Monday, September 15, 2014

The Alexander The Great Trial


Each student will need to select a role for the upcoming trial. The points possible for each role are 50. I will offer up to 15 extra credit points for dressing in character IF you wear the costume the entire day (PE excluded).   Sign in on this blog to select a role or see Mr. Parker, first come first served.  Following each role is a brief description of the responsibilities.



The roles:
Judge
You will Oversee the proceedings and direct the behavior of the courtroom. (Mr. Parker will help.) You will rules on items of procedure and instruct the jury. You will make legal interpretations of legal concepts when needed.

Prosecuting Attorneys (3)
Your team will research the alleged crimes of the accused. Prosecute the case against Alexander. Obtain testimony from the witnesses and build a case to convict. (note- with so many charges and such limited time, it will be a good idea to prioritize the crimes of the accused.)

Defense Attorneys Same as prosecuting attorneys but your team will present a defense for the Accused. The Defense will cross-examine and call witnesses that will speak to Alexander's innocence.

Press
Although you won't have a great deal of research to do. You will prepare a report based on court room observation and post testimony interviews. You will publish your report on this blog.

Witnesses
Each of the witnesses selected will need to reseach that person and impersonate him or her. All questions should be answered as historically accurately as possible.

The potential witnesses are:
Darius III, King of Persia
Demosthenes
Arrian
Plutarch
Diodorus
Curtius
Antipater
Parmenio
Philotas
Ptolomy
Aristobulos
Nearchus
Cleitarchus
Callisthenes
Aristotle
Alexander's Mother
Roxana
Stateira

Jury
One person will serve as the jury. Just as with the Press, this person will not have researching responsibility but will be responsible for taking notes on the trial and rendering a written verdict.

You have until Wednesday to make a selection at which time I will assign one. 

The charges against Alexander are as follows:

Crimes against Humanity (War Crimes)
Murder of Clitus
Public Intoxication
Disorderly Conduct
Theft
Burning of Persepolis
Massacre at Branchidae
Poor leadership with regard to the disaster at Gedrosia

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Press's perspective:
Alexander the Great was found innocent. During the trail he was accused of murder, and burning down Persepolis, public intoxication, Theft, and war crimes. The first witness to go to the stand was Philotas. Philotas relation to Alexander that he was his best general. His statement was, Alexander is crazy and he always thought I was going to kill him. When Alexander was put on the stand the defense asked "so the way you conquered lands, do you think this was the right way?" He responded while I conquered them I was able to bulid a better civilization. As the prosecution hammered hard on him asking questions such as " is it true you killed thousands of people" and when you captured the slaves how did you know they would rebel against you if you never gave them the chance to show you. During the closing statements the defense stated "we believe Alexander was guilty of murder... Killed thousands of people, he is king but not above the law." The defense stated "not guilty he brought great things." Finally during the intense 2 minute wait to hear what the jury would say the jury finally came into conclusion. "Not guilty he is a king and trade went up and great things came from him."