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Beginnings of the Persian expedition

Asia minor and the battle of issus, conquest of the mediterranean coast and egypt, campaign eastward to central asia, invasion of india, consolidation of the empire.

Why is Alexander the Great famous?

What was alexander the great’s childhood like, how did alexander the great die, what was alexander the great like.

• What is imperialism in history?

Alexander the Great

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• Table Of Contents

Although king of ancient Macedonia for less than 13 years, Alexander the Great changed the course of history. One of the world’s greatest military generals, he created a vast empire that stretched from Macedonia to Egypt and from Greece to part of India. This allowed for Hellenistic culture to become widespread.

Alexander was the son of Philip II and Olympias (daughter of King Neoptolemus of Epirus). From age 13 to 16 he was taught by the Greek philosopher Aristotle , who inspired his interest in philosophy, medicine, and scientific investigation. As a teenager, Alexander became known for his exploits on the battlefield.

While in Babylon , Alexander became ill after a prolonged banquet and drinking bout, and on June 13, 323, he died at age 33. There was much speculation about the cause of death, and the most popular theories claim that he either contracted malaria or typhoid fever or that he was poisoned.

While he could be ruthless and impulsive, Alexander was also charismatic and sensible. His troops were extremely loyal, believing in him throughout all hardships. Hugely ambitious, Alexander drew inspiration from the gods Achilles , Heracles , and Dionysus . He also displayed a deep interest in learning and encouraged the spread of Hellenistic culture.

Alexander the Great (born 356 bce , Pella, Macedonia [northwest of Thessaloníki, Greece]—died June 13, 323 bce , Babylon [near Al-Ḥillah, Iraq]) was the king of Macedonia (336–323 bce ), who overthrew the Persian empire , carried Macedonian arms to India , and laid the foundations for the Hellenistic world of territorial kingdoms. Already in his lifetime the subject of fabulous stories, he later became the hero of a full-scale legend bearing only the sketchiest resemblance to his historical career.

He was born in 356 bce at Pella in Macedonia, the son of Philip II and Olympias (daughter of King Neoptolemus of Epirus ). From age 13 to 16 he was taught by Aristotle , who inspired him with an interest in philosophy , medicine , and scientific investigation , but he was later to advance beyond his teacher’s narrow precept that non-Greeks should be treated as slaves. Left in charge of Macedonia in 340 during Philip’s attack on Byzantium , Alexander defeated the Maedi, a Thracian people. Two years later he commanded the left wing at the Battle of Chaeronea , in which Philip defeated the allied Greek states, and displayed personal courage in breaking the Sacred Band of Thebes , an elite military corps composed of 150 pairs of lovers. A year later Philip divorced Olympias, and, after a quarrel at a feast held to celebrate his father’s new marriage, Alexander and his mother fled to Epirus, and Alexander later went to Illyria . Shortly afterward, father and son were reconciled and Alexander returned, but his position as heir was jeopardized.

In 336, however, on Philip’s assassination , Alexander, acclaimed by the army, succeeded without opposition. He at once executed the princes of Lyncestis, alleged to be behind Philip’s murder, along with all possible rivals and the whole of the faction opposed to him. He then marched south, recovered a wavering Thessaly , and at an assembly of the Greek League of Corinth was appointed generalissimo for the forthcoming invasion of Asia , already planned and initiated by Philip. Returning to Macedonia by way of Delphi (where the Pythian priestess acclaimed him “invincible”), he advanced into Thrace in spring 335 and, after forcing the Shipka Pass and crushing the Triballi , crossed the Danube to disperse the Getae ; turning west, he then defeated and shattered a coalition of Illyrians who had invaded Macedonia. Meanwhile, a rumour of his death had precipitated a revolt of Theban democrats; other Greek states favoured Thebes , and the Athenians , urged on by Demosthenes , voted help. In 14 days Alexander marched 240 miles from Pelion (near modern Korçë , Albania ) in Illyria to Thebes. When the Thebans refused to surrender, he made an entry and razed their city to the ground, sparing only temples and Pindar ’s house; 6,000 were killed and all survivors sold into slavery . The other Greek states were cowed by this severity, and Alexander could afford to treat Athens leniently. Macedonian garrisons were left in Corinth , Chalcis , and the Cadmea (the citadel of Thebes).

From his accession Alexander had set his mind on the Persian expedition . He had grown up to the idea. Moreover, he needed the wealth of Persia if he was to maintain the army built by Philip and pay off the 500 talents he owed. The exploits of the Ten Thousand, Greek soldiers of fortune, and of Agesilaus of Sparta , in successfully campaigning in Persian territory had revealed the vulnerability of the Persian empire . With a good cavalry force Alexander could expect to defeat any Persian army. In spring 334 he crossed the Dardanelles , leaving Antipater , who had already faithfully served his father, as his deputy in Europe with over 13,000 men; he himself commanded about 30,000 foot and over 5,000 cavalry, of whom nearly 14,000 were Macedonians and about 7,000 allies sent by the Greek League. This army was to prove remarkable for its balanced combination of arms. Much work fell on the lightarmed Cretan and Macedonian archers, Thracians, and the Agrianian javelin men. But in pitched battle the striking force was the cavalry , and the core of the army, should the issue still remain undecided after the cavalry charge, was the infantry phalanx , 9,000 strong, armed with 13-foot spears and shields, and the 3,000 men of the royal battalions, the hypaspists. Alexander’s second in command was Parmenio , who had secured a foothold in Asia Minor during Philip’s lifetime; many of his family and supporters were entrenched in positions of responsibility. The army was accompanied by surveyors, engineers, architects, scientists, court officials, and historians; from the outset Alexander seems to have envisaged an unlimited operation.

