The looting & burning of Persepolis.

The Persians  looted and destroyed the Greek sanctuaries, temples and shrines "and" cities (as seen from Hellios' excellent examples) "many a time", so they gave the Greeks, Alexander in this case, PLENTY of INCENTIVE to do what they did.. so no-one should be getting their knickers in a knot.  Like Vivek said.. they were just "finishing" what the
Persians started.
Alexander was not the tyrant or monster he seems to be portrayed as by many sycophanters..  if he had been, then why did he spare the Persian Royal family that had been taken hostage??  I could give many examples of his magnanimity.

Alexander was apparently incensed when the Persians defeated and humiliated his father (who had been killed by their treachery), treating his people cruelly, therefore set out to avenge Persia for all the wrongs done to Greece, and to free Greek cities under "their" rule.

As far as I know, the Greeks have never started wars, their wars were always on the defense.  They only resorted to violence as a last resort, only when provoked and when given legitimate reasons to.
They weren't ones to go on a "wanton" mission to pillage, destroy, vandalise, slaughter, etc. 
Sparten's genocide claim is a little 'far-fetched'.

Diodorus in his writings mentions that Alexander co-erced his enemies to be happy... in the day and age where the word 'philanthropy' was incomprehensible.
He never followed his teacher's, ie Aristotle's, advice, who suggested to him to treat the Greeks well and to behave toward his subservient non-Greeks as the conqueror King.
Alexander's aim was to elevate the conquered and to make them equal to the Greeks... he was the first advocator against racial discrimination.

Let's not forget that Alexander was a compassionate man, esp to those who were less fortunate.


Now, Tyre was destroyed, because like someone else had mentioned, they had resisted him and he wasn't going to let anything stand in his way.

Alexander the Great besieged the island of Tyre during his war on the
Persians. Alexander III after defeating Darius moved on towards Egypt.
He called upon the former cities of the Persians to open their gates
and let him in, hoping to prevent the cities being used by the
Persian fleets. Tyre refused to do so and so Alexander became so angry that one city held out against him that he laid siege to it.
But having no fleet of ships and not being able to get to them would have caused him some considerable problems, so he destroyed the remains of mainland Tyre and threw the remains into the sea to build a causeway to the Island.

* Arrian II:15-24; Arrian says that Alexander would not accept the Tyrian offer to capitulate but allow no Macedonian into the city. He could not enter Egypt safely with the Persian fleet in the hands of the unoccupied city of Tyre in his rear. Thus the siege was long and difficult
http://www.ao.net/~fmoeller/zec9.htm

The Macedonians took no prisoners. They slaughtered the Tyrians for two main reasons. The first had to do with the length of the siege (seven months) and the second had to do with the way the Tyrians had treated Macedonian prisoners. They would bring a captured Macedonian to the top of the wall so all could see, slaughter him and toss him into the sea.
http://joseph_berrigan.tripod.com/id34.html


So powerful and rich had the city of Tyre become that its King presumed himself to be the personification of the Phoenician god Melkarth, ruler of the seas. This so angered the LORD that He declared destruction on Tyre (Ezek. 28:1-10) and chose the Greeks as His instrument. Alexander scraped up the remains of the dismantled mainland city and began building a causeway out to the island. Within 7 months he had completed his land bridge and defeated the island fortress in fulfillment of Zech 9:1-4.

another way to look at it... he was fulfilling Biblical prophecy..
(which has an 100% accuracy rate mind you)

It had always been my understanding, that Alexander had destroyed Persepolis because when they had arrived there, they had come across 800 Greek prisoners of war, who had been severely mutilated during their Persian enslavement and this had fuelled his rage, and vindictiveness (moreso).

Thanks to Alexander's accomplishments, Greece was no longer "harassed" by the Persians.  It's unfortunate, that some things come with a price, but I think their actions were pretty much justified!!





 

Edited by Ellin - 21-Oct-2006 at 02:16

Persepolis

One of the most awe-inspiring monuments of the ancient world, Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenian empire. It was built during the reign of Darius I, known as Darius the Great (522-485 BC), and developed further by successive kings. The various temples and monuments are located upon a vast platform, some 450 metres by 300 metres and 20 metres in height. At the head of the ceremonial staircase leading to the terrace is the Gateway of All Nations built by Xerxes I and guarded by two colossal bull-like figures.

 

Beyond the Gate lie the Hall of 100 Columns (Xerxes' throne room), the Apadana Palace (the Great Hall of Audience of Darius the Great) with its spellbinding display of bas-reliefs, the Tachara (or Winter Palace) of Darius, the unfinished palace of Artaxerxes III, the Palace of Xerxes' and the Tripylon Palace. Banked against the mountainside are the royal stables, guard rooms and domestic quarters. The rock tombs cut into the mountain are those of Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III.

The great city of Persepolis was plundered and set alight by Alexander the Great (it is said he needed 10,000 mules and 5,000 camels to transport the treasures to Ecbatana, sited at present day Hamadan) in 330 BC. Whether the firing of the city was a deliberate act in revenge for Xerxes destruction of Athens or an accident is not known. Today, Persepolis remains one of the world's great archeological sites.

A few kilometres from Persepolis is Naqsh-� Rostam where four cliff tombs are located, those of Darius I, Darius II, Artaxerxes I and Xerxes 1, although only that of Darius I bears an identifying inscription. Standing in front of the tombs is a structure known as the "Cube of Zoroaster", thought to have been built by Darius I. The purpose of this monument remains a question mark; it may have been a fire temple, a repository of sacred texts or a royal tomb.The site includes a number of Sassanian reliefs depicting, inter alia, the investiture of Ardashir I and Shahpur on horseback.

 Source: http://www.babyloniangal.com/files/tours/persepolis.html

Edited by Hellios - 21-Oct-2006 at 03:40

Thanks Eric.  Good choice of images of Persepolis & Ctesiphon.  Isn't Ctesiphon in modern day Iraq though? - your post says Iran.

Edited by Hellios - 22-Oct-2006 at 03:57

Did it suffer during Iraq II? 

What's going on here

Thanks for the links, Hellios. Very sad indeed.

Originally posted by Bulldog Again, were mixing our notions of what we think to be the "right" thing to do today and what was considered a "norm" back then.

 

I just asked on what references you based your assumption that he was "DAMN PROUD OF IT", because most references indicate he regretted the act.

 

 

Originally posted by Bulldog Why wouldn't he be proud,

 

Because it was a tragedy.

 

 

Originally posted by Bulldog he was an agressive expansionist his aim wasn't to be all lovey dovy with his foes, it was to crush and annihalate them and show the true extent of his power and send a message to all other potential foes not to mess around with him.

 

He was in a war with Persia.  The reasons/circumstances behind the Greco-Persian wars are well documented.

 

 

Originally posted by Bulldog After this war there are a number of examples were his enemies were literally too scared to even fight him so he had suceeded. It was a great example of "phycological warfare".

 

His opposing armies' main concern was that he was a brilliant tactician, with a highly skilled army.

 

 

Originally posted by Bulldog He as the most powerfull warrior leader of his era took out the most powerfull hub of civillisation all by himself with his fellow warriors, why wouldn't he be proud, to him and his men it was an achievement.

 

Assuming he was proud of taking out Persia is one thing, and I agree with it (because I've studied the history of the Greco-Persian wars), but assuming he was proud of the burning of Persepolis is something else, that I don't agree with and goes against most references.

Edited by Hellios - 22-Oct-2006 at 18:13