Remembrance Day

Each year again the British celebrate their Remembrance Day with great pride. Inevitably my thoughts drift off to Alexander and what he would have thought of this tradition. I truly believe he would have liked it very much. He even would have implemented a similar honorific parade had he lived long enough.

Without Cassander’s cruel rule, the situation in Macedonia would have been entirely different in spite of the Wars of the Diadochi that dragged on for about forty years. The successors in the end ruled over their share of Alexander's huge empire following the king's example. Inevitably, their Macedonian pride could not survive down to the following generations but whoever ruled over Alexander’s home country would have valued him highly. After all, the Macedonians of northern Greece still do. 

In the aftermath of those glorious years, several rulers certainly tried to keep Macedonia on the map. Most noteworthy are kings like Demetrios Poliorcetes (306-286 BC), Pyrrhus of Epirus (306-272 BC), Philip V (221-179 BC) and Perseus (179-166 BC). I'm sure they still held Alexander in high esteem and true to the great example of his troops. They would have found a way to honor those soldiers and remember them.

In the end, it may be nothing more than wishful thinking because history always takes turns of its own. It is incontestable that the Romans still envied and tried to emulate Alexander but they were foreigners and outsiders, who could never match the greatness of the king who died too young.