After visiting Ilium ( Troy ), a romantic gesture inspired by Homer , he confronted his first Persian army, led by three satraps , at the Granicus (modern Kocabaş) River, near the Sea of Marmara (May/June 334). The Persian plan to tempt Alexander across the river and kill him in the melee almost succeeded; but the Persian line broke, and Alexander’s victory was complete. Darius ’s Greek mercenaries were largely massacred, but 2,000 survivors were sent back to Macedonia in chains. This victory exposed western Asia Minor to the Macedonians, and most cities hastened to open their gates. The tyrants were expelled and (in contrast to Macedonian policy in Greece) democracies were installed. Alexander thus underlined his Panhellenic policy, already symbolized in the sending of 300 panoplies (sets of armour) taken at the Granicus as an offering dedicated to Athena at Athens by “Alexander son of Philip and the Greeks (except the Spartans) from the barbarians who inhabit Asia.” (This formula, cited by the Greek historian Arrian in his history of Alexander’s campaigns, is noteworthy for its omission of any reference to Macedonia.) But the cities remained de facto under Alexander, and his appointment of Calas as satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia reflected his claim to succeed the Great King of Persia. When Miletus , encouraged by the proximity of the Persian fleet, resisted, Alexander took it by assault, but, refusing a naval battle, he disbanded his own costly navy and announced that he would “defeat the Persian fleet on land,” by occupying the coastal cities. In Caria , Halicarnassus resisted and was stormed, but Ada , the widow and sister of the satrap Idrieus, adopted Alexander as her son and, after expelling her brother Pixodarus, Alexander restored her to her satrapy. Some parts of Caria held out, however, until 332.

In winter 334–333 Alexander conquered western Asia Minor, subduing the hill tribes of Lycia and Pisidia , and in spring 333 he advanced along the coastal road to Perga , passing the cliffs of Mount Climax, thanks to a fortunate change of wind. The fall in the level of the sea was interpreted as a mark of divine favour by Alexander’s flatterers, including the historian Callisthenes . At Gordium in Phrygia , tradition records his cutting of the Gordian knot , which could only be loosed by the man who was to rule Asia; but this story may be apocryphal or at least distorted. At this point Alexander benefitted from the sudden death of Memnon , the competent Greek commander of the Persian fleet. From Gordium he pushed on to Ancyra (modern Ankara ) and thence south through Cappadocia and the Cilician Gates (modern Külek Boğazi); a fever held him up for a time in Cilicia . Meanwhile, Darius with his Grand Army had advanced northward on the eastern side of Mount Amanus. Intelligence on both sides was faulty, and Alexander was already encamped by Myriandrus (near modern İskenderun , Turkey ) when he learned that Darius was astride his line of communications at Issus , north of Alexander’s position (autumn 333). Turning, Alexander found Darius drawn up along the Pinarus River. In the battle that followed, Alexander won a decisive victory. The struggle turned into a Persian rout and Darius fled, leaving his family in Alexander’s hands; the women were treated with chivalrous care.

From Issus Alexander marched south into Syria and Phoenicia , his object being to isolate the Persian fleet from its bases and so to destroy it as an effective fighting force. The Phoenician cities Marathus and Aradus came over quietly, and Parmenio was sent ahead to secure Damascus and its rich booty, including Darius ’s war chest. In reply to a letter from Darius offering peace, Alexander replied arrogantly, recapitulating the historic wrongs of Greece and demanding unconditional surrender to himself as lord of Asia. After taking Byblos (modern Jubayl) and Sidon (Arabic Ṣaydā), he met with a check at Tyre , where he was refused entry into the island city. He thereupon prepared to use all methods of siegecraft to take it, but the Tyrians resisted, holding out for seven months. In the meantime (winter 333–332) the Persians had counterattacked by land in Asia Minor—where they were defeated by Antigonus , the satrap of Greater Phrygia—and by sea, recapturing a number of cities and islands.

While the siege of Tyre was in progress, Darius sent a new offer: he would pay a huge ransom of 10,000 talents for his family and cede all his lands west of the Euphrates . “I would accept,” Parmenio is reported to have said, “were I Alexander”; “I too,” was the famous retort, “were I Parmenio.” The storming of Tyre in July 332 was Alexander’s greatest military achievement; it was attended with great carnage and the sale of the women and children into slavery . Leaving Parmenio in Syria, Alexander advanced south without opposition until he reached Gaza on its high mound; there bitter resistance halted him for two months, and he sustained a serious shoulder wound during a sortie. There is no basis for the tradition that he turned aside to visit Jerusalem .

In November 332 he reached Egypt . The people welcomed him as their deliverer, and the Persian satrap Mazaces wisely surrendered. At Memphis Alexander sacrificed to Apis , the Greek term for Hapi, the sacred Egyptian bull, and was crowned with the traditional double crown of the pharaohs ; the native priests were placated and their religion encouraged. He spent the winter organizing Egypt , where he employed Egyptian governors, keeping the army under a separate Macedonian command. He founded the city of Alexandria near the western arm of the Nile on a fine site between the sea and Lake Mareotis, protected by the island of Pharos, and had it laid out by the Rhodian architect Deinocrates. He is also said to have sent an expedition to discover the causes of the flooding of the Nile. From Alexandria he marched along the coast to Paraetonium and from there inland to visit the celebrated oracle of the god Amon (at Sīwah ); the difficult journey was later embroidered with flattering legends . On his reaching the oracle in its oasis , the priest gave him the traditional salutation of a pharaoh , as son of Amon; Alexander consulted the god on the success of his expedition but revealed the reply to no one. Later the incident was to contribute to the story that he was the son of Zeus and, thus, to his “deification.” In spring 331 he returned to Tyre, appointed a Macedonian satrap for Syria, and prepared to advance into Mesopotamia . His conquest of Egypt had completed his control of the whole eastern Mediterranean coast.

