Alexander the Great’s architect, Dinocrates, proposed carving an entire mountain into a massive statue of Alexander holding a city in his hand. According to historical accounts, Alexander rejected the ambitious design because Dinocrates had not properly considered how the city’s inhabitants would live and sustain themselves. Alexander the Great’s architect, Dinocrates of Rhodes, proposed one of the most extraordinary monuments ever imagined: transforming Mount Athos into a giant statue of Alexander himself. According to the Roman architect Vitruvius, the design depicted Alexander holding a city in one hand and a massive bowl in the other to collect mountain streams and provide a water supply. Alexander was impressed by the idea but questioned how the city’s residents would produce food. When Dinocrates admitted he had not planned for agriculture, Alexander rejected the proposal, arguing that even the most impressive city could not survive without fertile land. Instead, he later gave Dinocrates the task of designing Alexandria in Egypt, a city built around a strategic harbor, access to the Nile, fertile lands, and major Mediterranean trade routes.(Historic Vids)