nc ol thc most inucntial pcoplc in human

history was Alcxandcr thc Grcat. Tc phrasc

rolls o our tongucs, but it would takc a
grcat many books to dcscribc thc lull complcxity ol
this pcrson. Alcxandcr thc Grcat was a vcry intcrcsting,
cxaspcrating, and amazing pcrson. Likc somc ol thc
Roman cmpcrors altcr him, hc was both a god and a
man, and in dicrcnt parts ol thc tcrritory hc ovcrran,
hc appcarcd in dicrcnt rolcs.
Hc was a vcry mcrcurial, impaticnt, impulsivc, brilliant,
powcrlul, rcsourcclul pcrson. At thc samc timc, rccog
nition nccds to bc givcn to thc lact that hc camc into a
situation that lavorcd what hc did. Tc Pcrsian mpirc
was onc ol thc largcst and most pcacclul cmpircs, yct
just prcccding this it was gasping lor brcath in somc
rcspccts. !n othcr ways, also, thc situation hc camc into
was vcry much in his lavor.
Tcrc wcrc two pcoplc who had a lasting imprcss on
history who camc lrom Maccdon. nc was Aristotlc,
who traincd undcr Plato and undcr Socratcs, and who
wcnt much, much lurthcr than thc othcr two mcn in
tcrms ol what hc wrotc and thought about. Hc was
onc ol ancicnt historys Rcnaissancc mcn, and hc was
callcd back to Maccdon whcn Philip, Alcxandcrs
lathcr, bccamc an inucntial military man in that arca.
!t was Philips conqucst ol all thc dicrcnt citystatcs
ol thc Grccks that launchcd, or providcd a basis lor thc
launching ol, thc socallcd Asian Crusadc.
Philip had bccn talking about doing this. 8ut whcn
Alcxandcr camc into powcr at thc agc ol 20, hc was
impaticnt to gct rid ol his lathcr. Tis may havc bccn
his idca or that ol his mothcr, lympia, who actually
plottcd to kill o Philip. Philip himscll had killcd o
othcr contcndcrs lor powcr in his youngcr days. Philip
camc into powcr as a rcgcnt, at thc agc ol 23, Alcx
andcr camc into powcr at thc agc ol 20. 8ut hc did
not just inhcrit powcr, hc carncd it in many ways. Hc
pushcd much lurthcr in tcrms ol thc unity ol Grcccc
than Philip did, and thcn was ablc to usc that as a
launching pad to push back thc Pcrsians.
To push back thc Pcrsians was somcthing that all thc
Grccks lavorcd so that was, itscll, a unilying tactic.
Alcxandcrs rccord march into Pcrsia is absolutcly
unparallclcd. Tcrc wcrc othcr cmpircs altcr Alcxandcr
that wcrc largcr, but thcrc was ncvcr an cmpirc pro
duccd by a singlc warrior, bclorc or sincc, that had thc
brcathtaking audacity Alcxandcr produccd.
Anothcr aspcct Alcxandcr inhcritcd was what his lathcr
had copicd lrom thc Tcbans: a spccial typc ol military
lormation callcd thc phalanx, which hc improvcd upon.
Tc lcngthy spcars and phalanx tactics wcrc what turncd
thc tidc against thc Pcrsians. 8ut thcy only barcly turncd
thc tidc against thc warrior clcphants whcn thcy got
through thc Khybcr Pass into !ndia. Tat was thc cnd ol
thc road. Alcxandcrs soldicrs would not go larthcr and
so thcy trckkcd back along thc coast. Tcn thousand ol
thcm wcrc dcad by thc timc thcy got to Susa, and somc
suggcst that Alcxandcr was hall out ol his mind.
Tcrc arc slightly dicring rcports about various aspccts
ol Alcxandcrs journcy as much ol what wc know about
Philip and Alcxandcr was writtcn ccnturics latcr. Ancicnt
historians did not inch at crcating dialoguc. Many ol
thc quotations arc simply somc latcr historians conjcc
turc. 8ut rathcr than try to convict thcm ol lalsilying
thc rccord, wc should rcalizc that crcatcd convcrsations,
whilc thcy may ncvcr havc cxistcd, ncvcrthclcss accuratcly
portray thcir undcrstanding ol what happcncd. Tis is a
marvclous litcrary dcvicc lor rctcntion, cspccially in thc
Reshaping History
Alexander the Great and Global Civilization
Ralph D. Winter
Adaptcd with pcrmission lrom: Vintcr, Ralph ., cd. (2006) Global Civilization, Classical World: Lesson Overviews, 5th cd. Pasadcna, CA: Villiam Carcy
Library, pp. 5457.