In July 331 Alexander was at Thapsacus on the Euphrates . Instead of taking the direct route down the river to Babylon , he made across northern Mesopotamia toward the Tigris , and Darius, learning of this move from an advance force sent under Mazaeus to the Euphrates crossing, marched up the Tigris to oppose him. The decisive battle of the war was fought on October 31, on the plain of Gaugamela between Nineveh and Arbela. Alexander pursued the defeated Persian forces for 35 miles to Arbela, but Darius escaped with his Bactrian cavalry and Greek mercenaries into Media .

Alexander now occupied Babylon , city and province; Mazaeus, who surrendered it, was confirmed as satrap in conjunction with a Macedonian troop commander, and quite exceptionally was granted the right to coin . As in Egypt, the local priesthood was encouraged. Susa , the capital, also surrendered, releasing huge treasures amounting to 50,000 gold talents; here Alexander established Darius’s family in comfort. Crushing the mountain tribe of the Ouxians, he now pressed on over the Zagros range into Persia proper and, successfully turning the Pass of the Persian Gates, held by the satrap Ariobarzanes , he entered Persepolis and Pasargadae . At Persepolis he ceremonially burned down the palace of Xerxes , as a symbol that the Panhellenic war of revenge was at an end; for such seems the probable significance of an act that tradition later explained as a drunken frolic inspired by Thaïs , an Athenian courtesan. In spring 330 Alexander marched north into Media and occupied its capital. The Thessalians and Greek allies were sent home; henceforward he was waging a purely personal war.

As Mazaeus’s appointment indicated, Alexander’s views on the empire were changing. He had come to envisage a joint ruling people consisting of Macedonians and Persians, and this served to augment the misunderstanding that now arose between him and his people. Before continuing his pursuit of Darius, who had retreated into Bactria , he assembled all the Persian treasure and entrusted it to Harpalus , who was to hold it at Ecbatana as chief treasurer. Parmenio was also left behind in Media to control communications; the presence of this older man had perhaps become irksome.

In midsummer 330 Alexander set out for the eastern provinces at a high speed via Rhagae (modern Rayy , near Tehrān ) and the Caspian Gates, where he learned that Bessus , the satrap of Bactria, had deposed Darius. After a skirmish near modern Shāhrūd, the usurper had Darius stabbed and left him to die. Alexander sent his body for burial with due honours in the royal tombs at Persepolis.

Darius ’s death left no obstacle to Alexander’s claim to be Great King, and a Rhodian inscription of this year (330) calls him “lord of Asia”—i.e., of the Persian empire; soon afterward his Asian coins carry the title of king. Crossing the Elburz Mountains to the Caspian , he seized Zadracarta in Hyrcania and received the submission of a group of satraps and Persian notables, some of whom he confirmed in their offices; in a diversion westward, perhaps to modern Āmol , he reduced the Mardi, a mountain people who inhabited the Elburz Mountains. He also accepted the surrender of Darius’s Greek mercenaries. His advance eastward was now rapid. In Aria he reduced Satibarzanes, who had offered submission only to revolt, and he founded Alexandria of the Arians (modern Herāt ). At Phrada in Drangiana (either near modern Nad-e ʿAli in Seistan or farther north at Farah ), he at last took steps to destroy Parmenio and his family. Philotas , Parmenio’s son, commander of the elite Companion cavalry, was implicated in an alleged plot against Alexander’s life, condemned by the army, and executed; and a secret message was sent to Cleander , Parmenio’s second in command, who obediently assassinated him. This ruthless action excited widespread horror but strengthened Alexander’s position relative to his critics and those whom he regarded as his father’s men. All Parmenio’s adherents were now eliminated and men close to Alexander promoted. The Companion cavalry was reorganized in two sections, each containing four squadrons (now known as hipparchies); one group was commanded by Alexander’s oldest friend, Hephaestion , the other by Cleitus , an older man. From Phrada, Alexander pressed on during the winter of 330–329 up the valley of the Helmand River , through Arachosia , and over the mountains past the site of modern Kābul into the country of the Paropamisadae, where he founded Alexandria by the Caucasus .

Bessus was now in Bactria raising a national revolt in the eastern satrapies with the usurped title of Great King. Crossing the Hindu Kush northward over the Khawak Pass (11,650 feet [3,550 metres]), Alexander brought his army, despite food shortages, to Drapsaca (sometimes identified with modern Banu [Andarab], probably farther north at Qunduz); outflanked, Bessus fled beyond the Oxus (modern Amu Darya ), and Alexander, marching west to Bactra-Zariaspa (modern Balkh [ Wazirabad ] in Afghanistan ), appointed loyal satraps in Bactria and Aria. Crossing the Oxus, he sent his general Ptolemy in pursuit of Bessus, who had meanwhile been overthrown by the Sogdian Spitamenes. Bessus was captured, flogged, and sent to Bactra, where he was later mutilated after the Persian manner (losing his nose and ears); in due course he was publicly executed at Ecbatana .

From Maracanda (modern Samarkand ) Alexander advanced by way of Cyropolis to the Jaxartes (modern Syrdarya), the boundary of the Persian empire. There he broke the opposition of the Scythian nomads by his use of catapults and, after defeating them in a battle on the north bank of the river, pursued them into the interior. On the site of modern Leninabad ( Khojent ) on the Jaxartes, he founded a city, Alexandria Eschate, “the farthest.” Meanwhile, Spitamenes had raised all Sogdiana in revolt behind him, bringing in the Massagetai , a people of the Shaka confederacy. It took Alexander until the autumn of 328 to crush the most determined opponent he encountered in his campaigns. Later in the same year he attacked Oxyartes and the remaining barons who held out in the hills of Paraetacene (modern Tajikistan ); volunteers seized the crag on which Oxyartes had his stronghold, and among the captives was his daughter, Roxana . In reconciliation Alexander married her, and the rest of his opponents were either won over or crushed.

