Alexander the Great was antiquity\'s greatest commander

[Robert Vermaat]

Alexander and Darius is not really a comparison, Alexander saw Darius as an equal, never as a rebel against his rule.
In Xerxes’ view, Leonidas was a rebel and a criminal, comparable to Spartacus in the eyes of Crassus. And his body was treated in that view – I’ve little doubt that he would have been treated similarly if taken alive.

Leonidas was a rebel and a criminal because he did not want to be a vassal of Persia....? Because that other Spartan king Demaratus was hiding with the Persians....and seems to have been an enemy of Cleomenes who was Leonida's father in law.
Rather like Hitler calling Winston Churchill a rebel and criminal because he objected to certain things Hitler was doing and declared war on him -:wink: and wasn't it Winston who coined the phase 'Heroes fight like Greeks'...!

No need to defend the western view, this is how the Persian king saw it, and in his view he was the rightious one. wink: Despite that, any teacher and any tourist guide will tell you that we Dutch stood firm for our beliefs and heroically struggled to become free from Spanish and Catholic oppression. Our freedom fighter are the other side's terrorists. I bet they teach similar stuff in Ireland about the English...

Same way with Xerxes/Leonidas, there are always two sides, and no-one needs to be wrong.

and wasn't it Winston who coined the phase 'Heroes fight like Greeks'...!

Did he? He always loved Greece, I think.
He also said this:
"I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes."
(Sir Winston Churchill about the indiscriminate use of aerial bombardments and poison gas after a countrywide Arab rebellion in Iraq, 1920).