Alexander The Great Enters Babylon

This is an excerpt from Oliver Stone's 2004 epic Alexander, in this scene Alexander triumphantly enters Babylon after defeating Darius at Gaugamela. On arrival he enters the Persian King's palace and finds it teeming with concubines, eunuchs and pleasures abundant.

Throughout the scene he wonders at the glory of Babylon as well as planning on what to do with his new conquest as master of the Persian Empire. He also meets the defeated Darius III eldest daughter Stateira II whom begs for clemency on behalf of her family. Alexander agrees to her pleas and there is an insinuation of him perhaps marrying her, such a thing would be politically useful as he would have married into the Persian Royal family and thus legitimised his claim as King.

Noting of course that Darius III still lives and contests this though through his several defeats he has not the means to stop Alexander in any way from carrying out his intentions.

We also note the undercurrent of Greek arrogance of Persian culture yet begrudging acknowledgement of their architectural and artistic skill. A theme which will dominate Alexander as he tries to meld the Hellenistic and Persian cultures together much to the consternation of his more conservative comrades.

Also depicted in this video is the famous Ishtar Gate of Babylon which can be viewed in more detail here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIKvhPNDMWc

The inspiration for Stone's depiction of Babylon was the 1916 silent film Intolerance which can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF7ho_-1aWo

I do not own the clip, it belongs to its respective copyright holders.

This video is for educational and discussion purposes.

Please be aware both the Persian and Greek cultures were great bastions of light in a myriad of fields with skills abounding in the sciences and arts. Insulting one or other civilization is a petty and stupid mark against the malefactor who makes such ridiculous statements as the evidence wholly refutes and mocks their remarks.

Lastly on almost every Alexander the Great video the discussion dissolves into an insult slinging match between Slavs and Greeks. Alexander the Great of Macedon was Greek, the rulers of Macedon where from the Argead dynasty. The Argead dynasty traces its lineage from the Southern Greek city state of Argos where it gets its name from. Alexander's mother was Greek, he spoke a Greek dialect, learned of Hellenistic culture and was a promoter of it till his dying day.

This was attested by the court of Elean hellanodikai who determined the claim to be true, and permitted Alexander I of Macedon to participate in the Olympic Games; something which only Greeks were allowed to do. If the Macedonian's were some other non-Hellenic people then this would not have happened.

Also the argument that Alexander fought Greeks therefore was not a Greek is a stupid argument, such an argument would then mean that both the Athenians and Spartans who fought each other in the Peloponnesian war where not Greeks.

The Slavic population of FYROM arrived a thousand years after the time of Alexander, they have no real links to the ancient Hellenes. I would also like to add that I am not Greek merely a reader of legitimate history which is supported by the historical literature and archaeological evidence.

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[19EHF]

Im curious. Did the Babylonians ever accept or love Alexander or did he just come off as a tyrant to them the same way the French viewed Hitler?

[zilbiol]

@19EHF The Persian empire consisted of city states that paid taxes to whatever military power controlled the vast plains surrounding them, they would have not viewed it as an occupation but a change of management and after a few years of rule they may have viewed Alexander as a step up compared to Darius since he would have had to lower taxes and not interfere with their culture and customs due to his political disadvantage being a foreigner, the conquest also opened up trade a bit.

[ImaginedWriter]

@zilbiol Though you should note the surviving Zoroastrians tell a different story of Alexander, they claim that he tried to suppress their religion (the religion of the Persian Kings) and managed to destroy a great deal of their holy texts.

Also he had pretty much lain waste to all opposition, the Persians weren't in a strong position to resist him lest they risk a Persian Thebes response from the gloried conqueror.

Note: In the footsteps of Alexander goes into more detail about this.

[ImaginedWriter]

@19EHF Babylon flourished for a short while until Alexander's death then suffered civil war as it was fought over by his generals and then the city's population were transported to the new capital Seleucia of the successor state the Seleucid Empire. Babylon thus falls pretty much into obscurity thereafter being later incorporated into the Parthian Empire and then the Arab conquests.

So I would say Alexander's conquest did not end well for Babylon.

[FuckSunnaShia]

@19EHF The Chaldeans, i.e the Babylonians were revolting every now & then against the Persian rule, (e.g the revolts of King Nebuchednezzar IV, V & VI), becoz the capital of Persia was being shifted to Persepolis & Susa.

Alexander, however, had already recognized their city by placing it as the capital of his newly forged empire, so they really did see him as a liberator.

Btw, Cyrus the great did the same 200 yrs earlier when he made Babylon his capital & he also was hailed as a liberator

[thinker6236]

man babylon is even better compared to modern culture, and beauty.

[HornyDude83]

even after all the pussy presented before him, he still remained an out and out arsebandit till the end..

[mrmadloveable]

the young princess surved joseph Stalin

[IrinaFay18]

5:25 - 5:28 Sandor Clegaaaaanee!!