An incident that occurred at Maracanda widened the breach between Alexander and many of his Macedonians. He murdered Cleitus, one of his most-trusted commanders, in a drunken quarrel, but his excessive display of remorse led the army to pass a decree convicting Cleitus posthumously of treason . The event marked a step in Alexander’s progress toward Eastern absolutism, and this growing attitude found its outward expression in his use of Persian royal dress. Shortly afterward, at Bactra , he attempted to impose the Persian court ceremonial, involving prostration ( proskynesis ), on the Greeks and Macedonians too, but to them this custom, habitual for Persians entering the king’s presence, implied an act of worship and was intolerable before a human. Even Callisthenes , historian and nephew of Aristotle , whose ostentatious flattery had perhaps encouraged Alexander to see himself in the role of a god, refused to abase himself. Macedonian laughter caused the experiment to founder, and Alexander abandoned it. Shortly afterward, however, Callisthenes was held to be privy to a conspiracy among the royal pages and was executed (or died in prison; accounts vary); resentment of this action alienated sympathy from Alexander within the Peripatetic school of philosophers, with which Callisthenes had close connections.

In early summer 327 Alexander left Bactria with a reinforced army under a reorganized command. If Plutarch ’s figure of 120,000 men has any reality, however, it must include all kinds of auxiliary services, together with muleteers, camel drivers, medical corps, peddlers, entertainers, women, and children; the fighting strength perhaps stood at about 35,000. Recrossing the Hindu Kush , probably by Bamiyan and the Ghorband Valley, Alexander divided his forces. Half the army with the baggage under Hephaestion and Perdiccas , both cavalry commanders, was sent through the Khyber Pass , while he himself led the rest, together with his siege train, through the hills to the north. His advance through Swāt and Gandhāra was marked by the storming of the almost impregnable pinnacle of Aornos , the modern Pir-Sar, a few miles west of the Indus and north of the Buner River, an impressive feat of siegecraft. In spring 326, crossing the Indus near Attock, Alexander entered Taxila , whose ruler, Taxiles, furnished elephants and troops in return for aid against his rival Porus , who ruled the lands between the Hydaspes (modern Jhelum ) and the Acesines (modern Chenāb ). In June Alexander fought his last great battle on the left bank of the Hydaspes . He founded two cities there, Alexandria Nicaea (to celebrate his victory) and Bucephala (named after his horse Bucephalus , which died there); and Porus became his ally.

How much Alexander knew of India beyond the Hyphasis (probably the modern Beas ) is uncertain; there is no conclusive proof that he had heard of the Ganges . But he was anxious to press on farther, and he had advanced to the Hyphasis when his army mutinied, refusing to go farther in the tropical rain; they were weary in body and spirit, and Coenus, one of Alexander’s four chief marshals, acted as their spokesman. On finding the army adamant , Alexander agreed to turn back.

On the Hyphasis he erected 12 altars to the 12 Olympian gods, and on the Hydaspes he built a fleet of 800 to 1,000 ships. Leaving Porus, he then proceeded down the river and into the Indus, with half his forces on shipboard and half marching in three columns down the two banks. The fleet was commanded by Nearchus , and Alexander’s own captain was Onesicritus; both later wrote accounts of the campaign. The march was attended with much fighting and heavy, pitiless slaughter; at the storming of one town of the Malli near the Hydraotes ( Ravi ) River, Alexander received a severe wound which left him weakened.

On reaching Patala, located at the head of the Indus delta, he built a harbour and docks and explored both arms of the Indus, which probably then ran into the Rann of Kachchh . He planned to lead part of his forces back by land, while the rest in perhaps 100 to 150 ships under the command of Nearchus, a Cretan with naval experience, made a voyage of exploration along the Persian Gulf . Local opposition led Nearchus to set sail in September (325), and he was held up for three weeks until he could pick up the northeast monsoon in late October. In September Alexander too set out along the coast through Gedrosia (modern Baluchistan), but he was soon compelled by mountainous country to turn inland, thus failing in his project to establish food depots for the fleet. Craterus , a high-ranking officer, already had been sent off with the baggage and siege train, the elephants, and the sick and wounded, together with three battalions of the phalanx , by way of the Mulla Pass, Quetta , and Kandahar into the Helmand Valley ; from there he was to march through Drangiana to rejoin the main army on the Amanis (modern Minab) River in Carmania. Alexander’s march through Gedrosia proved disastrous; waterless desert and shortage of food and fuel caused great suffering, and many, especially women and children, perished in a sudden monsoon flood while encamped in a wadi. At length, at the Amanis, he was rejoined by Nearchus and the fleet, which also had suffered losses.

Alexander now proceeded farther with the policy of replacing senior officials and executing defaulting governors on which he had already embarked before leaving India. Between 326 and 324 over a third of his satraps were superseded and six were put to death, including the Persian satraps of Persis , Susiana, Carmania, and Paraetacene; three generals in Media , including Cleander , the brother of Coenus (who had died a little earlier), were accused of extortion and summoned to Carmania, where they were arrested, tried, and executed. How far the rigour that from now onward Alexander displayed against his governors represents exemplary punishment for gross maladministration during his absence and how far the elimination of men he had come to distrust (as in the case of Philotas and Parmenio ) is debatable; but the ancient sources generally favourable to him comment adversely on his severity.

In spring 324 he was back in Susa , capital of Elam and administrative centre of the Persian empire; the story of his journey through Carmania in a drunken revel, dressed as Dionysus , is embroidered, if not wholly apocryphal. He found that his treasurer, Harpalus , evidently fearing punishment for peculation, had absconded with 6,000 mercenaries and 5,000 talents to Greece; arrested in Athens , he escaped and later was murdered in Crete . At Susa Alexander held a feast to celebrate the seizure of the Persian empire, at which, in furtherance of his policy of fusing Macedonians and Persians into one master race, he and 80 of his officers took Persian wives; he and Hephaestion married Darius ’s daughters Barsine (also called Stateira) and Drypetis, respectively, and 10,000 of his soldiers with native wives were given generous dowries.

