Statues Quotes
Asked why there was no statue of him in Rome, he replied: Marcus Porcius Cato
He decided to let the statue lie and not revive the image of Xerxes and instead simply proceed with the administration and governance of what was then occupied Persia. He maintained most of the Persian laws and customs including much that came from Xerxes but did not elevate the personality of the great king. However, it was not Alexander’s technique to govern by cults of personalities he and his associates erected few symbols of their own aggrandizement until after Alexander’s death when some of his associates adopted the more traditional approach to things.
This was a radical speech for the time, suggesting reforms that had been unthinkable to most Turks. Although it is not prohibited by the Koran and early Islamic artists made some of the greatest paintings and depictions of people, fundamentalists gained control of Islam and interpreted any statue as an idol that could be worshipped and this generalized to Islamic art in general where people ceased to be depicted and even animal depictions were rare. Muslim art developed incredible geometric intricacy but tended not to depict anything that is real. This extended to photography and illustrations in books including textbooks. At the same time, not unlike some Christian and Jewish Fundamentalists, the Muslim fundamentalists opposed science and the teaching thereof on the grounds that all authentic knowledge was in the Koran and anything else was not only false but also heretical. So this speech was a type of “declaration of war” against the established religious order and culture.
