Ένα βιβλίο που παρουσιάζει τον Αλέξανδρο, όπως τον έβλεπαν οι Έλληνες λόγιοι της Τουρκοκρατίας. Σε εποχή που ακόμη δεν υπήρχε η σκοπιανή προπαγάνδα δεκάδες Έλληνες λόγιοι αναφέρονταν στα έργα τους στον Μεγαλέξανδρο, ως τον πλέον ένδοξο πρόγονο, το πρότυπο για κάθε βασιλιά, τον τροπαιούχο νικητή κατά της Ανατολής κ.α. Η σημασία της κυκλοφορίας και της διάδοσής του στο εξωτερικό είναι περισσότερο από προφανής ιδίως μετά την Συμφωνία των Πρεσπών, η οποία έγινε αιτία για να καθυστερήσει η έκδοσή του. Ήταν να βγει από άλλον εκδοτικό οίκο, ο οποίος υπαναχώρησε από την έκδοση μετά την Συμφωνία! Δόξα τω Θεώ, όμως, η έκδοση πραγματοποιήθηκε.
Από το οπισθόφυλλο του βιβλίου:
The Greek
scholars of the Post-Byzantine Period interpreted Alexander in several
ways. The Macedonian king constituted a valuable source of pride,
knowledge, courage, flattery, bravery, vanity and wisdom. Thus, he ended
up being a symbol appropriate for any use and a point of reference for
the enslaved Hellenism of the era.
For two centuries after the Fall
of Constantinople Alexander was used by Greek authors very often as the
par excellence glory of Hellenism. Especially during this period, they
resorted to his legend in order to reinforce the Greek consciousness,
which had suffered a devastating shock due to the Fall and the Ottoman
occupation. The story of the most powerful Greek acted as a remedy to
the reality of a powerless Hellenism.
Although the process of
Christianising Alexander had been completed in the previous centuries,
Greek scholars, especially these who were clerics, used to refer to his
vanity in order to show that human life is short and no matter how
successful a person might be, he would eventually die, which was the
case even with Alexander. Even if Alexander was Christianised, he was in
no case interpreted as a saint. He was charismatic but immoral; to
those scholars writing for a more erudite audience he remained a pagan,
who worked for God’s plan unconsciously.
But what was really
innovative in the use of Alexander in the Early Modern Era was his
adoption as the central figure in the creation of the scholarly approach
to history. And it could not have been otherwise, as the works
referring to Alexander throughout the period 1453-1821 aimed at the
consciousness of the Greeks and to some extent they shaped it. His
virtue, administration, heroism, tactics, even piety have been accepted
as values by the Early Modern and Modern Hellenism. In this sense, the
Early Modern image of Alexander constituted an archetype of the Modern
Greek, an example that everyone ought to try to follow, because it
embodied the best qualities of the Early Modern Greek community.
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