This policy of racial fusion brought increasing friction to Alexander’s relations with his Macedonians, who had no sympathy for his changed concept of the empire. His determination to incorporate Persians on equal terms in the army and the administration of the provinces was bitterly resented. This discontent was now fanned by the arrival of 30,000 native youths who had received a Macedonian military training and by the introduction of Asian peoples from Bactria , Sogdiana , Arachosia , and other parts of the empire into the Companion cavalry ; whether Asians had previously served with the Companions is uncertain, but if so they must have formed separate squadrons. In addition, Persian nobles had been accepted into the royal cavalry bodyguard. Peucestas, the new governor of Persis , gave this policy full support to flatter Alexander; but most Macedonians saw it as a threat to their own privileged position.

The issue came to a head at Opis (324), when Alexander’s decision to send home Macedonian veterans under Craterus was interpreted as a move toward transferring the seat of power to Asia. There was an open mutiny involving all but the royal bodyguard; but when Alexander dismissed his whole army and enrolled Persians instead, the opposition broke down. An emotional scene of reconciliation was followed by a vast banquet with 9,000 guests to celebrate the ending of the misunderstanding and the partnership in government of Macedonians and Persians—but not, as has been argued, the incorporation of all the subject peoples as partners in the commonwealth. Ten thousand veterans were now sent back to Macedonia with gifts, and the crisis was surmounted.

In summer 324 Alexander attempted to solve another problem, that of the wandering mercenaries, of whom there were thousands in Asia and Greece, many of them political exiles from their own cities. A decree brought by Nicanor to Europe and proclaimed at Olympia (September 324) required the Greek cities of the Greek League to receive back all exiles and their families (except the Thebans), a measure that implied some modification of the oligarchic regimes maintained in the Greek cities by Alexander’s governor Antipater . Alexander now planned to recall Antipater and supersede him by Craterus , but he was to die before this could be done.

In autumn 324 Hephaestion died in Ecbatana , and Alexander indulged in extravagant mourning for his closest friend; he was given a royal funeral in Babylon with a pyre costing 10,000 talents. His post of chiliarch (grand vizier) was left unfilled. It was probably in connection with a general order now sent out to the Greeks to honour Hephaestion as a hero that Alexander linked the demand that he himself should be accorded divine honours. For a long time his mind had dwelt on ideas of godhead. Greek thought drew no very decided line of demarcation between god and man, for legend offered more than one example of men who, by their achievements, acquired divine status. Alexander had on several occasions encouraged favourable comparison of his own accomplishments with those of Dionysus or Heracles . He now seems to have become convinced of the reality of his own divinity and to have required its acceptance by others. There is no reason to assume that his demand had any political background (divine status gave its possessor no particular rights in a Greek city); it was rather a symptom of growing megalomania and emotional instability. The cities perforce complied, but often ironically: the Spartan decree read, “Since Alexander wishes to be a god, let him be a god.”

In the winter of 324 Alexander carried out a savage punitive expedition against the Cossaeans in the hills of Luristan. The following spring at Babylon he received complimentary embassies from the Libyans and from the Bruttians, Etruscans , and Lucanians of Italy; but the story that embassies also came from more distant peoples, such as Carthaginians, Celts , Iberians , and even Romans, is a later invention. Representatives of the cities of Greece also came, garlanded as befitted Alexander’s divine status. Following up Nearchus’s voyage , he now founded an Alexandria at the mouth of the Tigris and made plans to develop sea communications with India, for which an expedition along the Arabian coast was to be a preliminary. He also dispatched Heracleides, an officer, to explore the Hyrcanian (i.e., Caspian ) Sea. Suddenly, in Babylon , while busy with plans to improve the irrigation of the Euphrates and to settle the coast of the Persian Gulf , Alexander was taken ill after a prolonged banquet and drinking bout; 10 days later, on June 13, 323, he died in his 33rd year; he had reigned for 12 years and eight months. His body, diverted to Egypt by Ptolemy , the later king, was eventually placed in a golden coffin in Alexandria . Both in Egypt and elsewhere in the Greek cities he received divine honours.

No heir had been appointed to the throne, and his generals adopted Philip II ’s half-witted illegitimate son, Philip Arrhidaeus , and Alexander’s posthumous son by Roxana, Alexander IV , as kings, sharing out the satrapies among themselves, after much bargaining. The empire could hardly survive Alexander’s death as a unit. Both kings were murdered, Arrhidaeus in 317 and Alexander in 310/309. The provinces became independent kingdoms, and the generals , following Antigonus ’s lead in 306, took the title of king.

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Alexander the Great

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 5, 2024 | Original: November 9, 2009

Alexander the Great was an ancient Macedonian ruler and one of history’s greatest military minds who, as King of Macedonia and Persia, established the largest empire the ancient world had ever seen. By turns charismatic and ruthless, brilliant and power hungry, diplomatic and bloodthirsty, Alexander inspired such loyalty in his men they’d follow him anywhere and, if necessary, die in the process. Though Alexander the Great died before realizing his dream of uniting a new realm, his influence on Greek and Asian culture was so profound that it inspired a new historical epoch—the Hellenistic Period.

Where Was Alexander the Great From?

Alexander III was born in Pella, Macedonia , in 356 B.C. to King Philip II and Queen Olympias—although legend had it his father was none other than Zeus, the ruler of the Greek gods .

Philip II was an impressive military man in his own right. He turned Macedonia (a region on the northern part of the Greek peninsula) into a force to be reckoned with, and he fantasized about conquering the massive Persian Empire .

At age 12, Alexander showed impressive courage when he tamed the wild horse Bucephalus, an enormous stallion with a furious demeanor. The horse became his battle companion for most of Alexander’s life.

