accept that Plutarch gave us quite a full and truthful description of the ruler's life. Certain events in it, however, seem to be somewhat unrealistic. For instance, the story about Porus saying that even in captivity he expected to be used as a king. The detail that on hearing this Alexander not only let him "to govern his own kingdom as a satrap under himself" but also gave him "an additional territory of various independent tribes whom he subdued", sounds rather like a fiction.

What about my personal opinion of Alexander, despite the fact that Plutarch is presenting him as a ruler with acceptable moral standards, I find him very cruel and harsh. However, I cannot stop myself from feeling fascinated by his remarkable abilities, talents, perseverance and his personality in general.