Enlightenment Essay History

I was never really a history buff, being honest I only took history so that I could get done with one of my General Credits for college classes. History was not really one thing I struggled in, it was more of the fact that I was hardly interested in learning in the past. I'm more of a person who looks into the future than into viewing the past. Through this course, however, it has been a journey that actually has piqued my interest and my teacher, Professor Ace Pilkington, made me realize on how much fun it is to know how the future was made through the choices of our past ancestors.

This class has really opened my eyes for me because soon I will be in the past and yet I would want my future family to realize how much I have done to get them where they are, hopefully in a good way. Alexander the Great was the first man to really make an impact on the world. Not only was he a great leader and war technician, but he was respected also by his enemies. I've heard of him but always thought of him as more of a mythical story than that of a real person. Thanks to my childhood growing up I watched a lot of knights movies and Disney mixture to realize that kings and knights were fake.

I feel a little uneducated to realize that a great man from Macedonia had conquered many parts of the world. Not only that but he was a king who was extremely charismatic, bloodthirsty, and brilliant in his demise to seize the world. Alexander the great was born into the world largest empire who was ruled by his father, King Philip II. His father built his army from the ground up which stricken many enemies into challenging him only to suffer a great defeat.

Growing up Alexander tamed a wild horse that no others could tame. This to me sounded like some enchantment fairy tale, such as; Odin's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, who he rode on through many battles. To get into more details about my life I own horses and yes horses are wild at nature, very testy. But I have never found a horse that was unable to ride, yes horses have a special bond with one rider and yes they don't like anyone else and chose to buck them off. But for me Anyone could tame a horse it's not so challenging as it seems. Anyways Alexander tamed a horse and named him Bucephalus, which became his transportation guide through many of his glorious battles. At the age of 13, Alexander was taught by Aristotle by the command of King Philip.

This is how Alexander became a great leader, not only was Alexander strong and brave at a young age, he was also given the most promising war tool, Philosophy, literature, and science. Using skills of knowledge to combat alongside his strength made it very easy for him to take the battles into his own hands and win them with ease. At the age of 16, Alexander's father went to war with the Byzantines, this gave Alexander the biggest opportunity of his life, to prove to his father and to Macedonian that he was military worthy to lead a great army and conquered new areas. Thinking back to many past princes or father to son stories.

Most people kill their fathers in order to receive the throne quicker. I do like how Alexander changed up the whole killing his father and decided to prove himself worthy to everyone. It's a better outcome and not cliche at all. As Alexander marched on to his first battle of the first victim, The Sacred Band of Thebes, he blew through them with ease. This is the point where I would start calling him Alexander the GREAT because who at the age of 16 can defeat an entire army and still have more left in them to fight other battles after, not a lot. Even when King Philip was assassinated, Alexander took charge and became king, he didn't want his father's work to perish amongst him. Learning this I can now predict that most of the wars that have been placed so many years ago were for a more satisfying purpose. It was more of a domination thing so that others could have the same culture and to where most could get along. During the course, we also had to read About three books the one that I found the most interesting was The Romans Way, by Edith Hamilton. Hamilton Described the Romans life as the way life is today in the twentieth century.

Many Romans ideas and laws have developed through many civilizations which helped out the modern world today. Two of my favorite characters mentioned in the book was Marcus Tullius Cicero and Julius Caesar. Cicero was a Greek Philosopher who later became a roman politician while Caesar was a Roman General. To me, Cicero was more of a peacemaker and would rather write his way through than that of Ceasar who wanted to fight his way through.

This is how Cicero's and Ceasar's relationship with each other went sour. Yes, Ceasar was still nice to Cicero, Cicero still hated everything that came out of Ceasar. Even when Cicero was Exiled, Ceasar offered him a place next to him, Cicero refused the invitation in return. To explain more on cicero's earlier life, he was a sickly child and wasn't a very good fighter instead he decided to devote his life studying at the school of Athens. Even though many generals arose Cicero was so intelligent that most couldn't stand a chance at masking his intellectual.

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