Youth and Kingship
The son of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias, he had Aristotle as his tutor and was given a classical education. Alexander had no part in the murder of his father, although he may have resented him because he neglected Olympias for another wife. He succeeded to the throne in 336 B.C. and immediately showed his talent for leadership by quieting the restive cities of Greece, then putting down uprisings in Thrace and Illyria. Thebes revolted on a false rumor that Alexander was dead. The young king rushed south and sacked the city, sparing only the temples and Pindar’s house.
Conquests
Greece and the Balkan Peninsula secured, Alexander then crossed (334) the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles) and, as head of an allied Greek army, undertook the war on Persia that his father had been planning. The march he had begun was to be one of the greatest in history. At the Granicus River (near the Hellespont) he met and defeated a Persian force and moved on to take Miletus and Halicarnassus. For the first time Persia faced a united Greece, and Alexander saw himself as the spreader of Panhellenic ideals. Having taken most of Asia Minor, he entered (333) N Syria and there in the battle of Issus met and routed the hosts of Darius III of Persia, who fled before him.
Alexander, triumphant, now envisioned conquest of the whole of the Persian Empire. It took him nearly a year to reduce Tyre and Gaza, and in 332, in full command of Syria, he entered Egypt. There he met no resistance. When he went to the oasis of Amon he was acknowledged as the son of Amon-Ra, and this may have contributed to a conviction of his own divinity. In the winter he founded Alexandria, perhaps the greatest monument to his name, and in the spring of 331 he returned to Syria, then went to Mesopotamia where he met Darius again in the battle of Guagamela. The battle was hard, but Alexander was victorious. He marched S to Babylon, then went to Susa and on to Persepolis, where he burned the palaces of the Persians and looted the city.
He was now the visible ruler of the Persian Empire, pursuing the fugitive Darius to Ecbatana, which submitted in 330, and on to Bactria. There the satrap Bessus, a cousin of Darius, had the Persian king murdered and declared himself king. Alexander went on through Bactria and captured and executed Bessus. He was now in the regions beyond the Oxus River (the present-day Amu Darya), and his men were beginning to show dissatisfaction. In 330 a conspiracy against Alexander was said to implicate the son of one of his generals, Parmenion; Alexander not only executed the son but also put the innocent Parmenion to death. This act and other instances of his harshness further alienated the soldiers, who disliked Alexander’s assuming Persian dress and the manner of a despot.
Nevertheless Alexander conquered all of Bactria and Sogdiana after hard fighting and then went on from what is today Afghanistan into N India. Some of the princes there received him favorably, but at the Hydaspes (the present-day Jhelum River) he met and defeated an army under Porus. He overran the Punjab, but there his men would go no farther. He had built a fleet, and after going down the Indus to its delta, he sent Nearchus with the fleet to take it across the unknown route to the head of the Persian Gulf, a daring undertaking. He himself led his men through the desert regions of modern Baluchistan, S Afghanistan, and S Iran. The march, accomplished with great suffering, finally ended at Susa in 324.
Discord and Death
At Susa Alexander found that many of the officials he had chosen to govern the conquered lands had indulged in corruption and misrule. Meanwhile certain antagonisms had developed against Alexander; in Greece, for instance, many decried his execution of Aristotle’s nephew, the historian Callisthenes, and the Greek cities resented his request that they treat him as a god. Alexander’s Macedonian officers balked at his attempt to force them to intermarry with the Persians (he had himself married Roxana, a Bactrian princess, as one of his several wives), and they resisted his Eastern ways and his vision of an empire governed by tolerance. There was a mutiny, but it was put down. In 323, Alexander was planning a voyage by sea around Arabia when he caught a fever and died at 33. After his death his generals fell to quarreling about dividing the rule (see Diadochi). His only son was Alexander Aegus, born to Roxana after Alexander’s death and destined for a short and pitiful life.
Legacy
Whether or not Alexander had plans for a world empire cannot be determined. He had accomplished greater conquests than any before him, but he did not have time to mold the government of the lands he had taken. Incontestably, he was one of the greatest generals of all time and one of the most powerful personalities of antiquity. He influenced the spread of Hellenism throughout the Middle East and into Asia, establishing city-states modeled on Greek institutions that flourished long after his death. There are many legends about him, e.g., his feats on his horse Bucephalus and his cutting of the Gordian knot. The famous Greek sculptor Lysippus did several studies of Alexander.
Bibliography
Arrian and Plutarch wrote biographies of him in ancient times, and the literature of the Middle Ages romanticized his life. See also study by D. W. Engels (1978); modern biographies by C. B. Welles (1970), R. L. Fox (1974), N. G. L. Hammond (1981), and A. B. Bosworth (1989).
Alexander the Great, named Alexandros at birth, was born around 356 BC, the son of King Philip I of Macedonia and his wife Olympias. Legend reveals though that Zeus, the Greek god, sired Alexander. Whatever the truth, the Macedonian would in future years gain the reputation of demigod through his marvellous exploits.
In his childhood he was tutored by the great Greek philosopher Aristotle and took to academic work well. He was also schooled vigorously in the art of battle. On one occasion his father challenged him to ride a horse, Bucephalus, which he wished for himself, but had decided was too wild.
Alexander, astute in his observations of the bold black stallion, realised it was scared of its own shadow. When the horse was facing the sun (and thus unaware of its shadow) Alexander mounted him. Then, riding Bucephalus in such a way as to avoid its shadow, the youngster tamed the horse. As a reward, Philip gave Alexander Bucephalus and the pair would remain together for many years. Indeed, when the horse died around ten years later, Alexander honoured him with a state funeral and named the Indian city, Bucephala, after him.
