Thursday, August 27, 2009

Alexander is Great!

The conquests of Alexander the Great spread Greek culture throughout the Middle East. We are going to have a trial in this class. Alexander will be put on trial for various crimes. I am offering (up to)5 points each for potential charges to be brought against Alexander. I am also offering one point each for names of potential witnesses in our trial. The maximum on this project is 25 points.
Happy researching!

16 comments:

Doshibo said...

When is such a trial supposed to occur?

also, i found this~

http://www.funatiq.com/images/100-history-personalities.jpg

:D

-molly pace [: said...

Alexander the Great was one of the most successful military commanders in history; he helped change the world by expanding Greek culture and learning throughout his empire. Yet, like many great warriors he committed acts that need to be brought to justice.

List of Charges:
1. War Crimes- Alexander destroyed Thebes, killed their soldiers, and sold the women and children into slavery.
2. Murder of Clitus
3. Public Intoxication
4. Disorderly Conduct
5. Theft
6. Burning of Persepolis- Act of revenge against the Persians for the damage a former Persian king, Xerxes, had done after invading Athens, more than 150 years earlier.
7. Massacre at Branchidae- killed the inhabitants and leveled the city to the ground.
8. Disaster at Gedrosia- Alexander lost 3/4 of his army while crossing the desert.

Witnesses:
Darius III, King of Persia
Demosthenes
Arrian
Plutarch
Diodorus
Curtius
Antipater
Parmenio and his son Philotas



-That's all for now, (:

Nathan Laage said...

Alexander the Great was one of the most powerful military leaders of his time. But he did have crimes.

Charges:
.Destoryed Thebes.
Witnesses: His army
.Murdered his best friend while he was drunk.
Witnesses: His generals and attendents to the party.
.He got drunk most of the time during parties.
Witnesses: Wife Roxaine, his generals.
.Burning of Persepolis.
Witnesses:?
.Plundering Persepolis.
Witnesses: His army.

Nathan Laage said...

Defence of Alexander The Great
.The burning and plundering of Persepolis.
No one knows how the fire was started, but it wasn't an order from Alexander. Currently it is known as an accident. The plundering of Persepolis was understandable. The army wanted to plunder the city because they had just taken it over, but to be fair to the citizens and government officials Alexander spared the palace from being plundered, which is where the real treasures of the city were.
.Murder of Clitus. The murder of Clitus was like a drunk driving acceident where some one got killed, manslaughter. Alexander was under the influence of alchol and so was Clitus. It became a drunken thrown room dispute gone bad.
.Theft. Alexander did not steal fully for himself, he had his men plunder cities to enrich themselves, which is a basic conquering move of the early world.
.Public intoxication was an influence of his father.
.The Disater at Gedrosia was not intierly Alexander's fault. It was his fault to try to follow his dreams and reach the other side of Asia, but he told his men that they could leave at any time and he would still respect them.
.Darius III could not act as a witness for any of these said crimes because he was constantly running away from Alexander and then he was murdered by his of his own men during flight. To avenge his death Alexander followed the persian generals through Asia to kill them and avenge him. So since he is dead procurring Darius III as a witness would be impossible.
.Most of the said crimes that have been listed were probably not considered crimes back Alexander's day unlike today. Even crucifing the enemy and the innocent was practiced by the Romans.

Sabrina said...

Alexander the Great is known for many things. He was the son of Philip II. At the age of 16, Alexander the Great was named Regent. While fighting in wars, he conquered many lands, but many of his doings along the way were very unlawful and wrong. If Alexander the Great was to be put on trial, these would be the charges...

-causing to many wars (ex. Macedonia,Granicus,Persia)
-causing to many deaths
-being an alcoholic
-the execution of Philotas
-the murder of Cleitus the Black
-causing a disruptance for many inncosent countries/lands
-Burning Persepolis(capital of Persian empire)

Possible Witnesses
-Ptolemy
-Aristobulos
-Nearchus
-Cleitarchus
-Callisthenes
-Parmenion

Bye Guys... :D

-molly pace [: said...

1. The act of killing Clitus can not be considered manslaughter. Manslaughter is death by negligence. Alexander was a warrior who knew the consequences of his actions. He recognized that throwing a spear at Clitus would kill him. Even drunk, Alexander was aware of this fact. Alexander attempted to kill Clitus more than one time that fateful evening. Multiple murder attempts cannot be manslaughter.

2. Darius should be allowed to testify at the trial of Alexander. He did encounter Alexander in battle and has information pertaining to Alexander's invasion of Persia and his behavior on the battlefield. Witnesses called to testify at a trial do not have to necessarily be present at an event that the defendant orchestrated, they may be called to establish background knowledge and character of the defendant on trial.

3. Are we trying Alexander the Great under the laws of today or what existed during his reign?

Mr. Parker said...

Wow Nathan and Sabrina and Molly! Impressive beginning and more than enough for a trial. The trial will take place on either the 15th or the 16th of Sept. (Depending on which day you have the class.)
25 points each.

Nathan Laage said...

