Alexander the Great was antiquity\'s greatest commander

[Paralus]

I think Paralus that you are debating some kind of discussion completely on your own without letting us know what it is about. Are we to establish exactly how far Alexander was aided by his father's exploits?

Not at all. I took issue with several claims - one or two quite sweeping - such as the invasion army commanders were Alexander's men for example. The meaning of "commands" never being the issue.

Are we to debate on whether it was Alexander or Parmenio's family that led the anabasis?

That's a straw man never argued by myself. It was by way of illustrating the counter argument to the above proposition.

I am at a loss here. And this only to come to the conclusion that Alexander "created little"? How about a new chapter in World History, art, letters... the Hellenistic era. How about a number of kingdoms that shaped the history of the region for centuries to come?

I don't think Alexander created art and letters. His exploits certainly made history. The point, again, was that he did not create the empire, he took it from its previous ruler. What Rome was to "create" in the west, for example, was created from scratch. Alexander appropriated by military means an existing empire including its administrative structure. That is not a value judgement; rather an observation of fact.

The kingdoms that came after him were the work of the Diadochoi - built uopn satrapies of course, but their work.

We simply seem to not be able to accept that such a young man did so much in such a little time and have to find others working in the shady background, but it seems we do this out of scorn and not because we really have any evidence to that other than speculation and personal opinions.

I don't believe I actually said that.