Alexander the Great of Macedon at “Le Louvre”

“I am not interested in the descendance of the citizens or their racial origins. I classify them using one criterion: their virtue. For me every virtuous foreigner is a Greek and every evil Greek worse than a Barbarian.”    Alexander the Great – King of Macedon (356 – 323 BC)

  

We all know the power of words. Alexander the Great used them.    Crossing the Hellespont with his army in 334 BC Alexander threw his spear from his ship to the coast and it stuck in the Asian ground. He stepped onto the shore, pulled his weapon from the soil and declared that the whole of Asia would be won by the spear.

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Alexander the Great, Macedonian Kingdom, Paris-France, Louvre Museum, are magical words in my bilingual dictionary — they light me up and elevate me to the highest state of euphoria — and they are all included in this announcement:  Alexander the Great, my favorite Greek God ( he is a Greek God as far as I am concerned , the God of eternal glory and immortality), is visiting Paris! Nothing will get me to Paris faster than that —  not even Chanel, Lanvin, Dior or any other names – not even Alaxander McQueen, another one of my favorite Alexanders – anyway, I saw him recently at the Met in New York city.

Yes! Alexander the Great goes to Paris next October for a unique exhibition! And not just any place in Paris but at “Le Louvre”, the country’s most famous museum and one of the best museums on the planet!

Image of the Louvre Museum – Paris, France

 A major exhibition entitled “In the Kingdom of Alexander the Great – Ancient Macedonia” will be hosted at the famous museum from October 2011 until January 2012.

Image  Map of Alexander the Great’s Kingdom of Macedonia

In 323 BC Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, ruled a dominion that stretched from the Balkans to the Himalayas and from Egypt to the Caspian Sea. The most brilliant and most charismatic leader — I  don’t think in my humble Macedonian opinion anyone was able to surpass him since —  he had led a small Greek army on the campaign of over 20,000 miles to conquer the mighty Persian Empire. Originally from Iran, the Persians held sway over a domain which also included all of what are now Turkey, Israel and Egypt. It had taken him twelve years and he was only thirty-two. Alexander the Great  was at that time the undisputed master of the world. 

The curator of the department of Greek and Roman antiquities of the Louvre Mrs. Sophie Deschamp has travelled to all Macedonian cities in Northern Greece in order to select the 668 objects which are going to travel to Paris. “The French know that Alexander was Greek, but not Macedonian. Things are a little confused. They don’t know that Macedonia, the birthplace of Alexander the Great is part of Greece. The exhibition will be a great opportunity for all the visitors of the Louvre to learn about Alexander the Great, the origin and the timelessness of his myth” said Mrs. Deschamp.

The exhibits will include architectural portions of the Palace of Vergina, remnants from the grave of Phillip II, and other Macedonian graves, and significant findings from other regions. The French museum is considering this exhibit to be one of major importance. It will allocate its largest periodical exhibition halls measuring a total of 1,200 square meters.

Thanks to this exhibition I will be reunited with my beautiful ancestor and I will reconnect with Macedonia — my divine motherland! I love the French for giving me this opportunity. I am going back home! Home is where Ancient Macedonia and Alexander is, and this time home is Paris!

Alexander finally gets to go West. He is  conquering Paris and the hearts of the French. The glory of the Ancient Macedonian Kingdom continues 2,300 plus years later.

The City of lights will shine brighter than ever with Alexander’s visit. His intention was to visit earlier, back in the days when  he was conquering the world, but, his untimely death prevented it. Better late than  never Alexander!

 

Image of the Louvre with Alexander the Great — promoting the upcoming exhihition (top left)

For more information about the new charity I am in the process of creating please read post dated 9/19/2011: FROM ARISTOTELE TO ALEXANDER – A NEW CHARITY IS BORN.  If you would like to participate, please contact me here.

I will be back soon…

Phillip II of Macedon – Alexander the Great (continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Oh, how a small portion of earth will hold us when we are dead, who ambitiously seek after the whole world while we are living!”

PHILLIP  II OF MACEDON  – Macedonian king, father of Alexander the Great (382 BC – 336 BC)

Phillip II  (359 BC), father of Alexander the Great, was a charismatic ruler, whose strategic genius and diplomatic ability transformed Macedonia from an insignificant and marginal country into the most important power in the Aegean and paved the way for the pan-Hellenic expedition of his son Alexander III to the Orient. He was an expansive leader who had the breath of vision to usher the ancient world into the epoch of the Hellenism of three continents.

During the course of his tempestuous life, he firmly established the power of the central authority in the  Macedonian kingdom, reorganized the army into a flexible and amazing efficient unit and  made Macedonia incontestably superior to the institution of the city-state which, at this precise period, was declining.

He was a major inspiration to Alexander who eventually surpassed him in his accomplishments and his achievement of eternal glory.

Phillip’s unexpected death at the hands of an assassin in 336 BC in the theater at Aigai (on the very day of the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra to her uncle Alexander King of the Molossians and Olympia’s brother) , brought  to an end a brilliant career, the final aim of which was to unify the Greeks in order to extract vengeance on Persia for the invasion of 481-480 BC; Macedonia, in complete control of the Balkan peninsula, was ready with Alexander III as its new king, to assume its new role.

 …more about Alexander the Great’s legend …                                              

                                                                                 

                                                                                                            

Alexander the Great

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”
Alexander the Great King of Macedon  356 – 323 BC

Alexandros III of Macedon (an ancient Hellenic kingdom  in Northern Greece, and my birth place)  was born in July 356 BC  in Pella,  was one of the greatest military genius in history. He conquered much of what was then the civilized world driven by his divine ambition of the world conquest and the creation of a universal world monarchy. He was the first great conqueror who reached Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor,  Persia and Asia up to the western India. He is famous for having created the ethnic fusion of the Macedonians and the Persians. From victory to victory, from triumph to triumph, Alexander created an Empire which brought him eternal glory. He brought Greek ideas, culture and life style to the countries which he conquered, and assured expansion and domination of Hellenistic Culture which, together with the Roman Civilization and Christianity, constitutes the foundation of what is now called Western Civilization.

His parents were  Olympias and King Philip II of Macedon and according to some legends and oracles Alexander has divine origins: Zeus and Achilles. According to tradition, Olympias’ ancestor was the mythical hero of Iliad – Achilles, while his father Philip II of Macedon, was said to descent from the Zeus’ son – Heracles. Alexander was born on the same day the famous Temple of goddess Artemis at Ephesus  (more about  the story of Artemis – Ephesus on the next post) was destroyed by

 

 

 

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fire. This was a horrible omen for the Persian magi who foretold a great disaster for the Persian Empire. The legend however, begins even before he was born. His parents were in their dreams warned about his birth. They were initiated in the mysterious cults of Kabrina of Samothrace , and they had believed in the messages in dreams, so that they invited the most renowned prophet of that time Arixstandros Telmisy to interpret them. Olympias had a dream of a loud burst of thunder and lightning that had hit her womb, while in Philip’s dream, he was sealing her womb with the seal of a lion. Arixstandros determined that Olympias was pregnant, and that the child would have the character of a lion. The oracle of Delphi advised Philip to worship Zeus more than any other god.

Even as a young boy Alexander was fearless and strong. At the age of twelve, he tamed the beautiful and spirited Buchephalus, a horse that no one else could ride. Philip was so proud of Alexander’s horsemanship that he said:

“oh my son, seek out a kingdom worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee.”

Note: Alexander the Great’s story will continue with future gradual posts…