Saladin? bad idea

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Nikolai

How is that possible? I mean, those are well known people in Muslim and Arab history! You should reread your history book ASAP Markos.

history books at greek schools are western-oriented, we barely did any muslim/arab history...

[MarkG]

Why would Greek rulers so sure of their Hellenic identity strive so hard to prove their descent from Greeks, and invite Aristotle and Euripides to live and teach in their country ?

Philippos was a king of a Greek State that wanted the best Greek tutors for his son. What's wrong with that?

seems like you only want to see things that you want to see and miss the obvious....

[MarkG]

After Alexander they shared a common culture. There was no Greek empire without Alexander.

greeks were divided in city-states (some times opposing on another) but their culture (language, customs, religion) were the same....

200 years before Alexander, another Macedon king, Alexander I (Alexander was Alexander III) participated in the greek-only Olympic games. how would that be possible for a barbarian?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Illuminatiscott
Alexander was "great" in no way except miltarily.

That's a really big "except".

[sophist]

It's a worthy one, though. Some of the greatest leaders of nations have had nothing to do with conquest. Some of the greatest leaders' greatest accomplishments were in the arena of administration, consolidation, cultural growth, etc. I don't know to what extent it was intended by Alexander, but he did bring about a flowering of Hellenic culture across the Near East. There were Greco-Buddhists in Afghanistan in from the 4th century BC until the 5th century AD because of him, like the ones who constructed the statues at Bamiyan that the Taliban destroyed in 2001.

[Kuciwalker]

It's a worthy one, though. Some of the greatest leaders of nations have had nothing to do with conquest.

Doesn't mean that leaders which are great only militarily shouldn't be considered great...

[Straybow]

Originally posted by MarkG

After Alexander they shared a common culture. There was no Greek empire without Alexander.

greeks were divided in city-states (some times opposing on another) but their culture (language, customs, religion) were the same....

200 years before Alexander, another Macedon king, Alexander I (Alexander was Alexander III) participated in the greek-only Olympic games. how would that be possible for a barbarian?

Greeks from colonies in the Crimea and the (now French) Riviera also participated in the Olympic games and were considered barbarians by the city Greeks.

But you are right, the distinctions between the different branches were insignificant before Alexanders time. The Persian invasion ended most of it, they had to stick together or perish alone.

What I meant about common culture is looking to a common root in Alexander's achievements, whereas before they were much more competitive and jealous.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by joncnunn

Along a similar vain, almost every single US state is named after a native indian tribe.

Ah, yes, the Indian states of Virginia, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Named after the famous Native Americans Elizabeth Tudor, Louis XIV, William Penn, Queen Henrietta Maria Stuart, King Charles II, and King George II.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Illuminatiscott
Alexander was "great" in no way except miltarily. Pericles, by all means, is a much better representative of a "great" greek leader. (in case you don't know, pericles more or less invented western culture)

Oh, really ?

News to all those Celts and Etruscans, and of course those Semitic people who gave us the Latin alphabet.

Alexander created an oikoumene in which the knowledge and goods and art of the East (especially India and Iran) were spread throughout the Middle East, to Egypt and Greece- and vice versa.

[MarkG]

oikoumene

you do know that that's a greek word, dont you?

[lajzar]

Originally posted by molly bloom



Ah, yes, the Indian states of Virginia, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Mississipi, Missouri, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Hawaii, Illinois, etc

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by lajzar


Mississipi, Missouri, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Hawaii, Illinois, etc

I'm sure the Polynesians of Hawaii will be greatly surprised to find out they have turned American Indian.

New Mexico, New Jersey, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Florida, New Hampshire, Washington, Colorado, California, Delaware, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, West Virginia.....

Damn, almost forgot Vermont.

I make that 25 states (with the others I've already mentioned) not named after American Indian words or tribes.

So of 50 American states, just half are named after or for American Indians or American Indian words.

As opposed to :

Along a similar vain, almost every single US state is named after a native indian tribe.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by MarkG

oikoumene

you do know that that's a greek word, dont you?

There was I thinking it was Macedonian.

[Cvetin]

I've had it!!! I play Civ to escape the endless Balkanizing of "oouh, but Alexandar was in facto Bulgarian, just look at his nose" and "Mother Teresa was a western Romanian, but with a Hungarian twist" and now, et you, Brutuses? ENOUGH ALREADY, you're ruining the game for me!!! (I know yeall just trying to get Markos angry (not that it's much of a feat), but have meeercie).
plus, how dibionic (my word) is it to fight over the tribal ownership of a dude who organized the "famous "marriage of East and West" meant to symbolize the new racial unity he was hoping to create" (quote just googled out from some history site). but heck, that's why he was the Great, and we're all just ******

[Cvetin]

WTF, I didn't write ****** i wrote: ******