Talk:Alexander the Great: Difference between revisions

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Alexander the Great article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help. Assume good faith Be polite and avoid personal attacks Be welcoming to newcomers Seek dispute resolution if needed Article policies Neutral point of view No original research Verifiability

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24Auto-archiving period: 90 days

There are a number of issues which keep recurring in discussions, such as Alexander the Great's nationality, the invasion of India, his sexuality, etc. Please check the archives for past discussions before initiating a new discussion, as your query may already have been dealt with. Here is a list of past discussions organised by topic that you can consult. The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it. This is not a complete list and may contain errors. Invasion of India #How true is this? #Conquest of India? #Disputed Indian History #Alexander in India #The invasion of india #If he didn't invade India, why say that he invaded India? #Alexander did NOT invade india but rather amalgamated Pakistan and stopped at the current modern day border #Alexander the Great did NOT invade India Greekness of Alexander (includes all macedonian-related and FYROM-related disputes) #Greek etymology, Albanian nationalism #Macedonian Slavs #Greek name was relevant, but not Macedonian #Was Alexander Greek? #On the three ethnically-based changes #Obviously this web page has been created by prejudiced individuals #And now for some Iranian edits #Oh Please! #Macedonian Slav #Listen... #A few points before re-editing #Response to Miskin #Comment by User:Macedoniagreece #Avoiding Issues and changing history #athens, sparta, lesbos, pedros =greece? #I think the word Greek (as in Greek soldiers) should be removed #Headline text #Greece #Moved from article #Macedonians, Greeks #I know Greeks will be furious #Macedonia's edits #Alexander's (Greek) name meaning #MACEDONIANS? #Macedonian? #Macedonians are greeks #Ethnic Macedonians #'Ultimate comeback' #Ethnicity of Alexander the Great #Statue pic: POV-pushing by insinuation #Picture Alexander PrilepMacedonian.jpg #Recent revert war King of Macedon: #Alexander the Great, an ancient king of macedon? #Comment #Portnoy's Complaint #Request for Comment: Alexander the Great - Ancient Greek, or not? not greek #Alexander war not greek, he was Macedonian #False sources #Ancient Macedonians were not Ancient Greeks. #Alexander was not a greek king #All Greek #Too much focus on Greek,greekness of Alexander! List of titles: (there are a few threads about this, I need to look again to the archives to find them) #Is "Descendent of Achilles" really a title? #Removing titles VOTE #Third title to Alexander's name (Alexander the Accursed) #One more title? (Pauravas Raja) Name change proposals: Alexander III of Macedon #I think this page should be moved to Alexander III of Macedon #Renaming page? Bad idea. #Titling #Name of Article removing "the Great" #Naming #why the great? #How Alexander is great? #Too Glorified? #Name of article Conquest of Sparta #Conquered Sparta? Book of Daniel #Book of Daniel #Biblical references to Alexander #Reference in the Bible #Dubious sentence Language of Alexander #Language of Alexander #Listen... #Other languages #Changes to ethnicity section #A new point of view on ethnicity #new proposal #MAJOR revert #Post Evidence of A Slavic Dialect During Alexander's Time #84.254.6.165.27s edits #Where is the Source? #Ancient Greek instead of Modern forms? (names of places) Sexuality (homosexuality/bisexuality/heterosexuality/pederasty) #Hephaestion #Homosexual, or not? #Sexuality changes #Reversion #Wikipedia has Homsexual Tendencies? #PROOF THAT ALEXANDER THE GREAT WAS NOT GAY or BI #Greeks Vs Latins #aristotle on bysexuality, again Why are there not any quotes from Plutarch, Arrian or Diodurus posted about Alexander's sexuality? #Alexander's sexuality #Verification requested #This paragraph is some what misleading #Personal Life #Pederasty Some discussions over inclusion on LGBT category: #Categories: LGBT people and pederasty #RfC request #RfC request, again #"Homosexuality" right title? #Robin Lane-Fox #Revert abuse over "Greek pederasty" category #Quotation from Robin Lane Fox Talk:Alexander_the_Great/Archive8 (almost all the discussions there, including a RFC and a mediation on using a category) Talk:Alexander_the_Great/Archive9 (almost all the discussions there) #Homosexuality #Hephaestion & Alexander #LGBT Wikiproject #Recent "Personal Life" statement (rape of prisoners) conquering the "known world" #the "known" world?? #the "known world" #Conquerer of the "world" ?