.Darius encountered Alexander in battle many times but he always ended up running away in the middle because he was a coward, so he never saw the end of the battle.

.It was manslaughter because the next morning alexander did not remember what had happened and his generals had to tell him what had happened.

.Apperantly we are trying Alexander with laws that exist today, because many of the old laws in the world were forgotten. Most of the things we are charging him with are illegal because of the Geneva Convention, established 1882 A.D.

Nathan Laage said...

Causing too many wars and deaths and being an alchololic are very weak and i mean weak reasons to have a trial over. He didn't really cause any disruptance except in india and the persian empire. The persian empire is very understandable because the greeks had been at war with the persians since the persians tried to conquer them. India is somewhat understandable because he was just marching through there and then they met some hostile indians then the next thing is war.

Cecilia said...

ok..Eventhough,Molly and Nathan and Sabrina already posted many things about Alexander the Great, i need extra credit!! so i will post some myself :D

Alexander the Great (who was not so great) was the son and heir of King Phillip II. Alexander was a strong warrior who changed history forever by spreading Greek culture throughout the surrounding lands. He was a great warrior with many flaws and crimes...

Potential Charges:
1.He disturbed people's tranquility: he took over an entire area of land for ten whole years trying to defeat the King Darius III.
2. He was greedy: he did not just want one part of the Persian Empire,he wanted to invade all of huge empire.
3. Not caring about other people's opinions: he caused so many wars without ever taking in consideration how this can harm many innocent people.
4.he was an alcoholic which is a very bad trait.this also caused him to murder his friend.

Witnesses:
Darius III
Persian citizens
Wifes: Roxana and Stateira
his soldiers

I really hope this help Mr.Parker. Bye for now :)

Patrick Farley said...

wow im alredy at a hudge handycap!!

list of charges
treason!!
Alexander adopted several Persian customs witch he implemented in grease. everything from clothing to greetings. there are even acounts of alexanders men refusing to obey him because of his Persian like way of life...
that one may be a litle hard to accept but think of it through the eyes of a king of grece during the persian invasians. i mean you dont go and adopted the customs and solders of a people that you uterley despise.

witnesses
Macedonian Soldiers
Greek citizens
Members of Alexander’s court

2 Genoside.
on his way out of india Alexander Conqured the Malli clans (in modern day Multan), Historians belived that the few survivors of these clans died of of starvation and poverty. this makes alexander responsible for the destuctioun of an entire peoples

witnesses

Anexanders officers.
soldiers.
Any one of the Malli cheiftens.

wow its late ill post more another time... maybe and sorry about the misspelings

Unknown said...

so evryone is posting what alexander the great did as a ruler but what abot his morals. Even thogh i was like obsesed with Alexander the great in 6th grade because of a project, I'm going to point one of his major flaws; Pride and adultery.

Pride is considerd to be one of the 7 deadly sins and it's suposed to be the root for the other sins. Firstlty Alexander did not accept defeat and because of this he died no one knows how but there are to main theorys: (1) he was on his way to concore a new land and got bitten by a moscito contracted malaria and died (2) after celebrating the fact that he was a ruler of a vast kingdom he over drank and was poisoned. Nether of these theorys are proven but if either on is tru it demonstrates alexander's pride.

Another thing I am charging Alexander with is adultery i find this to be a crime. After Alexander was maried with Roxane it is shown that he had two mistresses Barsine and Pankaste. Alexander only had three children with Roxane but the thery that involves the poisonying says that Alexander had a child with Barsine, Alexander dening to give his bastard son any land money or title was met by the scorn of an angerd mother (poor).

Alexander should be charged not only for this but for his ego, how is this a crime his ego+alcohol=overconfident ruler. Alexander belived so musch in his power that he called himself the son of god, when Alexander visited a group of prists who told him this, he was sure of his divinyty, even thoug on of his soldiers had paid the prist to say this so that they would not feel his scorn for not being "the son of god".

Witnesses:
Paid priest
Roxane
Barsine
Pankaste
soldier
people that knew him

Unknown said...

Alright I'm going to go soft on Alexander Personally, I believe Alexander was simply power hungry and there seems to be no substance or evidence to the claims that he was an adulter or raving alcoholic . It seems that Alexander could get drunk now and then, but occasional drinking to excess was accepted as normal by the ancient Greeks. But more importantly, none of these claims, even if they turned out to be true, are relevant to his great achievements as a politician and military leader.

P.S. this is my opinion the other post actualy has some proof... so you can take this with a grain of salt depending on what you chose to belive.

Mr. Parker said...

Good show. Great discussion and this will be a great trial. The last points I'm giving out will be 5 for Patrick and 10 for Jonathon. Thanks for contributing.

rickyricardo said...

these kids know their stuff...or know how to use wikipedia :O

Melea: Someone spelt "Grease" rong in the term he's putting it in xDD

HI PARKER!!!!

Unknown said...

i think that im with you MR. Parker about the Ap code because if you arent strict then students well take advantage of you and thats no cool. i also like the blog, i also want to tell you that you are unique because of all the teachers i have had you are the only one that cares enough to build a website for your Ap students. (☺ smile)