Here is an attempt to fact-check Oliver Stone's Alexander movie from an Iranian/Persian angle...not sure if I've seen it mentioned at any of the usual venues...The author, Kaveh Farrokh, remarks:
Ironically, it has been my Greek friends and colleagues who bought the flaws of Oliver Stone's "Alexander" picture to my attention.
'Cause Greeks otherwise were so enthusiastic about the movie? More substantive excerpt:
More puzzling is the "Arabesque" way in which ancient Persians are portrayed in this battle. I was shocked to see Arabian camel riders used to portray one of the vanguards of Darius III's attack on Alexander at the battle scene. Arabs were simply auxiliary units in the Achaemenean army at the time, and were not a major factor. Camel troops were never a major battle order in the armies of Persia. I also noticed that an infantry troop of the Achaemenid advance guard was speaking in Arabic. Persian is not related to Arabic; it is an Indo-European language akin to the languages of Europe and India.
This may be the usual Hollywood habit however of portraying Iranians as Arabs, a topic we will re-visit later in this commentary.
Comments