I've done enough research now to have a few ideas for topics I might like to focus on for my dissertation so I have made a list of them:
What is it to be great?
Questionnaire - discuss this in the introduction?
Discussion over the flawed contemporary sources we have of him
Arrian and Plutarch were written after his death in Roman context and based on probably biased sources = is Alexander as great as they make him out to be?
His Personality
He was paradoxically merciful and brutal - which one outweighs the other?
His military career
Alexander was undefeated but he faced a disorganised enemy
His influence on other historical individuals: Pompey, Caesar, Napoleon
He inspired others = legacy?
How he sort of destroyed the Hellenistic world (didn’t secure his succession leaving his Empire to the hands of his ‘successors’)
His achievements aren't great because they weren't long lived
Is he more of a Roman figure than a Greek one?
Has the distortion of when the sources were written affected our perception of him?
Obviously I need to do a lot more than this but as I am gathering these ideas it shows that I am focused on the topic of my final dissertation and am going around the right way of researching. I am therefore pleased with my progress, however problems I may face when I continue researching will be keeping focus over summer, finding contemporary sources and deciding out of all the research I do what to include in my dissertation. Hopefully my plans over summer will keep me focused and the research I do will lead me towards the content of my dissertation.
What is it to be great?
Questionnaire - discuss this in the introduction?
Discussion over the flawed contemporary sources we have of him
Arrian and Plutarch were written after his death in Roman context and based on probably biased sources = is Alexander as great as they make him out to be?
His Personality
He was paradoxically merciful and brutal - which one outweighs the other?
His military career
Alexander was undefeated but he faced a disorganised enemy
His influence on other historical individuals: Pompey, Caesar, Napoleon
He inspired others = legacy?
How he sort of destroyed the Hellenistic world (didn’t secure his succession leaving his Empire to the hands of his ‘successors’)
His achievements aren't great because they weren't long lived
Is he more of a Roman figure than a Greek one?
Has the distortion of when the sources were written affected our perception of him?
Obviously I need to do a lot more than this but as I am gathering these ideas it shows that I am focused on the topic of my final dissertation and am going around the right way of researching. I am therefore pleased with my progress, however problems I may face when I continue researching will be keeping focus over summer, finding contemporary sources and deciding out of all the research I do what to include in my dissertation. Hopefully my plans over summer will keep me focused and the research I do will lead me towards the content of my dissertation.