So I can honestly say, with almost a straight face, that I owe it all to guys like Socrates and Alexander the Great.
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Even the conquest of northern India, a feat, so Mr Marozzi rather breathlessly assures us, that surpassed the achievements of both Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great, amounted to no more than a raid that destroyed a noble city and left tens of thousands dead.
Though empires tend to fall after their Afghan skirmishes, he says, for the British this was largely down to World War II, for the Soviets, it was ideological crisis in eastern Europe and for Alexander the Great it was a failure to ensure the stable succession of his Asian empire.
Later, the conquests of Alexander the Great and the Romans brought market economies to towns and cities throughout the western world.
Dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici, the book draws on examples from history, of Alexander the Great and of the German city states, to teach its readers some eternal lessons.
It is thus not surprising that the Macedonians considered themselves to be, and were treated by Alexander the Great as being, separate from the Greeks.
Mr Wood's television credits include In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, Conquistadors and the Story of India.
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The highlight is the foundation stone of the city of Ai Khanum, laid by Alexander the Great around 300 BC, and thought to be the only object in the world which is known to have been in his hands.
Another marvel in the Treasure Galleries, a quiver depicting the life of Achilles, is possibly one of a pair commissioned by Alexander the Great and mentioned in his records as gifts for a Scythian leader.
But this has not been helped by his party's policy of "antiquisation", in which Macedonia seeks to claim ancient Macedonian figures like Alexander the Great and Philip of Macedon for itself and denying their Greek heritage.
Although the commission points to worries over the hotly contested matter of media freedom and implies that the erection of a statue of Alexander the Great in Skopje was a provocative gesture, it recommends for the third time that the country be given a date to start accession talks.
"On the one hand, he adores clothes and has championed some of the great designers like Hedi Slimane, Thierry Mugler and Alexander McQueen, " says Mr. Pegg.
Commenting on the unprecedented wave of political unrest that has swept throughout the North Africa and the Middle East, Mr Alexander said the region faced a moment of "great possibility, but also great peril".
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Stefan Klos was out to make a point after being frozen out of the German international squad and made a great save to block at the feet of Stuttgart's Alexander Hleb.
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Alexander the Great carried The Iliad with him and Queen Elizabeth prized Cicero.
Tony Blair once told a Labour conference a story about the man employed by Prince Philip of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great, to carry a black stick with a pig's bladder on the end and wake him up at night to remind him he was only mortal.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said that Nasri had "great potential" and could now allow unsettled Belarus international Alexander Hleb to leave the Emirates Stadium.
The plant is not indigenous to India and according to the United Nations, the drug was introduced in India in 330 BC by Alexander the Great.
To build upon our great entrepreneurial tradition, and to be home to the next generation of innovators like Alexander Graham-Bell and Sergey Brin, we must ensure that government protects and encourages the visionaries who are looking to change the world through innovation.
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