Documentary(historical movie)

The True Story of Alexander the Great

I watched a DVD of the History Channel 's production titled , `The True Story of Alexander the Great ' The running time was two and a half hours , but it still only touched on the highlights of Alexander 's life and left out a great deal of information

Alexander was a Macedonian prince , son of King Philip , and sole heir to the throne , though he claimed that his real father was the Greek god Zeus . It was a part of his mystique that he claimed to

be divine . He was tutored by Aristotle and educated with the understanding that he would inherit the throne . His father was assassinated in front of him and he had to become king very young . He made it his goal to unite all of Greece into one nation , under his rule . When he had done that he set out looking for new lands to conquer in the year 334 B .C . The documentary is not very detailed about the battles and moves past them quickly . It would have been better to show more of his tactics

The movie uses a technique in which Alexander 's near contemporaries read what they wrote about him . The readings are all flattering and we only see one side of the man . The entire movie is biased in favor of Alexander . It seems pretty obvious that there were some people of that time who were not d that a Macedonian army came through their country . The common belief is that he spread Greek culture around the continent while taking the best of the oriental culture back to Greece He founded Greek cities as he went , and then died at the age of 32 . His generals divided up his conquests

A documentary is supposed to give both sides of the subject but here I saw a very pro-Greek , pro-Alexander movie . It is true he spread civilization to barbarians at times but history tells us that he committed some barbaric acts of his own . It is worth watching but the viewer should remember that there are other opinions and they should be considered , too

Bibliography

DVD Documentary The True Story of Alexander the Great A E Home Use

Video Released 1-25-05

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