Alexander & The Three Wishes

My cousin and  great friend (a fine student of history too), dropped by last week to meet me.  We spoke at length and amongst several topics,  the three wishes of Alexander too cropped up, leading to a good discussion. The subject was interesting and so I decided to do some research and analyse  this intriguing piece of history.

Alexander, the son of Phillip II, was born in the Ancient Greek City of Pella in the year 356 BC in the kingdom of Macedonia. Tutored by one of the greatest ancient philosophers Aristotle, Alexander grew up  to be a worthy successor to  his father and post his assassination, he took over the reigns of Macedonia, just aged 20.

To strengthen his reign and expand his area of influence Alexander launched several military campaigns across the world more importantly in Northern Africa and West Asia and by the time he was 30, Alexander had already created one of the largest Empires in history. He was the all conquering, highly skilful, strategically brilliant and a ferociously ambitious  warrior who had created an unrelenting war machine which never failed. Alexander never lost a battle in his life. Alongwith large swathes of land, came in massive  amounts of  wealth and Alexander kept on leaving his imprints in his path, creating colonies and cities in his wake. He was truly Invictus and very rightly so was named Alexander – The Great.

However, this rampaging warrior seriously  fell ill while returning from his last battles in Asia. With his body failing, he knew that he would never reach Macedonia. He wanted to meet his mother but that was not to be. As death beckoned at the age of 32, Alexander called his Generals and made his three wishes to be strictly implemented after his Death.

1. Alexander wanted his coffin to be carried by his Physicians. He wanted the world to know that pursuance of immortality is futile and when death arrives even the best physicians would be of no help .
2. He wanted his wealth to be strewn and scattered on the path to his grave .This was to indicate  that all the wealth acquired through an ever burgeoning ambition would one day be of no value.
3. He wanted his hands to be dangling out of his coffin. To show to the world that eventually the Great Alexander is going away to his grave empty handed as all would eventually do, leaving behind all the successes and achievements.

Philosophical words from Alexander but   so true. However there exists   a contradiction to the wise words of Aristotle’s pupil.

Bereft of  ambition Alexander would not have been the man he was. He would not have been victorious in all his battles. We would not have had Alexandria, the city in Egypt  and Alexander would not have been known as Alexander the Great.  The fact is that for the human race to survive it has to develop and progress and it is absolutely critical to harbour ambition to fuel this development and therefore I have a slightly different take on the three wishes of Alexander.

1. Physicians carrying the coffin were expected to work harder, develop medical science, save lives and improve  the longevity of  humans rather than show to the world how hapless they were.

2. The wealth scattered on the path to his grave was an indication of what the Great Alexander was leaving behind for his people to progress,develop and survive rather then lament on the wealth failing him in his sickness.

3. The open arms were indicative of the ultimate truth that death is a certainty and that we need to embrace it with humility inspite of all our achievements.

So let’s keep our ambitions alive and our passions  burning  thus powering our zeal to succeed, so that we in all humility leave a better world for our generations to follow. 

And so did try…The Great Alexander.