6 Rvsn~vixc His:ovv: Aivx~xbvv :nv Gvv~: ~xb Gion~i Civiiiz~:iox
cld ol pcdagogy. ur purposc is not to study thc pcrson
ol Alcxandcr so much as thc impact ol what hc did.
Christianity and Alexanders Empire
Tc rcality is that Christianity could not possibly havc
ourishcd had it not bccn lor Alcxandcrs cmpirc. Just
as thc Apostlc Pauls ministry could not havc our
ishcd without thc Roman roads and thc pcaccthc
Pax Romanaso it was truc also ol Alcxandcrs day.
Tis is also ol intcrcst: Alcxandcrs bricl, incrcdiblc
conqucst vcry casily could havc crumblcd whcn hc
dicdlcllcd by a mosquito, according to somc. 8ut
thc cccts ol it lastcd. Vhilc it may havc providcd thc
basis lor thc cxpansion ol Christianitythat is not in
qucstionit is also not to bc qucstioncd that it was
Christianity that brought that inlormation down to us.
nc ol thc worlds grcatcst Mcdicvalists pointcd out
that wc havc only lour documcnts that comc down to
us lrom thc Roman pcriod, much lcss thc pcriod ol
Alcxandcr. vcrything clsc wc know camc down to us
only bccausc ol thc quict litcrary ccntcrs ol thc monas
tic movcmcnt in thc Christian tradition. Tcy wcrc thc
scholars who rctaincd and copicd documcnts now lost
to us. Vc havc an incrcdiblc amount ol inlormation
about thc Roman mpirc cvcn though no morc than
lour documcnts comc down to us lrom that pcriod.
Vhcn wc rcad about thc mcdicinc, politics, laws, sci
cncc, and all thc wondcrs ol thc Grccks, it is amazing
to us that thcy wcrc prcscrvcd at all. Tcrc wcrc many
vcry brilliant pcoplc who livcd bclorc that timc ol
whom wc know vcry littlc. For cxamplc, about 600 8C
somconc carvcd a tunncl almost a milc long, digging
it lrom both cnds, and thcy camc out at almost cxactly
thc samc placc in thc middlc. How thcy accomplishcd
this cxactly is not known. Tc philosophy that was
wrought in Gcorgia may havc cclipscd that ol Plato, or
anything ol thc Grccks, but simply no rccord cxists.
Tough Alcxandcr and this massivc cxtcnt ol thc Grcck
languagc and culturc providcd a basis lor Christianity, it
is also cqually truc that without Christianity wc prob
ably would not havc hcard vcry much about thc amaz
ing cxploits ol Alcxandcrs.
Te Role of the Septuagint
Altcr Alcxandcrs dcath, thc cmpirc itscll almost immc
diatcly crumblcd. nc ol thc scctions ol that crumblcd
cmpirc was thc part that was in gypt. Tc lact that thc
Grcck languagc was thc dominant political, commcrcial
and maybc litcrary languagc, cxplains why thc origins ol
Christianity as a movcmcnt in thc lorm ol a book could
havc actually bccn crcatcd. Many dicrcnt storics cxist
as to how and why that book was crcatcd, but scholars
lcan to thc conclusion that it was not mcrcly thc initia
tivc ol thc Jcws. !t was morc thc political ncccssity ol
Ptolcmy !!, whosc litcrary intcrcsts and massivc library
ol ovcr 700,000 volumcs rcquircd somc rccord ol thc
Hcbrcws. !t was bccausc ol his ocial sponsorship, as
much as it was bccausc ol thc intcrcst ol dcvout Jcwish
lamilics lor thc sakc ol thcir childrcn, that thc transla
tion ol thc Scptuagint bcgan.
!t is vcry unlikcly that thc Scptuagint was translatcd as
onc documcnt to anothcr. Tc Torah was obviously thc
rst part to bc translatcd, and may havc bccn translatcd
in thc rst part ol thc third ccntury 8C. 8ut othcr
parts in thc Scptuagint as it dcvclopcd actually dc
scribc cvcnts a hundrcd or morc ycars latcr. bviously
thc 8ooks ol thc Maccabccs, and othcr parts ol thc
Scptuagint which go bcyond our acccptcd canon, wcrc
not produccd until 260 8C. 8ut thc documcnt itscll is
almost unmcntioncd in sccular rcadings. Yct thc Scp
tuagint bccamc thc worlds most inucntial documcnt,
cvcn in ancicnt timcs.
