>Greek culture wasn't some attempt to manufacture legitimacy for national boundaries in the '30s. Interestingly, it seems that the desire to inherit the legacy of Alexander the Great's feats is not limited to the people in his kingdom.

Exactly. He kind of produced a real multi-cultural empire (even if the Greek element dominated some aspects) instead of mere subject nations, and those belonging to it respected it and cherished this past more than e.g. countries conquered by the Roman empire did or countries colonized by the British etc.