Prof. Haskell’s 2012 First Year Seminar Class, “Reporting Alexander the Great,” stepped up to the plate in preparing and presenting the “Connections to the Contemporary Condition” assignment.

The assignment asked students to present to the class creative adaptations of Alexander the Great’s long and difficult history. Possible prompts included developing contemporary symbols and photo ops that you would use to spin effectively your “Great” candidate’s image.

Another prompt suggested developing a narrative story about a fictional modern power marriage analogous that of Alexander to the Bactrian princess Roxanne. Alexander had married Roxanne in a very savvy political move. Yet this marriage was taken way out of context and made romantic.

Alexander also married off Greek veterans with Persian women. Of the elite marriages, only that of the Greek Seleucus and his Persian princess lasted. Students could play off of this theme as well to explore what was it about the eastern empire that led to a greater acceptance of the other.

The results were very creative, thoughtful, and often hysterically funny. Genres included a soap opera, multi-part plays, creative PowerPoints (often accompanied by and other acoustics), and other multi-media.

This is the first time that this assignment was made part of this First Year Seminar class, but the results were fantastic.

Click here for more Alexander 2012 images.