The conqueror is no hero to the conquered. Alexander, as hegemon of the Hellenes burned Persepolis in retaliation for the looting and burning of Athens not once, but twice during the entirely unprovoked invasion and failed attempt to conquer Hellas by the Persians. Before Alexander attempted to take Persia, Two great kings had invaded the homeland of Hellas with no cause other than conquest and exploitation.

If Alexander acted out of greed, it was the greed for power not money which drove him and he had excellent role models in Cyrus, Xrexes, and Darius, conquerors of all of Asia who held most of the known world in their bondage.

There is no moral highground here, even by today's standards of morality. The lines quoted from Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BCE do not intrinsically carry the opprobium which can be read into them in modern times. Burning and looting were an integral part of warefare and constant warfare the normal way of life. It would not be until Grotius in the 17th century CE that anyone would question that. All of Europe was amazed when Grotius suggested that it may be peace which is normal and war the anomaly. It was quite a revolutionary idea.

Alexander was noted for his ability to restrain his troops from pillage,(it was one of the ways by which men were induced to become soldiers and they were rewarded by the privilage.)Archaeological evidence shows that it was the royal palace alone which was burned and then only after carefully removing everything of value from it over a matter of days. some neatly stacked piles of palace goods remain in situ in the courtyard. Some treasure looted by the Persians from their conquest of Athens was sent back to its rightful owners.

It is useful to see the conquests of Alexander through the eyes of the conquered, but both sides of the story must be carefully inspected. Thank you, Marduk for the submission. It better illustrates to me the folly of applying contemporary moralities to ancient ones and the dangers of an ethnic point of view on either side.