We know he spoke Greek, studied under Aristotle and carried the Greek language and arts across the world, but I'm not sure why it's generally considered that he was Greek. He was born in Macedonia; of a Macedonian royal family and Macedonians were considered Barbarians, or recently descended from Barbarians, right?
Some quotes:
Historian E. Borza: "It is clear that over a five-century span of writing in two languages representing a variety of historiographical and philosophical positions the ancient writers regarded the Greeks and Macedonians as two separate and distinct peoples…"
Historian NGL Hammond: "Macedonians considered themselves to be, and were treated by Alexander the Great as being, separate from the Greeks. They were proud to be so."
Greek Historian M.B. Sakellariou: "Isokrates [father of 'Hellenism'] places Macedonia outside the boundaries of Greece and describes the Macedonians as 'an unrelated race'…"
Historian E. Badian: "As regards the Macedonian nation as a whole, (there was as we can see) no division. They were regarded as clearly barbarian, despite the various myths."
Bertrand Russel in the "History of Western Philosphy" states that Alexander was "not quite a Greek".
So what do consider his ethnicity to be? And do we make a conscious decision about the difference between his nationality and ethnicity?
While Macedonians were considered 'barbarians' (i.e. non-Greeks) by the Greeks, the Macedonian royal house was by some considered to be Greek. The royal house traced its roots back to Argos. Alexander I (an ancestor of Alexander the Great) participated in the Olympic games, which only Greeks could do. Herodotus mentions his competitors were not happy about it, but the judges of the Olympics considered Alexander's ancestry sufficiently proven.
I don't think it's our place to decide what Alexander the Great's ethnicity actually was. What matters is how people saw him and how that coloured their judgements and actions. Some people considered him to be Greek, others did not; people used either opinion to make propaganda for or against Alexander the Great. As a historian you should be aware of this dynamic, but it is not up to us to say who was 'right' or 'wrong' (if anyone was).
hi! You might get something out of these posts, which focus on the question of whether Alexander the Great was Greek, Macedonian, both, and what those terms mean when applied to the time Alexander lived