When Alexander was 13, Philip called on the great philosopher Aristotle to tutor his son. Aristotle sparked and fostered Alexander’s interest in literature, science, medicine and philosophy.

Alexander was just 16 when Philip went off to battle and left his son in charge of Macedonia. In 338 B.C., Alexander saw the opportunity to prove his military worth and led a cavalry against the Sacred Band of Thebes—a supposedly unbeatable, select army made up entirely of male lovers—during the Battle of Chaeronea.

Alexander put his vigor and bravery on display, and his cavalry decimated the Sacred Band of Thebes.

Ancient Empires

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Alexander Becomes King

In 336 B.C., Alexander’s father Philip was assassinated by his bodyguard Pausanias. Just 20 years old, Alexander claimed the Macedonian throne and killed his rivals before they could challenge his sovereignty.

He also quashed rebellions for independence in northern Greece. Once he’d cleaned house, Alexander left to follow in his father’s footsteps and continue Macedonia’s world domination.

Alexander appointed the general Antipater as regent and headed for Persia with his army. They crossed the Hellespont, a narrow strait between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara, and faced Persian and Greek forces at the Granicus River. Victory went to Alexander and the Macedonians.

Alexander then headed south and easily took the city of Sardes. But his army encountered resistance in the cities of Miletus, Mylasa and Halicarnassus. Under siege yet not beaten, Halicarnassus held out long enough for King Darius III, the newest Persian king, to amass a substantial army.

Gordian Knot

From Halicarnassus, Alexander headed north to Gordium, home of the fabled Gordian knot , a group of tightly-entwined knots yoked to an ancient wagon. Legend had it whoever unwound the knot would conquer all of Asia.

As the story goes, Alexander took on the challenge but was unable to unravel the knot by hand. He took another approach and sliced through the knot with his sword, claiming triumph.

Battle of Issus

In 333 B.C., Alexander and his men encountered a massive Persian army led by King Darius III near the town of Issus in southern Turkey. Alexander’s forces were greatly outnumbered in men but not in experience or the determination for revenge and to claim Persia’s great wealth, much of it plundered.

As it became clear Alexander would win the Battle of Issus, Darius fled with what remained of his troops, leaving his wife and family behind. His mother, Sisygambis, was so upset she disowned him and adopted Alexander as her son.

By now it was clear that Alexander was a shrewd, ruthless and brilliant military leader—in fact, he never lost a battle in his life. He would build an empire on the back of his motto, “there is nothing impossible to him who will try.”

Battle of Tyre

Next, Alexander took over the Phoenician cities of Marathus and Aradus. He rejected a plea from Darius for peace and took the towns of Byblos and Sidon.

He then laid siege to the heavily fortified island of Tyre in January 332 B.C., after the Tyrians refused him entry. But Alexander had no navy to speak of and Tyre was surrounded by water.

Alexander instructed his men to build a causeway to reach Tyre. All went well until they came within striking distance of the Tyrians. Again and again, Tyrian forces thwarted Alexander’s clever attempts to gain entry, and he realized he needed a strong navy to penetrate their defenses.

He amassed a large fleet, finally breached the city’s walls in July 332 B.C. and executed thousands of Tyrians for daring to defy him; many others were sold into slavery.

8 Surprising Facts about Alexander the Great

It's not always possible to separate fact and fiction about the famed ancient Macedonian ruler, but here are eight great takeaways from Alexander’s life.

Did Alexander the Great Arrange His Father’s Murder?

Philip II of Macedon's bodyguard—and former lover—wielded the knife. But 21‑year‑old Alexander, heir to the powerful king, quickly fell under suspicion.

Alexander Enters Egypt

After rejecting another peace offer from Darius, Alexander set out for Egypt . He was sidelined at Gaza, however, and forced to endure another lengthy siege. After several weeks, he took the town and entered Egypt where he established the city that still bears his name: Alexandria.

Alexander traveled to the desert to consult the oracle of Ammon, a god of supposed good counsel. Legends abound about what transpired at the oracle, but Alexander kept mum about the experience. Still, the visit furthered speculation Alexander was a deity.

Alexander Becomes King of Persia

After conquering Egypt, Alexander faced Darius and his massive troops at Gaugamela in October 331 B.C. Following fierce fighting and heavy losses on both sides, Darius fled and was assassinated by his own troops. It’s said Alexander was sad when he found Darius’s body and he gave him a royal burial.

Finally rid of Darius, Alexander proclaimed himself King of Persia. But another Persian leader, Bessus (also thought to be Darius’s murderer), had also claimed the Persian throne. Alexander couldn’t let the claim stand.

After relentless pursuit by Alexander, Bessus’s troops handed Bessus over to Ptolemy, Alexander’s good friend, and he was mutilated and executed. With Bessus out of the way, Alexander had full control of Persia.

Proskynesis

To gain credibility with the Persians, Alexander took on many Persian customs. He began dressing like a Persian and adopted the practice of proskynesis, a Persian court custom that involved bowing down and kissing the hand of others, depending on their rank.

The Macedonians were less than thrilled with the changes in Alexander and his attempt to be viewed as a deity. They refused to practice proskynesis and some plotted his death.

Increasingly paranoid, Alexander ordered the death of one of his most esteemed generals, Parmenio, in 330 B.C., after Parmenio's son Philotas was convicted of plotting an assassination attempt against Alexander (and also killed).

Alexander Kills Cleitus

In 328 B.C., Cleitus, another general and close friend of Alexander, also met a violent end. Fed up with Alexander’s new Persian-like persona, a drunk Cleitus continually insulted Alexander and minimized his achievements.

Pushed too far, Alexander killed Cleitus with a spear, a spontaneous act of violence that anguished him. Some historians believe Alexander killed his general in a fit of drunkenness—a persistent problem that plagued him through much of his life.