Luthcrs translation ol thc 8iblc into normal Gcrman
cstablishcd that languagc. So thc Scptuagint cstab
lishcd not only thc orthography, but also thc vocabu
lary ol thc Grcck. !t wcnt a long way to producc what
wc givc crcdit to Alcxandcr lor: thc unication and thc
Hcllcnization ol much ol thc ancicnt world.
nc caution: wc so oltcn hark back to thc Grccks bc
causc that is our background, as Vcstcrncrs. Ncvcrthclcss,
wc usc a lot ol words carclcssly. Vc spcak ol thc Sophists,
thc Cynics, thc picurcans, thc Stoics, and so lorth. 8ut
wc dont rcalizc that thc Sophists wcrc not sophisticatcd
in that scnsc, thc Cynics wcrc not cynical, thc picurcans
did not havc cpicurcan tastcs, cvcn thc Hcdonists wcrc
not hcdonistic, and thc Stoicsa magniccnt bunch
wcrc not ncccssarily stoical. Tis dcmonstratcs thc
discrcpancy bctwccn popular undcrstanding and rcality.
Many ol thc words that oat around in popular vocabu
lary sccm to havc a historic signicancc, but thcrc is no
basis lor thcsc popular mcanings ol thc tcrms.
At thc samc timc that thc Scptuagint, thc backbonc ol
thc Christian movcmcnt, bccamc a documcnt in Grcck,
Ralph D. Winter
thcrc wcrc many othcr brilliant Grccks in that pcriod.
Archimcdcs is onc ol thc most brilliant mcn ol history,
and Aristarchus actually proposcd that not thc carth but
thc sun was thc ccntcr ol thc univcrsc. Hc was outvotcd
by thc Aristotclians, so to spcak. Tanks to Alcxandcr,
Aristotlc had a grcatcr inucncc than hc did, so hc was
ovcrrun. For lourtccn hundrcd ycars wc had to think
that thc carth was thc ccntcr. ratosthcncs actually
mcasurcd thc sizc ol thc carth, using clcvcr tcchniqucs
ol slight dicrcnccs ol anglc ol vicw, and amazingly hc
camc within 15 ol thc circumlcrcncc. Anothcr sourcc
indicatcs that hc camc within 1.
Vc think ol Hippocratcs and othcrs who wcrc amaz
ing thinkcrs ol that carly pcriod. Vc rcally do havc to
rcspcct that tradition, cvcn il onc ol thc only rcasons
wc havc that tradition inucntial in our socicty is duc
to that strangc movcmcnt callcd Christianity.
Success of Christianity and Its Reasons
To say that Christianity would not havc sprcad as lar
as it did had it not bccn lor thc achicvcmcnts ol Al
cxandcrs cmpirc would bc an ovcrstatcmcnt. Tc lact
is that Christianity has madc its way in many othcr
parts ol thc world without thc bcnct ol such lavish
continuity and homogcncity ol languagc and culturc. !t
simply sccms to mc to bc a providcntial bcnct to thc
Christian movcmcnt, rathcr than saying it pcrmittcd
Christianity to dcvclop.
Ccrtainly Christianity took good advantagc ol thc lin-
gua franca ol this vast Grcckspcaking basin. And it is
truc that thc lorm ol Christianity that rcsultcd was, ol
coursc, in many ways morc Grcck than Hcbrcw, morc
Grcck than Latin, cvcn in thc Latin sphcrc in thc lar
Vcst, in ngland and !rcland. Tc Grcck vcrsion ol
Christianity had morc inucncc in thc carly stagcs
than thc Latin vcrsion. So it is truc that Christianity
madc its way against thc grain ol othcr languagcs, but
it did utilizc thc Grcck languagc as a carricr vchiclc to
a grcat cxtcnt, and wc nccd to givc that crcdit.
Anothcr Christian scholar makcs a statcmcnt that Chris
tianity could not havc rcally succccdcd had it not bccn lor
thc windlall bcnct ol an cmpirc. Vhy would a Christian
go so lar out on a limb as to say that: thcr rcligions
wcrc morc popular than Christianity at an carly stagc.