Made regent of Macedonia in 340 BC, Alexander immediately began building a reputation as an excellent soldier. He routed his Thracian neighbours in battle and built his first city, Alexandropolis. These were the initial signs that he had the military and leadership characteristics to establish a substantial empire.
Two years later, Alexander the Great commanded a troop of cavalry at the Battle of Chaeronea. Under the guidance of King Philip, the Macedonian cavalry had become a fearsome unit, heavily armoured and well disciplined, and they easily beat their Greek enemy. Also in the Macedonian forces was the Royal Army, known as Hypaspists, an elite troop of mythical proportions. These, coupled with a well-drilled territorial and auxiliary body, as well as many weapons of siege, would help make Alexander’s life as a leader less demanding than those of previous times.
On their victorious return to Macedonia, rumours began to circulate that Philip was being unfaithful to his wife, the mother of Alexander. The latter confronted his father and, after a heated argument, fled with his mother into hiding. The adulterous Philip himself had great aspirations of empire building across two continents. After all, he was the inspiration behind the revamping of the armed forces. But he never dare leave Macedonia for fear of Alexander taking control and turning against him. He knew his son was fast developing as a military leader who had a forceful personality and some support, so the risk was deemed too great.
Eventually Alexander did return and the pair agreed to set aside their differences. Shortly afterwards though, Philip was poisoned at a function, at which Alexander was present, and died. The name of the guilty party remained unknown and although Alexander had good reason to kill his unfaithful father, no evidence was forthcoming. Subsequently Alexander was named King.
In 336 BC Alexander set out with around 37,000 soldiers to build his empire. First they crossed the river Danube to fortify the northern frontier. Then they negotiated the strait at Hellespont (a narrow strait between the Aegean and Marmara seas) with the intention of taking control of Persia. The army marched towards Babylon, fighting along the way, until encountering the forces of Darius III at Issus (modern day Syria). Even though the Macedonians were heavily outnumbered they routed the Persian army after a fake retreat ordered by tactician Alexander. Darius and his men fled for their lives, but left behind a vast wealth, including his own wife and mother. One might expect Alexander to have them killed for being in league with the enemy. Instead he treated them with care, compassion and respect. This was the beginning of Alexander’s attempts to integrate Persian and European lifestyles and customs, a move that the majority of his army resented.
Just as it looked as if Alexander’s empire might envelope the whole of Asia, his men refused to cross the river Hyphasis in Northern India. Alexander reluctantly agreed to turn back - not that he had much choice. Most of the men had not seen home in over ten years and they were determined to return. In 325 BC they reached the Indian Ocean and that same year marched through the Gedrosian Desert. This may have been as a punishment, or the route may have been chosen to map out trade routes to India. Many soldiers died on the journey through the desert, such was its inhospitable nature, but it is a testimony to Alexander that he managed to lead them through.
In 324 BC the expedition force was back in the capital, Babylon. Alexander married again, to the daughter of Darius III, Statira. Later that year, his lifelong friend, Hephaestion died. He had travelled with Alexander and proved the perfect foil to the king’s military leadership, as he was highly skilled in diplomacy. Months afterwards Alexander himself died after a lengthy banquet. The heavy campaigning of the previous twenty years had finally caught up with him. He was thirty-two years old.
There are several different accounts of the life and deeds of Alexander the Great, the first of which was written three hundred years after his death. It cannot be doubted that he created a huge empire with the excellent leadership of his elite forces. Some of the more outrageous claims may have grown with his legend but his deeds were obviously of such a magnitude to warrant such discrepancies.
In the spring of 327 BC the troops stood before the Sogdian Rock, a cliff with a fortress at its summit. From the cliff, Oxyartes, the fortress overlord, taunted Alexander, boasting that he couldn’t be touched. Alexander waited until nightfall, and sent a number of his troops skilled at climbing up the rock face. The next morning, the red faced Oxyartes was surrounded. He admitted defeat and became friends with Alexander. Later that year King Alexander married Oxyartes' daughter, Roxanne. After the ceremony, Macedonian troops invaded India.
After capturing an Indian stronghold, The Rock of Aornus, the Macedonians engaged in yet another famous conflict, the Battle of Hydaspes. The opposition leader was named Porus and had in his command two hundred elephants. The two armies stood off against each other across a river. Each night Alexander sent his troops across the river as if to attack, only to order them to retreat at the last minute. Eventually Porus and his men became sick of this ploy and went to bed regardless of whether or not the Macedonians were crossing. Inevitably, when they did attack, Porus and his soldiers were sleeping; they had no choice but to surrender.
Alexander urged his men onwards and two years later they laid siege to the island city of Tyre. When it became obvious that the Tyrean men wouldn’t leave the safety of their fortress, Alexander had his men build a bridge to reach them. Once within reach, the foe capitulated before the attacking Macedonians. Later that same year they took the city of Gaza and Alexander was crowned Pharaoh in Memphis, Egypt.
A year later the great city of Alexandria had been founded and the quest continued. Darius III had rallied his troops and waited for Alexander the Great at Guagemala. Once more he was routed and his demise became complete when his own men, who wished to appease Alexander as their new ruler, killed him. That same year the King of Macedonia, and soon to be Persia, led his troops into Babylon (in modern day Iraq), which would become the capital of his empire. The last Persian defenders were killed attempting to shield their capital Persopolis, which was duly burnt to the ground to signal a new beginning.
The next step was to cross the inhospitable Hindu Kush mountain range into Asia. This they did with supreme skill and effort. Once in Asia they defeated the nomadic Scythians and arrested Bessus, usurper of the Persian throne. Subsequently, to gain a foot hold in Asia, the army had to split into several groups to quell minor uprisings. They then moved into Central Asia.