Alexander struggled to capture Sogdia, a region of the Persian Empire that remained loyal to Bessus. The Sogdians found a refuge at the pinnacle of a rock and refused Alexander’s demand to surrender.

Not one to take “no” for an answer, Alexander sent some of his men to scale the rock and take the Sogdians by surprise. Supposedly, one of those on the rock was a girl named Roxane.

As the story goes, Alexander fell in love with Roxane on sight. He married her despite her Sogdian heritage and she joined him on his journey.

Alexander Enters India

In 327 B.C., Alexander marched on Punjab, India. Some tribes surrendered peacefully; others did not. In 326 B.C., Alexander met King Porus of Paurava at the Hydaspes River.

Porus’s army was less experienced than Alexander’s, but they had a secret weapon—elephants. Even so, after a fierce battle in a raging thunderstorm, Porus was defeated.

One event took place at Hydaspes which devastated Alexander: the death of his beloved horse, Bucephalus. It’s unclear if he died from battle wounds or of old age, but Alexander named the city of Bucephala after him.

Alexander wanted to press on and attempt to conquer all of India, but his war-weary soldiers refused, and his officers convinced him to return to Persia. So Alexander led his troops down the Indus River and was severely wounded during a battle with the Malli.

After recovering, he divided his troops, sending half of them back to Persia and half to Gedrosia, a desolate area west of the Indus River.

A Mass Wedding

In early 324 B.C., Alexander reached the city of Susa in Persia. Wanting to unite the Persians and Macedonians and create a new race loyal only to him, he ordered many of his officers to marry Persian princesses at a mass wedding. He also took two more wives for himself.

The Macedonian army resented Alexander’s attempt to change their culture and many mutinied. But after Alexander took a firm stand and replaced Macedonian officers and troops with Persians, his army backed down.

To further diffuse the situation, Alexander returned their titles and hosted a huge reconciliation banquet.

How Did Alexander the Great Die?

By 323 B.C., Alexander was head of an enormous empire and had recovered from the devastating loss of his friend Hephaestion—who was also reputed to be one of Alexander’s homosexual male lovers.

Thanks to his insatiable urge for world supremacy, he started plans to conquer Arabia. But he’d never live to see it happen. Some historians say Alexander died of malaria or other natural causes; others believe he was poisoned. Either way, he never named a successor.

His death—and the bloody infighting for control that happened afterwards—unraveled the empire he’d fought so hard to create.

How Old Was Alexander the Great When He Died?

After surviving battle after fierce battle, Alexander the Great died in June 323 B.C. at age 32.

Why Was Alexander the Great ‘Great’?

Many conquered lands retained the Greek influence Alexander introduced, and several cities he founded remain important cultural centers even today. The period of history from his death to 31 B.C., when his empire folded, would come to be known as the Hellenistic period , from “Hellazein,” which means, “to speak Greek or identify with the Greeks.” Alexander the Great is revered as one of the most powerful and influential leaders the ancient world ever produced.

Alexander the Great. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Alexander the Great. Livius.org. Alexander the Great of Macedon Biography. Historyofmacedonia.org . Alexander of Macedonia. San Jose State University . Bucephalus. Ancient History Encyclopedia. The Battle of Issus. Livius.org. The Sacred Band of Thebes, from Plutarch, Life of Pelopidas . Fordham University . The Siege of Tyre (332 BCE). Livius.org.

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Alexander the Great Essay | Essay on Alexander the Great for Students and Children in English

February 12, 2024 by Prasanna

Alexander the Great Essay:  Alexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Agreed dynasty. He was born on Pella in 356 BC and succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of 20.

Alexander endeavoured to reach the “ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea” and invaded India in 326 BC, winning an important victory over the Pauravas at the Battle of the Hydaspses.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Alexander the Great for Students and Kids in English

We are providing students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic Alexander the Great for reference.

Long Essay on Alexander the Great 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Alexander the Great is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Alexander the Great was a king of Macedonia who conquered an empire that stretched from Balkans to modern-day Pakistan. He was born on July 20th, 356 BC in Pella, which was the administrative capital of Macedonia.

Alexander was the son of Philip II and Olympias, one of Philip’s eight wives. He was brought up with the belief that he was of divine birth. From his early days, Olympias had encouraged him to believe that he was a descendent of heroes and gods. Nothing he had accomplished would have discouraged him from believing. The personality of Alexander the Great was a paradox. He had great charisma and force of personality, but his character was full of contradictions, especially in his later years. However, he had the ability to motivate his army to do what seems to be impossible.

Alexander was a visionary. His ability to dream, plan and strategize on a large scale allowed him too many battles, even when he was outnumbered. It also helped motivate his men, who knew they were part of one of the greatest conquests in history. Alexander could be inspiring and courageous, continued Abernethy. He was devoted to training his mean, rewarding them with honours and spoils, and going into battle beside them, which furthered their devotion and confidence. The fact that Alexander was young, beautiful and empathetic only helped to increase his influence on his soldiers and subjects.

His father was often away, conquering neighbouring territories and putting down revolts. Nevertheless, King Philip II of Macedon was one of Alexander’s most influential role models. Philip ensured Alexander was given a noteworthy and significant education. He arranged for Alexander to be tutored by Aristotle himself. His education infused him with a love of knowledge, logic, philosophy, music and culture. The teachings of Aristotle would later aid him in the treatment of his new subjects in the empires he invaded and conquered, allowing him to admire and maintain these disparate cultures.

Alexander watched his father campaign nearly every year and win victory after victory. Philip remodelled the Macedonian army from citizen-warriors into a professional organization. In early 324 BC, Alexander reached the city of Susa in Persia. Wanting to unite the Persians and Macedonian and create a new race loyal to him, he ordered many of his officers to marry Persian princesses at a mass wedding. He also took two more wives for himself.

