Week 6 daily 1

Alexander the great created his own myth during his trip. This myth that alexander the great created started at Bodrum. Alexander the great saw that the Persian fleet was much greater than his so he dismissed his fleet and went to take out Persia’s greatest sea port. The Persian’s where ready for Alexander the great when he arrived however. They were inside their gates with an army ready for battle. Alexander surrounded them and threw the course of the battle it looked like alexander would be defeated. But when Bodrum sent in their mercenaries to take out the army the veteran Macedonians showed up and wiped them out forcing them back into the city. This led to the end of the battle where Alexander showed some of the early signs of his self-created myth. Another event that happed is when alexander the great visited a great oracle at Didyma. The oracle when Alexander the great arrived told him that he had been waiting for him and that Apollo said that he could be the son of god. After defeating the Persian’s this was when the oracle made another announcement that Alexander the great was definitely the son of god and that Apollo said so himself. Also, another event that helped create this myth of Alexander the great being the son of a god was the Gordian knot. There are two different stories to the Gordian knot the one I believe is when Alexander arrived at the temple in Gordium and saw the ox cart that had been placed there by King of Phrygia over 100 years before, he became frustrated with it. The knot was said that whoever untied it would be king of all Asia. Alexander had to untie this to prove to his troops the invasion was possible. The knot was put around the shaft of the ox cart and the ends were on the inside. Now legend has it that alexander became frustrated with the knot so he drew his sword and cut the knot open revealing the ends. That night a lightning storm hit proving that Alexander was the son of Zeus. Threw all three of these events everyone who lived at this time period believed that Alexander was the son of a god. This is the myth that alexander created for himself.