Alexander the Great was antiquity\'s greatest commander

[PMBardunias]

You inveterate bloody homoioi you...Intrigued you didn't suggest the arch imperialist Agesilaos.

Not me, but the humble citizens of Samos. Many do not know that the Samians made Lysander a God after he liberated them. They sang hymns and had festivals in his honor. Clearchus of Heraclea enjoyed the same treatment. The Thasians offered Agiselaos Godhood and he flat refused them!

This is important for Alexander, because one of the common tropes on his megalomania is that his quest for godhood is somehow tied to his wanting to be like an Asian despot. But, clearly the tradition of deification was not strictly oriental in character.

As a side note, Agiselaos could have marched as far east as he wished had he not been recalled. The army that he reared in Asia and marched back to fight with at Coronea was easily the best the Greeks had ever seen pound for pound. His hoplites of course were supreme, but more importantly his cavalry was superior to both Persian and Thessalian. The difference between Agiselaos and Alexander is that Agiselaos was an agent of his state and rapidly left his Asian adventure/razzia the moment they wer threatened at home (By you Athenian Persian-puppets!). Judging from Nemea, they may not evean have needed him. Alexander ignored the threat to his nation, even sucking off man power for the east at the time it was needed most. Had Agis III defeated Antipater at Megalopolis (the "battle of mice"), as he came very close to doing, or the Thracians revolted a bit earlier, we would be reading of Alexander the "Pretty Good". This is not only luck, super-luck, because Alexander did everything he could to weaken his homeland.