Blashford

Blashford: Early Development of Greek Society Link:  [|National Geographic] TOPIC: The Color Purple The color purple has long been a symbol of royalty. The Phoenicians were the first to discover that from the body of Murex mollusks a beautiful dye can be procured. Due to the fact that it takes the collection of thousands of mollusks to create only a small amount of purple dye, cloth dyed this deep hue was very expensive. Since only the wealthy could afford material that was dyed this reddish purple the color quickly became associated with aristocracy. The popularity of Tyrain purple, as it was called, soon spread to other geographical regions as a result of the Phoenicians trading and traveling prowess. All across the Mediterranean the color soon became associated with royalty. The Greek legends include descriptions of purople and the Romans adopted the traditional symbol from the Greeks. This shows that since we know the Romans adopted many popular Greek traditions this in fact must have been a very popular symbol of wealth during the days of Athens. The color eventually became the exclusive color of the Roman emperors. The tradition of royalty wearing purple and associated this color with power stems from the tiny sea creature that the Phoenicians deemed exotic and fashionable.

Greece and the Large World Alex and the Elephants:

http://www.livius.org/pn-po/porus/porus.htm [|http://wso.williams.edu/~junterek/india.htm] http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200606/ptolemy.s.alexandrian.postscript.htm

Alexander the Great conquered many empires in his 13 years at the helm of the Macedonian Empire. One of the more exotic and challenging battles he faced was in fact one of his final campaigns, that of India. As the Aryans had before him and many more future invaders after him,it is thought that Alexander the Great gained access into India via the Khyber Pass. Alexander desired to bring India under the Macedonian rule and he set his eyes on attacking King Porus at the river Hydaspes. King Porus who had staioned his son and troops at the river had hoped that the rising river, as a result of monsoon rain, would prevent Alexander and his troops from crossing. However, this did not deter Alexander from achieving his goals and in 326 B.C.E. he crossed the river crushing his opposition. King Porus when then faced with bringing out a new challenge to face the main onslaught, his cavalry. King Porus’s cavalry was extremely unique; the Indians used elephants. As a result of a lack of native, large ,domesticated animals such as horses the Indians used elephants to mount their attacks. This was a challenge for Alexander because he and his men had never encountered these animals before. Despite the use of elephants King Porus and his men were no match for Alexander the Great. Alexander used superior strategy and tactics as well as his archers to take out the elephant drivers. His victory did not come without loss. Alexander the Great lost his horse Bucephalus which proves that the Indians put up quite the fight and this was indeed one of the more difficult campaigns of Alexander's career.