Tcy all had thc samc advantagc ol a windlall commu
nication basin. 8ut it was not thc mystcry rcligions, but
spccically thc Christian rcligion that succccdcd.
A big dicrcncc cxists bctwccn Christianity and mystcry
rcligions likc Zoroastrianism, lor cxamplc, which had a
hcad start. Nonc ol thosc othcr movcmcnts had a book.
Tc distinctivc and absolutcly signicant lcaturc ol thc
Christian movcmcnt is that it had a collcction ol docu
mcnts that wcrc sclcctcd with grcat carc and scnsitivity.
!, pcrsonally, would attributc thc succcss ol Christianity
morc to that book than to thc windlall hcadstart that
thc Alcxandrian conqucsts gavc. !t is important to rcalizc
that in thc Grcck pcriod, in all thc lour major kingdoms
altcr thc brcakup ol Alcxandcrs spccic tcrritory thc Scp
tuagint, thc Grcck 8iblc, was ablc to makc its way. And
thcrc wcrc convcrts both in thc ast and in thc Vcst.
Alcxandcr had thc grcat insight ol allowing thc pcoplc
to rctain thcir own rcligious and cultural traditions to
a grcat cxtcnt. Tus thc Grcck languagc itscll was not
such an ocnsivc thing as it was a valuablc lingua franca.
8ut whcn Christianity wcnt wcst, ovcrtook and bccamc
acccptcd by thc Romanspcaking pcoplc ol thc Vcst, it
bcgan to bc idcnticd lor thc rst timc with a political
powcr that approvcd it. Christianity bccamc idcnticd
with thc Roman and thc Latin tradition, and nally in
A 475 it bccamc thc ocial cxprcssion ol thc Ro
man mpirc. 8y this timc thc mpirc had bccomc an
opprcssor and an cncmy ol much ol thc castcrn arca ol
Alcxandcrs cmpirc, spccically in Arabia, !ran, and !raq.
Samucl Moctts monumcntal trcatisc on Christianity
in A History of Christianity in Asia, \ol. 1, which camc
out in 1992, makcs this clcar that whcn thc politi
cal tablcs wcrc turncd and thc RomanLatin spcaking
cncmics ol thc Pcrsian and thc castcrn Grcck sphcrcs
loomcd into powcr, immcdiatcly thc Christian church
wcnt out ol lashion. !t sccmcd to bc thc rcligion ol a
lorcign powcr, and morc Christians wcrc killcd altcr
Christianity bccamc ocially Roman than bclorc.
Christians in thc nglishspcaking Vcst hcar a lot
about thc pcrsccutions ol thc Roman cmpcrors against
Christianity: thc loss ol lilc, thc martyrs, thc cata
combs, and so lorth. 8ut thcrc is no awarcncss ol thc
lact that lar morc Christians wcrc killcd as a backlash
to thc Roman mpircs bccoming Christian. Christi
anity in thc ast continucd, but ncvcr bccamc indig
cnous. !n thc Vcst, thc Scptuagint was translatcd into
Latin, and bccamc thc Latin Vulgate. Tis was donc by
Jcromc in thc lourth ccntury. !n thc ast thc 8iblc was
ncvcr translatcd into Arabic, thc Grcck spokcn by thc
churchcs that survivcd thc pcrsccutions in thc ast bc
ing to somc cxtcnt still a lorcign languagc to thcm.
8 Rvsn~vixc His:ovv: Aivx~xbvv :nv Gvv~: ~xb Gion~i Civiiiz~:iox
Tis was a grcat disadvantagc, which was, howcvcr,
ironically llcd whcn Muhammad camc along. Muham
mad scnscd vcry accuratcly that thc Christianity with
which hc was lamiliar and which hc grcatly rcspcctcd
was ncvcrthclcss lorcign to thc cxtcnt that it was Grcck
or Latin. sscntially, !slam camc to ll that void and had
incrcdiblc cxpansion all across North Alrica. Most ol
thc Christians thcrc wcrc antiRoman politically, cvcn
though subjugatcd by Romc. So !slam csscntially took
thc placc ol what could havc bccn a lar supcrior Ara
bic Christianity, or Syriac Christianity, had two things
bccn possiblc. First ol all, il thc Roman mpirc had not
bccomc ocially Christian, thc Christian movcmcnt
would not havc bccn sct back so lar. Sccondly, il in lact
thc Arabic typc had bccomc an actual indigcnous varicty
ol Christianity, thc story may havc bccn dicrcnt.
