'Alexander the Great loved the fact that he was Greek'

This lecture focuses on the self-identification of Alexander the Great as presented in the Hellenistic writings of both Greek and Roman writers. It also examines Alexanders self-identification, but also identification by others, in the 3rd century CE folkloric tradition of Pseudo-Callisthenes. SBS Greek's Panos Apostolou talks with Dimitris Gonis.

'Alexander The Great' (Archaeological Museum of Istanbul) Source: Wikimedia

Ancient sources on the Hellenism of the ancient Macedonians are not always clear. They sometimes paint a picture of people who lived on the fringes of the Greek world, and who were not always considered Hellenes by their southern kin. People like Demosthenes called Philip II a barbarian, while Isocrates referred to him as a man beyond any of the Hellenes and a man of the blood of Hellas.

There is little evidence regarding what Philip exactly thought of himself. All his actions point to his Hellenic self-identification. However, we do not have the unmistakable declarations we find in Alexander. Alexander unambiguously self-identifies as a Hellene. All the sources we have available to us speak of an Alexander who repeatedly affirms his Hellenic roots and intrinsic Hellenism.

Dimitris Gonis is a freelance writer and poet as well as a translator of academic articles and one book. For the past seven years, he has worked as a sessional lecturer at La Trobe University, where he teaches he teaches a number of subjects: 'Ethnic and Civil Conflict in Southern Europe and in Cyprus', 'Transterritorial Hellenism' and modern Greek. He has recently completed his PhD which is titled: The Politics of Memory and Nationhood: Neo-Macedonism in Australia. 

*The event will take place at the Ithacan Philanthropic Society (Level 2, 329 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne), Thursday 12/4/2018 at 7:00 pm. The speech will be in English.