“Alexander the Great's conquests caused more cultural destruction than exchange.”

It's like someone burning down a library to build a new school. Yes, Greek culture spread, but the deliberate burning of Persepolis erased centuries of Persian history and knowledge. That's a net loss for humanity, not an exchange.

But isn't that focusing only on the destruction? The new cities he founded became huge hubs where Greek, Egyptian, and Persian ideas mixed for centuries. That lasting exchange seems bigger than one terrible fire.