Similarities Between Caesar And Alexander The Great
Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar
Macedonian king, Alexander the Great and Roman general, Julius Caesar, transformed themselves into personalities which are known to the world till date. Every human being is unique and cannot be a carbon copy of another. But even though they lived in different times of history, they had plenty of similarities. It is an ultimate compliment for both of them to have comparable characteristics. Alexander and Caesar were congruent with respect to the results and the consequences of their delusions of grandeur, fearless nature, and the prophecies about them but differed in their causes of possessing delusions of grandeur and in concept of fighting the wars.
For Alexander and Caesar, the results and consequences
of their delusions of grandeur were similar. Both leaders considered themselves invulnerable to external conspiracies. Their negligent attitude cost them a high price as both of them were not able to perceive on-going conspiracies which proved to be fatal. Alexander was extremely preoccupied with himself and had an inflated feeling of superiority. Despite the invariable warnings given, he considered himself immune to health problems. According to Plutarch’s account, alexander developed a fever which grew worse and later lead to his death (1). It was also believed that he was poisoned. This shows that he was not able to perceive that some conspiracies had been going on against him and eventually died. Same was the case with Caesar. According to Plutarch, he was stabbed in the senate (3) and according to Eutropius, around 60 or more men participated in his assassination (2). Cassius remarks, “And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?”(4 in copy) This means that Caesar was not able to see the jealousy of his conspirators. He was even unaware of the intentions of his best friend, Brutus, who was one of the conspirators. So, both Alexander and Caesar had grown immune to the warnings given to them and the result of their negligence proved to be same.
Also both Alexander and Caesar were careless of danger, unsparing of their bodies and believed in daring and good luck (ic). Alexander knew about the potential danger in Oxydracans but moved ahead and when he had climbed the enemy’s wall, his ladder fell down and he was badly clubbed by his enemies(ic). Likewise, Caesar was warned about the mortal danger in Hispania but he moved ahead into enemy territory and was bombarded with 200 spears on his shield.(ic) It could have been fatal but both of them survived.
Prophecies about Alexander and Caesar in context and the way they responded to these were similar. Chaldeans begged Alexander not to enter Babylon while facing the setting sun (ic). He accepted that and changed his route. However, facing difficulty on that second route because of marshes and swamp ground, he got irritated and went back to his previous route. On entering Babylon, he was happy upon seeing that nothing had happened to him but eventually he did die there. Likewise, a Seer warned Caesar about some dangerous omens. At first, Caesar accepted his words and started sacrificing to soothe his gods but eventually became irritated with the priests. The omen stated that Caesar would not be alive by the Ides of march, but when the Ides of march came, Caesar being alive made fun of the Seer and ironically died that very day (4). This shows the similarity of prophecies about them and also of their respone.
Macedonian king, Alexander the Great and Roman general, Julius Caesar, transformed themselves into personalities which are known to the world till date. Every human being is unique and cannot be a carbon copy of another. But even though they lived in different times of history, they had plenty of similarities. It is an ultimate compliment for both of them to have comparable characteristics. Alexander and Caesar were congruent with respect to the results and the consequences of their delusions of grandeur, fearless nature, and the prophecies about them but differed in their causes of possessing delusions of grandeur and in concept of fighting the wars.
For Alexander and Caesar, the results and consequences
of their delusions of grandeur were similar. Both leaders considered themselves invulnerable to external conspiracies. Their negligent attitude cost them a high price as both of them were not able to perceive on-going conspiracies which proved to be fatal. Alexander was extremely preoccupied with himself and had an inflated feeling of superiority. Despite the invariable warnings given, he considered himself immune to health problems. According to Plutarch’s account, alexander developed a fever which grew worse and later lead to his death (1). It was also believed that he was poisoned. This shows that he was not able to perceive that some conspiracies had been going on against him and eventually died. Same was the case with Caesar. According to Plutarch, he was stabbed in the senate (3) and according to Eutropius, around 60 or more men participated in his assassination (2). Cassius remarks, “And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?”(4 in copy) This means that Caesar was not able to see the jealousy of his conspirators. He was even unaware of the intentions of his best friend, Brutus, who was one of the conspirators. So, both Alexander and Caesar had grown immune to the warnings given to them and the result of their negligence proved to be same.
Also both Alexander and Caesar were careless of danger, unsparing of their bodies and believed in daring and good luck (ic). Alexander knew about the potential danger in Oxydracans but moved ahead and when he had climbed the enemy’s wall, his ladder fell down and he was badly clubbed by his enemies(ic). Likewise, Caesar was warned about the mortal danger in Hispania but he moved ahead into enemy territory and was bombarded with 200 spears on his shield.(ic) It could have been fatal but both of them survived.
Prophecies about Alexander and Caesar in context and the way they responded to these were similar. Chaldeans begged Alexander not to enter Babylon while facing the setting sun (ic). He accepted that and changed his route. However, facing difficulty on that second route because of marshes and swamp ground, he got irritated and went back to his previous route. On entering Babylon, he was happy upon seeing that nothing had happened to him but eventually he did die there. Likewise, a Seer warned Caesar about some dangerous omens. At first, Caesar accepted his words and started sacrificing to soothe his gods but eventually became irritated with the priests. The omen stated that Caesar would not be alive by the Ides of march, but when the Ides of march came, Caesar being alive made fun of the Seer and ironically died that very day (4). This shows the similarity of prophecies about them and also of their respone.