Alexander the Great: murdered in Babylon, resurrected in Skopje

Macedonia has designs on a part of Greece, Greek politicians claim with a straight face, and the denizens of this tiny polity have no right to the heritage of Greece of which Alexander the Great is an integral part (which would have surprised him no end: Alexander belonged to the Hellenic culture, but not to any of the Greek polities, his lineage's avowed enemies.)

Newspapers and weeklies in a current-day impoverished and failed Macedonia are flooded with articles and essays written by "archaeologists" and "historians" about how current-day Macedonians had nothing to do with the thoroughly documented Slav invasion of the Balkans in the 5th and 6th centuries and are actually the direct and only descendents of Alexander the Great and other illustrious historical figures.

If reality lets you down, why not resort to historical, self-aggrandizing, fantasy?

Alexander the Great would have greatly disliked contemporary Macedonians: they are peace-loving, overly-cautious, consensual and compromise-seeking. It seems that their own government finds these laudable qualities equally offensive.

It is beyond me why both Macedonia and Greece wish to make a deranged mass murderer their emblem and progenitor. There is little that is commendable in either Alexander's personality or his exploits.

Having shed the blood of countless thousands to fulfil his grandiose fantasies of global conquest; he declared himself a god, suppressed other religions bloodily, massacred the bulk of his loyal staff and betrayed his countrymen by hiring the former enemy, the Persians, to supplant his Macedonian infantry.

Alexander the Great was clearly insane, even by the cultural standards of his time.

According to Diodorus, a month before he mercifully died (or, more likely, was assassinated) his own generals invited Babylonian priests to exorcise the demons that may have possessed him.

Plutarch calls him "disturbed". He describes extreme mood swings that today would require medication to quell and control. The authoritative Encyclopedia Britannica attributes to him "megalomania and emotional instability". It says:

"He was swift in anger, and under the strain of his long campaigns this side of his character grew more pronounced. Ruthless and self-willed, he had increasing recourse to terror, showing no hesitation in eliminating men whom he had ceased to trust, either with or without the pretense of a fair trial. Years after his death, Cassander, son of Antipater, a regent of the Macedonian Empire under Alexander, could not pass his statue at Delphi without shuddering."

Alexander was paranoid and brooked no criticism, or disagreement.

When Cleitus, his deputy, had a petty argument with him in 328 BC, Alexander simply ran a lance through his trusted general and had the army declare him a traitor and, thus, justify the slaying. The same fate befell Cleitus's unfortunate successors as second in command.