Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release  27^th of December 2012

Craig Isherwood‚ National Secretary
PO Box 376‚ COBURG‚ VIC 3058
Phone: 1800 636 432
Email: cec@cecaust.com.au
Website: http://cec.cecaust.com.au
 

Russia shares the treasures of Alexander the Great with Australia

On 24 November the Australian Museum in Sydney opened an exhibition featuring the largest collection of treasures ever to come to Australia, Alexander the Great: 2000 years of treasures. The exhibition, which continues until 28 April 2013, includes artefacts spanning a period of almost 2,500 years, on loan from The State Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. Australia was chosen to host the exhibition from among four contenders, because “the theme of the spread of civilisation is very close to this country [Australia]” in the words of curator Dr. Anna Trofimova, Head of the Department of Classical Antiquities at the State Hermitage, who described Australia as “a new world”.

The St. Petersburg State Hermitage is one of the world’s great art museums. Founded during the reign of Empress Catherine the Great in the late 18th century, it is housed in the former Tsarist Winter Palace and several other palaces on the banks of the Neva River. While the museum’s extraordinary paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Rembrandt and other Dutch masters were purchased by Tsars and others at various times, many of its artefacts of antiquity were uncovered during Russian and Soviet archaeological excavations on the Black Sea coast and elsewhere within their territory, which overlaps the routes of Alexander the Great’s expeditions. During the 900-day Siege of Leningrad (as the city was then known) in World War II, when Hitler had issued a directive to wipe the city of St. Petersburg off the map and two million Russians died there, museum workers and Soviet officials evacuated the Hermitage collections to Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk) on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains, saving thousands of artworks of all ages of humanity.

Describing the Alexander the Great treasures, Trofimova told the 17 November Sydney Morning Herald that Alexander was “the first global person. He thought he was the first political leader and he thought in terms of the planet. And that was the first time that had happened in history.”

Characterising Alexander’s conquests as “the point of origin of our civilisation”, she pointed out that he achieved much, much more than merely military victories. “For the first time the civilisations of the East and the West met. He brought civilisation; he founded cities, new cults and brought Greek language, art and administration.”

In another interview, with SBS on 22 November, Dr. Trofimova stressed that Alexander’s message is very relevant for Australia. Asked why she chose Australia to host the exhibition, she replied, “The main message of the exhibition is very, very appropriate to the history of Australia,” because the main result of Alexander the Great’s achievements “was the creation of cosmopolitan culture, uniting achievement with the West and the East …”

“[Alexander] really dreamed to unify people. His dream was the unity of mankind. That is something important for nowadays as well.”

Another reason for Australia to take particular notice of the message of this exhibition, is that the global strategic situation today is not unlike that faced by Alexander. Today we are in a battle to defeat the heirs of the Persian Empire defeated by Alexander so many years ago.

The wars waged by Alexander were not about conquering new territory or seizing wealth. Alexander was intent upon advancing the progress of civilisation by extinguishing the influence of the Persian Empire, which had kept factions in Greece and Macedon in a state of perpetual war. Alexander’s plan to reshape the entire region is seen in the construction of the many cities, ports, trade routes and water management schemes he oversaw, many of which he personally designed, along the length of the routes he and his armies marched and conquered. Perhaps his crowning achievement was the construction of the city of Alexandria, Egypt, home of the famous library where Eratosthenes (c. 275-194 BC), the chief librarian, proved the earth a sphere, and accurately measured its circumference.

Alexander, who lived 356-323 BC, had been educated by Plato’s Academy and recruited to its cause. Aristotle was one of his tutors, but he did not think like Aristotle. As opposed to the logical-deductive method espoused by Aristotle, Alexander was successful in warfare because he constantly “broke the rules”. He understood that the most important battle was the one which occurred in the mind, before a single weapon were used. This was why Alexander was able to defeat far larger and superior armies: he understood his opponent’s mind, and outsmarted him. Of particular importance in his military arsenal was the Anabasis—the celebrated work of the great military leader Xenophon (c. 430-355 BC), an Athenian, and a friend and student of Socrates. (Xenophon led the famous march of the Ten Thousand which returned the Greek army home safely after winning the battle of Cunaxa, Babylon, in an earlier attempt to put down the Persian Empire.) Click here for more.

Today, the collapse of Alexander’s native Greece, along with the remnants of the Hellenic culture he spread so widely, is a harbinger of the dark age mankind will meet worldwide unless we revive the economic and cultural aspirations of leaders like Alexander. Today’s City of London/Wall Street-centred Empire—the reincarnation of the Persian Empire that Alexander defeated—has become hegemonic worldwide. But now, as the financial system underpinning its control disintegrates, we must fight to take back our nations from under its economic and cultural domination.

The CEC and LaRouche movement are leading that fight. Join today!

Visit the website for details of the exhibition: http://www.alexandersydney.com.au