Who Would Win In Toe To Toe Personal Combat: The Greek Warrior Achilles or Alexander the Great?

Question

This assumes Homer was telling the truth and Achilles was a real person.

Answer 1

Likely Achilles; Alexander was more a general than a warrior.

In heroic military epics, this has always been the tradition; the second in command is always a better warrior, than the general or king.

Arthur had his sir Lancelot, Alexander's right hand man was known for his battle prowess but could not command worth a d**n, while in China, one of Zhao Zhao's rivals, was the mighty (but treacherous) warrior Lu Bu.

In military traditions and heroic epics the world over, the second in command is always the better soldier or warrior, than the leader.  Even with king David, it was his right hand man, the general who killed David's son Absalom (forget his name) who was the better warrior.

The second in command is yang, to his king's ying.

The king is the brains, while the second in command is the arm.  It is the king's job to think, and the second in command's, to fight.  When ships, armies, kingdoms, etc, have been set up like this, they always met with success.

While still a good fighter himself, the general or king, for an army to be successful, must never be stronger than his second in command.

Achilles, like Alexander's right hand man, was strictly a warrior, not a commander, according to Homer's epic.

So, sorry; Alexander would not win that trial by combat.

Against Leonidas though, now that would be a different story....

Even in the real world, I personally think Butler's Leonidas, smacks the c**p out of Pitt's achilles, any day of the week.

Answer 2

Achilles

simply because Achilles was a fighter (personal, hand to hand) while Alexander was a commander (very little personal combat but mostly ordering people around)

Answer 3

Alexander did get into the battles and fought on horseback at the head of his cavalry.  He was wounded repeatedly in battle by almost every weapon available in his time.

This would be a good contest.  No one knows their relative sizes, and that would help determine the "odds."

I would go with Achilles as he is described, but Alexander was not a " hang in the back and give orders" type of commander.  I admire him most for leading from the front - for not sending his men to face any greater risk than he did himself.

[I wish the political men of 1860 America who started the Civil War had all fought in the front lines with the young men.]

Answer 4

Throughout his lifetime, Alexander the Great suffered many combat injuries including wounds to the neck, back, head, legs and thighs.  

Alexander was a fierce warrior (and the greatest conqueror in the Ancient World) but Achilles was the greatest warrior in Ancient Greece.

Answer 5

Well as Achillies was supposed to be imortal except for his heel he would win.  Alexander was human, and suceptical to injury, Achilles was not.