Alexander the Great has been listed as one of the Warfare good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones Date Process Result January 19, 2004 Refreshing brilliant prose Not kept September 11, 2006 WikiProject A-class review Not approved January 25, 2007 Good article nominee Not listed February 8, 2011 Good article nominee Not listed December 24, 2011 Good article nominee Listed A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on July 20, 2019. Current status: Good article

This  level-3 vital article is rated GA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects.

Greece Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Greece, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Greece on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.GreeceWikipedia:WikiProject GreeceTemplate:WikiProject GreeceGreek articles Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Ancient Egypt Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ancient Egypt, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Egyptological subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Ancient EgyptWikipedia:WikiProject Ancient EgyptTemplate:WikiProject Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt articles Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. WikiProject Ancient Egypt to-do list: edit history watch purge Needed articles. We should have an article on every pyramid and every nome in Ancient Egypt. I'm sure the rest of us can think of other articles we should have. Cleanup. To start with, most of the general history articles badly need attention. And I'm told that at least some of the dynasty articles need work. Any other candidates? Standardize the Chronology. A boring task, but the benefit of doing it is that you can set the dates !(e.g., why say Khufu lived 2589-2566? As long as you keep the length of his reign correct, or cite a respected source, you can date it 2590-2567 or 2585-2563) Stub sorting Anyone? I consider this probably the most unimportant of tasks on Wikipedia, but if you believe it needs to be done . . . Data sorting. This is a project I'd like to take on some day, & could be applied to more of Wikipedia than just Ancient Egypt. Take one of the standard authorities of history or culture -- Herotodus, the Elder Pliny, the writings of Breasted or Kenneth Kitchen, & see if you can't smoothly merge quotations or information into relevant articles. Probably a good exercise for someone who owns one of those impressive texts, yet can't get access to a research library. Biography: Military / Royalty and Nobility / Core This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles This article is supported by the military biography work group (assessed as Top-importance). This article is supported by WikiProject Royalty and Nobility (assessed as Low-importance). This article is listed on the project's core biographies page. Classical Greece and Rome Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome, a group of contributors interested in Wikipedia's articles on classics. If you would like to join the WikiProject or learn how to contribute, please see our project page. If you need assistance from a classicist, please see our talk page.Classical Greece and RomeWikipedia:WikiProject Classical Greece and RomeTemplate:WikiProject Classical Greece and RomeClassical Greece and Rome articles Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Rome Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Rome, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the city of Rome and ancient Roman history on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.RomeWikipedia:WikiProject RomeTemplate:WikiProject RomeRome articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Iran Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Iran, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to articles related to Iran on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please join the project where you can contribute to the discussions and help with our open tasks.IranWikipedia:WikiProject IranTemplate:WikiProject IranIran articles Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Military history: Biography / Classical This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles Associated task forces: /  Military biography task force Classical warfare task force (c. 700 BC – c. 500 AD) Additional information: /  This article has failed an A-Class review. Politics Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of politics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PoliticsWikipedia:WikiProject PoliticsTemplate:WikiProject Politicspolitics articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. Iraq High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Iraq, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Iraq on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.IraqWikipedia:WikiProject IraqTemplate:WikiProject IraqIraq articles High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. European history High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject European history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the history of Europe on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.European historyWikipedia:WikiProject European historyTemplate:WikiProject European historyEuropean history articles High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Turkey High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Turkey, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Turkey and related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.TurkeyWikipedia:WikiProject TurkeyTemplate:WikiProject TurkeyTurkey articles High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. LGBT studies: Person This article is of interest to WikiProject LGBT studies, which tries to ensure comprehensive and factual coverage of all LGBT-related issues on Wikipedia. For more information, or to get involved, please visit the project page or contribute to the discussion.LGBT studiesWikipedia:WikiProject LGBT studiesTemplate:WikiProject LGBT studiesLGBT articles This article is supported by the LGBT Person task force. Ancient Near East High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ancient Near East, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Ancient Near East related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Ancient Near EastWikipedia:WikiProject Ancient Near EastTemplate:WikiProject Ancient Near EastAncient Near East articles High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Former countries This article is within the scope of WikiProject Former countries, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of defunct states and territories (and their subdivisions). If you would like to participate, please join the project.Former countriesWikipedia:WikiProject Former countriesTemplate:WikiProject Former countriesformer country articles India: History Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject India, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of India-related topics. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page.IndiaWikipedia:WikiProject IndiaTemplate:WikiProject IndiaIndia articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by the Indian history workgroup (assessed as Mid-importance). Pakistan Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Pakistan, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Pakistan on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PakistanWikipedia:WikiProject PakistanTemplate:WikiProject PakistanPakistan articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject Pakistani history.

