Alexander the Great

Alexander III of Macedon, known as Alexander the Great (21 July 356 BCE – 10 or 11 June 323 BCE) was the son of King Philip II of Macedon. He became King of Macedon upon his father’s death in 336 BCE and went on to conquer the known world of his day. He is known as 'the great' both for his military genius and his diplomatic skills in handling the various populaces of the regions he conquered. He is further recognized for spreading Greek culture, language and thought from Greece throughout Asia Minor, Egypt, and Mesopotamia to India and thus creating the Hellenistic world.

When Alexander was young, his father hired the Greek philosopher Aristotle to tutor the boy along with Alexander’s close friends Cassander, Ptolemy and Hephaistion who would become his life-long companions and generals in his army, Hephaistion remained his best and dearest friend. Aristotle’s influence directly bore upon Alexander’s later dealings with the people he conquered (the two remained in correspondence throughout Alexander’s campaigns) in that Alexander never forced the culture of Greece upon the inhabitants of the various regions but merely introduced it. Though he considered himself the son of Zeus and therefore a demi-god, linking his blood-line to great heroes of antiquity like Achilles and Herakles (beliefs instilled in him by his mother, Olympias, who believed him destined for greatness) Alexander was not interested in imposing his own 'truths' upon other people as long as they willingly helped to keep the supply lines open to feed and equip his troops (an important aspect of his ability to rule vast areas which was to be neglected by his successors). This does not mean, however, that he did not ruthlessly suppress uprisings nor hesitate to viciously annihilate those who opposed him.

Alexander’s military prowess was first noted at the Battle of Charonea in 338 BCE. Although only eighteen years old he helped turn the tide of battle in the decisive Macedonian victory which defeated the Greek allied city-states. When Philip II was assassinated in 336 BCE, Alexander assumed the throne, and with the Greek city-states now united under Macedonian rule following Charonea, embarked on the great campaign his father had been planning: the conquest of the mighty Persian Empire.

With an army of 32,000 infantry and 5,100 cavalry, Alexander crossed over to Asia Minor in 334 BCE and sacked the city of Baalbek, re-naming it Heliopolis. He then liberated the Greek city of Ephesos from Persian rule (offering to re-build the Temple of Artemis, which had long before been destroyed by arson -- the city refused his gesture). In 333 BCE Alexander and his troops defeated the larger force of King Darius III of Persia at the Battle of Issos. Darius fled the field leaving his family behind. Alexander went on to sack the Phoenician city of Sidon and then to conquer Aleppo. In 332 BCE he conquered Syria and then Egypt, in 331 BCE, where he founded the city of Alexandria. At the Oracle of Siwa in the eponymous Egyptian oasis, he was proclaimed an incarnation of Zeus-Ammon, a 'son of god'. After designing the plan for the city of Alexandria, he left Egypt for further campaigns, conquering the land of Phoenicia easily except for the island city of Tyre, which he placed under siege. So determined was he to conquer the city that he built a causeway from the mainland to the island on which to mount his siege engines. This causeway, in time, collected silt and earth and is the reason why Tyre is a part of the mainland in Lebanon today. For their stubborn resistance, the inhabitants of Tyre were slaughtered and the survivors sold into slavery.

In 331 BCE Alexander again met King Darius III on the battlefield at Gaugamela where, again facing overwhelming numbers against him, he decisively defeated Darius who again fled; however, he was later assassinated (after the fall of Persepolis) by his own general and cousin Bessus. Alexander proclaimed himself the King of Asia and continued on to march on the great city of Susa, which surrendered unconditionally without resistance.

From Susa, Alexander marched on the city of Persepolis, where in 330 BCE, according to the ancient historian Diodorus Siculus (and others), he started the fire which destroyed the main palace and city as revenge for the burning of the Acropolis in Xerxes’ Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BCE. This act was said to be instigated during a drunken party by Thais, the Athenian lover of the General Ptolemy, claiming it would be apt revenge for the city to be burnt 'by women’s hands' and she threw her torch right after Alexander threw his. Leaving Persepolis in ruins and carrying off the vast treasures, he marched on to Bactria and Sogdianna, conquering them easily, founded the city of Alexandria-Eschate on the Iaxartes River, destroyed the city of Cyropolis and defeated the Scythians.

In 327 BCE, with the Persian Empire firmly under his control and newly married to the Bactrian noblewoman Roxana, Alexander turned his attention to India which he invaded. Having heard of the exploits of the great Macedonian general, the Indian King Omphis of Taxila submitted to his authority without a fight but the Aspasioi and Assakenoi tribes strongly resisted. In battles throughout the year 327 BCE and into 326 BCE, Alexander subdued these tribes to finally meet King Porus of Paurava at the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BCE. Porus charged Alexander’s forces with elephants and fought so bravely with his troops that after defeating Porus, Alexander installed him as ruler of a larger region than he had previously held. Alexander’s horse Bucephalus, whom he had tamed and trained at the age of thirteen, was killed in the battle and Alexander named one of the two cities he founded after the battle "Bucephala" after him.

Alexander intended to march on and cross the River Ganges toward further conquests but his troops, worn out by the hard-fought battle with Porus (in which, according to Arrian, Alexander lost 1000 men) mutinied and refused to go further. Alexander assented to their wishes and turned back to Persia, conquering whatever hostile tribes he encountered along his path. Upon his return to Babylon, he found that many of the satraps he had entrusted with rule had abused their power and so executed them as well as those who had vandalized the tomb of Cyrus the Great at the old capital city of Pasargadae. He ordered the ancient capital and tomb to be restored and took other measures to ingratiate and integrate his army with the people of the region and merge the cultures of Persia and Macedonia. Alexander held a mass marriage service at Susa in which he married members of his senior staff to Persian noblewomen (an act which many of his troops objected to, as they also criticized his adoption of Persian dress and manners which he had increasingly affected since 329 BCE) and appointed Persians to prominent posts in his army (which the troops also took exception to).

During this same time his life-long friend Hephaistion died, possibly poisoned, and the historian Plutarch claims that Alexander, in grief over the loss, slaughtered the inhabitants of a neighboring town as a sacrifice to Hephaistion.

Shortly after this, Alexander died, 10 or 11 June 323 BCE, after suffering two days of high fever. Theories concerning his cause of death have ranged from poisoning to bacterial infection from drinking contaminated water. Plutarch says that, fourteen days before his death, Alexander entertained his fleet admiral Nearcus and his friend Medius of Larissa with a long bout of drinking after which he fell into a fever from which he never recovered. When he was asked who should succeed him, Alexander answered, “The strongest” which answer lead to his empire being divided between four of his generals. One of these generals, and his long-time comrade, Cassander, would order the death of Alexander’s wife Roxana, Alexander’s son by her, and Alexander’s mother, Olympias, to consolidate his power as the new King of Macedonia. None of his generals possessed Alexander’s intelligence, understanding or military genius but would found dynasties which, with some exceptions, ruled their respective regions until the coming of Rome.

Written by Joshua J. Mark, published on 23 February 2011 under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.