Tristan Hughes

And the court factional politics...

of the Macedonians ensures that once in a while, people's stars will rise and fall.

The story of Clitus the Black, of course, is one where they drink too much and then it ends with Clitus the Black's death, which is sad.

Alexander expresses great sorrow after the death of his great friend for several days.

But in other cases where he does away with certain former allies, there is normally a political reason behind it.

So I think Livy just using those examples to deride Alexander is not

formidable a general as he had been in the past.

I don't think it's fair on its own.

We also have examples.

I mean, just before Alexander the Great did die, where he's leading campaigns against mountain tribes in the nearby Zagros Mountains and exacting revenge against them, still proving he's got what it takes.

He fights these Indian kings, especially King Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes after the Cleitus affair and all of that.

So

I think Livy's portrayal that Alexander's effectively become more effeminate, more Persian by this time, and using that as an excuse, along with these other things, to say that he wasn't as great as he once was, is just the Romans wanting to deride the Persians and the people in the East.

even though it's not that black and white.

It's once again heralding back to this idea that Alexander, in their eyes, was becoming more of a barbarian, even though actually Alexander was adopting these certain Persian practices because he had to.

Because first of all, he admires Persian culture.

The Macedonians knew of Persian culture long before Alexander the Great.

He had interactions with Persian

diplomats and so on long before he conquers them and he's got to deal with all of these people that were in the persian empire and that includes you know for those people you know um respecting their practices respecting their gods what they believed in he does the same in egypt and so on so i take issue with that as livy kind of trying to deride alexander straight away

My last point I'll make on that section, Steel, is coming back to the Roman commanders thing that you kicked it all off with.