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Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

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Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#21

Post by restalis »

qCOVET wrote: post #12

Here is another piece of story that is not in the article. When Alexander tried to enter Afghanistan he was met with fierce resistance. Didn't matter what he did, he couldn't quench the uprisings and could not conquer the country. After losing a lot of men, he wrote to Aristotle for advise. Aristotle asked Alexander for a sample of Afghan soil to be shipped to him. Upon receipt of the soil samples, Aristotle laid the…

Hmm... You are right that there was strong resistance and that "after two years of war and a strong insurgency campaign, Alexander managed to establish little control over Bactria": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactria#Alexander_the_Great

But that being said, it's also worth mentioning that that Bactria was one of the most prominent piece of Alexander's legacy, and Alexandria on the Oxus (the remains of which lies somewhere in the north of Afghanistan) was one of its primary cities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai-Khanoum

It seems that somehow things were settled and Afghanistan managed to become the heart of one of Alexander's remaining kingdoms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Bactrian_Kingdom

You can't really have such impressive results when there is little control under your hands!

Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#22

Post by lololololololol »

Wow, is this some sort of religious propaganda because it got too religious too quick (I stopped after reading the story about the Jew being bad and the Zoroastrian being a good Muslim). This is a classical example of confirmation bias - the author is seeking to confirm his theory about the supeemacy of one religion over others and finds positive evidence wherr se deems fit.

This is not to say that one religion is truly better than other - all religions are equally unprovable so dont bother. Hacketnews is about computer science, not religious propaganda.

Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#23

Post by restalis »

lololololololol wrote: post #22

Wow, is this some sort of religious propaganda because it got too religious too quick (I stopped after reading the story about the Jew being bad and the Zoroastrian being a good Muslim). This is a classical example of confirmation bias - the author is seeking to confirm his theory about the supeemacy of one religion over others and finds positive evidence wherr se deems fit. This is not to say that one religion is tr…

I continued reading and found this: "This didactic story probably wasn’t meant to teach that Jews are evil. The ethics ascribed to the Jew are practical ethics undoubtedly common across human tribal groups."

Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#24

Post by junto »

Steko wrote: post #9
droopyEyelids wrote: post #3

It's interesting that this isn't a larger part of what people think about when they think about 'winnning' in the context of competition with other people. (I blame sports) Losing- failing to get your way or being destroyed, is an obvious state. What we call winning, which amounts to getting your way (often at the expense of others) is actually a shitty compromise. Conversion of the 'enemy' is the real best outcome.…

I dunno, the whole thing seems straight out of The Art of War , best is to win without fighting ... worst to besiege his cities.

As a supplement to this; if you do besiege his cities, always leave a narrow path of escape. A city without hope will fight to the death.

I'm fairly sure that is also in the Art of War too.

Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#25

Post by rmc »

Herodotus38 wrote: post #16

I just finished a Biography on Alexander the Great (Titled: Alexander the Great, The Hunt for a New Past. by Paul Cartledge), which I found to be very good because the author delves into the various sources of information on Alexander, which I found to be surprisingly scant as much has been lost and much has been handed down to us second hand in summarized form (such as through Plutarch). Alexander had his own person…

It's fascinating how little documents we have of people who were incredibly famous and powerful while they lived.

Often, some claim that Jesus of Nazareth didn't exist because we have no documented evidence of him from his lifetime. But Alexander was viewed (in his time) as conquring the whole world, and we still don't have written evidence from his life.

Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#26

Post by restalis »

erikb wrote: post #14

I must be reading something incorrectly. Certainly I didn't hear about these exchanges before. But is it correct that most of the exchanges can be boiled down to "be nice to people"? I always thought politics was based on keeping control of import political powers like media, military, law, food, and money while replacing people in high positions who don't work for you with people that you improved to these positions…

"Can one go to another country, declare oneself as their leader and then just lead by being nice?"

The thing is that Alexander's biggest proportion of conquests were the former Persian Empire's - lands of various people which all their life lived under some foreign rule. So there was a change in power, now here's this new ambitious and charismatic leader offering some of the most nicest conditions imaginable if you just submit. Considering Alexander's record of winnings and therefore - the chances of a revolt against him, is it that hard to believe that people preferred to stay put?

Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#27

Post by csomar »

qCOVET wrote: post #12

Here is another piece of story that is not in the article. When Alexander tried to enter Afghanistan he was met with fierce resistance. Didn't matter what he did, he couldn't quench the uprisings and could not conquer the country. After losing a lot of men, he wrote to Aristotle for advise. Aristotle asked Alexander for a sample of Afghan soil to be shipped to him. Upon receipt of the soil samples, Aristotle laid the…

Two things:

1. After travelling for a while, I believe that the air and nature of the region DO affect your brain and seems to be in sync with the people in that region.

2. I think this is more of a tale for cultural resilience. If the elderly teaches the young that they'll find until the end; they'll fight until the end. Look at Palestine.

Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#28

Post by Adrock »

restalis wrote: post #23
lololololololol wrote: post #22

Wow, is this some sort of religious propaganda because it got too religious too quick (I stopped after reading the story about the Jew being bad and the Zoroastrian being a good Muslim). This is a classical example of confirmation bias - the author is seeking to confirm his theory about the supeemacy of one religion over others and finds positive evidence wherr se deems fit. This is not to say that one religion is tr…

I continued reading and found this: "This didactic story probably wasn’t meant to teach that Jews are evil. The ethics ascribed to the Jew are practical ethics undoubtedly common across human tribal groups."

This defamatory story probably wasn't meant to be defamatory.

Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#29

Post by halviti »

louhike wrote: post #17
qCOVET wrote: post #12

Here is another piece of story that is not in the article. When Alexander tried to enter Afghanistan he was met with fierce resistance. Didn't matter what he did, he couldn't quench the uprisings and could not conquer the country. After losing a lot of men, he wrote to Aristotle for advise. Aristotle asked Alexander for a sample of Afghan soil to be shipped to him. Upon receipt of the soil samples, Aristotle laid the…

I do not know a lot of countries which have not been defiants to foreign occupation. I'll put it harshly but it sounds a lot like propaganda. And as you can see on this map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#/media/Fil... , he did invade Afghanistan, and even a part of today India.

In Iceland during WW2 we were occupied by the British first, and then the Americans. Aside from some strongly worded objections, we just kind of rolled over and took it.

Re: Aristotle’s (apocryphal) advice to Alexander the Great on Persian elites (2013)

#30

Post by nicolapede »

restalis wrote: post #21
qCOVET wrote: post #12

Here is another piece of story that is not in the article. When Alexander tried to enter Afghanistan he was met with fierce resistance. Didn't matter what he did, he couldn't quench the uprisings and could not conquer the country. After losing a lot of men, he wrote to Aristotle for advise. Aristotle asked Alexander for a sample of Afghan soil to be shipped to him. Upon receipt of the soil samples, Aristotle laid the…

Hmm... You are right that there was strong resistance and that "after two years of war and a strong insurgency campaign, Alexander managed to establish little control over Bactria": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactria#Alexander_the_Great But that being said, it's also worth mentioning that that Bactria was one of the most prominent piece of Alexander's legacy, and Alexandria on the Oxus (the remains of which lies s…

If anyone is interested in reading more about Alexander's military accomplishments, I found this book http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Earliest-Detailed-Campaigns-... extremely interesting.
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