Daily pageviews of this article A graph should have been displayed here but graphs are temporarily disabled. Until they are enabled again, visit the interactive graph at pageviews.wmcloud.org

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Alexander the Great was Macedonian not greek 95.91.233.108 (talk) 21:44, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

look at Shahnameh chapter called the book of Alexander. Alimostofi (talk) 21:54, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: If you're talking about whether he belongs to modern Macedonia or modern Greece, the answer is neither. The article's lead says it quite clearly: he was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. Liu1126 (talk) 22:12, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I am saying is that in the Persian famous book called Shahnameh there is a chapter called Eskandar Nameh. In it, it states that his father was not Philip. His mother was called Nahid or Lydia, who was the daughter of Philip of Macedon. She was forced to leave the Imperial Court of Persia and had to return to Philip pregnant. She did not tell her husband Darab the Emperor of Persia, but told her father Philip. Later when she was dying she told Alexander. So Alexander was half Persian. There is a lot more to this. Alimostofi (talk) 02:13, 17 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Shahnameh is a literary treasure, but is not generally considered to be a reliable historical source, especially for Alexander and times before. It might be part of an overall argument about something in the article, but alone it does not outweigh the consensus of historians. Cheers. Dumuzid (talk) 02:21, 17 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Alexander the great was actually the founder of mcdonalds. Hello, @Dumuzid, I noticed that you reverted an edit I made yesterday restoring the mosaic image. While I don't really think the topic is too important, I would at least appreciate an edit summary, instead of a bold revert, so that I'd know your thinking. I am aware of the significance of the mosaic itself; I just restored the bust because it appeared to me more reminiscent of Hellenistic art and more impressive as lead image. Note that the image wasn't added by me in the first place, but I just defended it because I liked the outcome. Cheers. Piccco (talk) 16:21, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The consensus has been to use the Alexander Mosaic instead of a bust. T8612 (talk) 16:41, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

My apologies Piccco, and you are quite right that you deserve an explanation. I did that on my phone meaning to get to my computer to open up a topic, but was called away and forgot, so I really have no excuse. As T8612 has said, this has actually been litigated on this talk page quite a bit! Thus far, the mosaic has certainly had consensus, but as we all know, consensus can change. So to that end, while I am not married to any particular image, I do think it is incumbent upon those who favor something other than the mosaic to demonstrate at least a provisional consensus before making the change. With that, I will wish you a good week! Cheers. Dumuzid (talk) 17:45, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

All well said. @Piccco, you might be interested in some of the information about the standing and dating of these portrayals in the six(!) discussions I've found in the last talkpage archive alone (Lead image dispute; Semi-protected edit request on 17 June 2021; Picture of Bust of Alexander, again; Infobox; Lead image. Again.; Main Photo Change Request). NebY (talk) 20:41, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Dumuzid, I appreciate you taking time to reply. I only remembered the relatively recent discussion where a user proposed some Barock paintings for the lead, which were rejected for obvious reasons. While I don't see how the mosaic could be preferred over the bust, I recognize that it is eventually not so big of a deal and, to a certain degree, subjective preferences. I wish a good week to you and everyone who spent time to reply. Piccco (talk) 21:23, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Consensus" isn't what I would call it personally, it's a constant dispute.★Trekker (talk) 10:55, 24 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Suggest wikilinking "[...] cultural diffusion and syncretism [...]" at the top of the final lede paragraph. Neither needs piping, I believe. :) 2A02:560:5939:AB00:CCCD:F34C:3CF2:C5FC (talk) 13:28, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Done
— Urro^{[talk][edits]} 15:50, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Please add the following template:

2601:249:9301:D570:C8F3:FCDB:9310:2406 (talk) 16:34, 3 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Done NasssaNser_talk 06:13, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Greek-speaking communities in central Anatolia and in far-eastern Anatolia survived until the Greek genocide and Greek–Turkish population exchanges of the early 20th century AD. " what does this controversial topic do in this history page related to Alexander the Great? Blinded by nationalism? 2A01:E0A:C19:D150:E598:3B76:A591:F6F6 (talk) 16:44, 3 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The principle problem is that the material was off-topic and hugely undue for the lead, in addition to being an oddly modern political intrusion into this summary of content (MOS:LEAD) on an ancient figure. Iskandar323 (talk) 17:57, 3 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It feels like this is one of those old euphemisms to avoid sugggesting that a historical figure might not have been straight in the modern post-victorian sense. Perhaps these should not be perpetuated. 2.103.197.47 (talk) 00:45, 10 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]