!n somc ways !slam is thc indigcnous varicty ol Chris
tianity. 8ut !slam did not havc thc 8iblc in its own
nativc languagc. Tc 8iblc to which Muhammad was
cxposcd was that ol somc Trithcist Christians whosc
thcology wc would rcjcct today. Hc himscll was on
good looting in rcjccting thc trithcism and cmphasiz
ing thc unity ol God. !n addition, this trithcist lorm
ol Christianity did not cvcn havc thc cntirc Scptuagint
availablc to it. Apparcntly, only thc Torah thc rst
vc booksthc Psalms, and thc lour Gospcls wcrc
part ol that Christian tradition. So Muhammad ncvcr
rcally had a good chancc to build on that loundation.
!n any casc, it is probably an ovcrstatcmcnt to say that
Christianity could not havc succccdcd in any othcr
cnvironmcnt than thc Alcxandrian cmpirc. Tc rcality
is that it has succccdcd in many othcr cnvironmcnts.
Macedonia and Galilee
An intcrcsting aspcct lor our considcration is thc paral
lcl wc can scc bctwccn thc rolc ol Maccdonia in thc
dcvclopmcnt ol Alcxandcrs inucncc and thc rolc ol
Galilcc in thc dcvclopmcnt ol Jcsus inucncc. Stop and
think lor a sccond: Maccdonia was thc hick mountain
arca ol Grcccc. Tc Athcnians scocd and snccrcd at
thc Maccdonian dialcct. 8ut Aristotlc camc lrom Macc
donia, Philip and Alcxandcr camc lrom Maccdonia.
!n Palcstinc it was Nazarcth, a dcspiscd scction ol
dcspiscd Galilcc, lrom which Jcsus camc. How in
tcrcsting that God somctimcs takcs thc wcak things
to conlound thc wisc. Villiam Carcy also camc lrom
that kind ol a dcspiscd town in ngland. His northcrn
linguistic twang would havc bccn vcry unacccptablc in
London. !t was bcttcr to go to !ndia il hc wantcd to
continuc to spcak as hc grcw up spcaking in Paulcr
spury, a tiny littlc town in northcrn ngland.
To this day God is still taking thc wcak things to con
lound thc wisc. !t apparcntly is not ncccssary lor thc
noblcborn Athcnians to run things, as Alcxandcr dcm
onstratcs. Villiam Carcy not only camc lrom thc wrong
part ol ngland, hc camc lrom thc wrong stratum ol
socicty. Hc did not havc a Cambridgc cducation. Yct his
contribution to languagc, to translation and to typography
cxcccds that ol anyonc clsc sincc Gutcnbcrg pcrhaps. Vc
nd such parallcls in tcrms ol thc inucncc ol thc Gospcl
all ovcr thc world today. You dont havc to comc lrom
London or Athcns! Vc will lct thc casc rcst at that point.
Dialogue
Questioner: Vhilc Christianity did succccd, how
would you rcspond to thc idca that it may bc hard to
imaginc Christianity initially succccding:
Winter: Noticc thc initial succcss ol Christianity was not
in thc castcrn part ol thc Alcxandrian mpirc, it was
right whcrc Grcck was spokcn. Grcck was spokcn in
phcsus long bclorc Alcxandcr was born. So in a scnsc,
Christianity succccdcd in arcas in thc Grccian world
that had nothing to do with Alcxandcrs conqucst. Now,
mainly unknown to us in thc Vcst, Christianity did
succccd in thc arcas ol his conqucsts, too, but thc initial
succcss ol Christianity was vcry closc to Grcccc.
Questioner: !l Alcxandcr hadnt comc along, would
Asia Minor havc had any kind ol cconomic, cultural
or linguistic unication, lor Christianity to makc its
way as wcll as it did:
Winter: l coursc, wc must admit that wcrc it not lor
thc Grcck languagc in which thc Scptuagint was cast,
thc challcngcs would havc bccn grcatcr. vcn in Naza
rcth thcy probably had acccss to thc Scptuagint. Tcrc
arc somc scholars today who conjccturc that bccausc
no rclcrcncc is madc in thc Gospcls to Jcsus having thc
nccd ol a translator as hc walkcd around through thc
ccapolis, which was a Grcckspcaking arca ol Gali
lcc, Jcsus himscll probably was bilingual. 8ut in any
casc, sincc our scholar docs not makc any qualications
to this statcmcnt, its a rathcr astounding statcmcnt.