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If ever a man, when judged by the values of his era, deserved to be regarded as more than human, that man was Alexander the Great. Born in Pella on about the 20th of July in 356 B.C., Alexander lived less than 33 years. Yet he and a relatively small band of Macedonian and Greek soldiers (approximately 32,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry), in the brief span of 11 years, marched more than 20,000 miles and conquered a major part of the known world at that time. In the process he founded more than 70 cities, extended Greek culture beyond the boundaries of India, and made several significant scientific and geographic discoveries.
Although Hannibal of Carthage was Freud's most persistent boyhood hero, he also idolized Alexander. In fact, according to Jones (1953, p. 18), Freud recommended the name “Alexander” for one of his younger brothers at a “Freud Family Council” based on the great conqueror's generosity and military prowess. Interestingly, there are many parallels between the lives of Hannibal and Alexander. Both were taught by Greek teachers, Alexander by Leonidas, Lysimachus, and Aristode and Hannibal by a “Greek tutor” (Bradford, 1991); both were not only supremely competent military leaders, but also brave and aggressive warriors; both were the sons of legendary military leaders, Hannibal of Hamlicar and Alexander of Philip; both sought to redress a narcissistic insult (military defeat) to their native cultures; both were held in almost godly esteem by their armies and countrymen; both were generous and conciliatory to the leaders, people, and armies they had defeated (with some notable exceptions in Alexander's case which will be discussed below); neither appeared to demonstrate any particular sexual interest in the other gender; and both, either consciously or unconsciously, at-tempted