The Macedonian army resented Alexander’s attempt to change their culture, and many mutinied. But after Alexander took a firm stand and replaced Macedonian officers and troops with Persians, his army-backed down. To further diffusion the situation, Alexander returned their titles hosted a huge reconciliation banquet.

Many conquered lands retained the Greek influence Alexander introduced, and several cities he founded remain important cultural centres even today. The period of history from his death to 31 BC, when his empire folded, would come to be known as the Hellenistic period. Alexander the Great is revered as the most powerful and influential leaders in the ancient world ever produced.

Short Essay on Alexander the Great 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Alexander the Great is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

In 334 BC Alexander III of Macedon better known as Alexander the Great set out on his grand campaign of conquest against the Persian Achaemenid Empire, aged just 22. Benefitting from the conquests, diplomacy and military reforms of his father, Philip II, Alexander has inherited a powerful professional army that utilized the Phalanx formation.

He would go on to forge one of the largest empires the world had yet seen, conquering the mighty Persian Empire and marching his army as far as the Beas River in India. Alexander won four victories against the Persians: the Battle of the Granicus: May 334 BC, The Battle of Issus: 5 November 333 BC, The Battle of Gaugamela: 1 October 331 BC, The Battle of the Persian Gate: 20 January 330 BC. His ability to dream, plan and strategize on a large scale allowed him too many battles, even when he was outnumbered.

10 Lines on Alexander the Great in English

• Alexander the Great was a king of Macedonia who conquered an empire that stretched from Balkans to modern-day Pakistan
• Alexander was inspiring and courageous, continued Abernethy.
• His ability to dream, plan and strategize on a large scale allowed him too many battles, even when he was outnumbered.
• He won the Battle of the Granicus: May 334 BC.
• He won The Battle of Issus: 5 November 333 BC.
• He won The Battle of Gaugamela: 1 October 331 BC.
• He won The Battle of the Persian Gate: 20 January 330 BC.
• Alexander was a visionary.
• Alexander succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of 20.
• Alexander the Great is revered as the most powerful.

FAQ’s on Alexander the Great Essay

Question 1.  Why Alexander the Great famous?

Answer: Alexander changed the course of history. He created a vast empire that stretched from Macedonia to Egypt.

Question 2. How did Alexander the Great die?

Answer: Alexander became ill after a prolonged banquet and drinking. He was thought that he either contracted malaria or typhoid fever or that he was poisoned.

Question 3.  Who defeated Alexander the Great?

Answer: King Porus defeated Alexander the Greta in the Battle of Hydaspes.

Question 4.  What countries did Alexander the Great conquer?

Answer: His conquests included Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and Bactria.

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Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Legacy Research Paper

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Introduction

Alexander III of Macedonian (356-323 BC) was a famous king in the ancient Greece, who reigned between 336-323 B.C. He was born in Pella in Macedonia to Philip II, king of Macedonia, and his fourth wife Oympias of Epirus.

King Philip conquered the Greece and was set out to expand his territories. Unfortunately, he was assassinated and his young son, Alexander, took over the empire. Alexander was a great military leader, led his empire to many conquests, and was determined to accomplish his father’s vision despite the challenges that were ahead.

One of his achievements was the conquest of the civilized empires and expanding his kingdom. Alexander died young, but his contribution makes his legacy immortal (Rosellini and Serino 2003). Alexander conquered many of his neighbors like the Persian and also India. His accomplishments appear like a myth considering the difficulty of building such a strong empire.

Alexander was a great leader; this is demonstrated by the way he encouraged his soldiers to continue moving forward. He employed good strategies and logistics in commanding the army and ruling his empire. Whenever he conquered a city, he took the surviving army and added them to his troop, creating a mighty army. This can be illustrated by works of one of the eminent philosophers of the ancient era, Aristotle.

Alexander’s father was a brilliant king who ruled Macedonia from 359- 336 BC. He took up the kingdom at a time they had just suffered a defeat to Illyrians. Philip led his forces into battle against the Athenian and Theban armies and gained victory, as well as attained Greek State.

His objective was to unify the Macedonians and expand the kingdom. Alexander was educated by Aristotle of Stagira, who was one of the earliest philosophers. He received variety of teaching like doctrines of politics, literature, and learnt to play the lyre. In addition, Alexander was a fearless young man. At the age of twelve, he was able to ride one of the untamed horses named ‘Bucephala’.

At the age of about eighteen Alexander went to the south where his father had a campaign. There Philip fought one of the fiercest battles and gave his son one of the wings of the army (Abbott 2004, 162). The character of Alexander in his early life was, however, that of a naughty, proud, and uncontrollable child. Nevertheless he enjoyed complete parental love, this changed as King Philip later divorced Alexander’s mother (Abbott 2004, 162).

Alexander’s career began at twenty, following King Philip assassination, whereby the young Alexander had to assume his father’s position immediately (Briant and Kuhrt 2010). Alexander reigned for a period of twelve years, and died under mysterious circumstances at the age of thirty-two years.

Despite the length of his reign as a king, Alexander accomplished “very brilliant series of exploits, which were so bold and so romantic” (Abbott 2004, 153).

His career began with an enormous task of facing his enemies who had assassinated his father and other challenges since he was quite inexperienced and young. The first responsibility Alexander had was to stabilize his empire. Thus, he attached and killed some of his father’s assassins, causing the collaborators to flee while others chose to stay back and serve the king.

Persian war

Alexander invaded the Persian in 334 BC, and with his army of approximate 42,000 soldiers formed mainly by Macedonian mercenaries, crossed the Hellespont. After his victory at the Battle of the Granicus, Alexander overthrew Darius Codomamnnus and accepted the Persian capital and its treasury of Sardia. He further went to the Ionian coast.

In the second reign, he made Babylon his capital and began oriental court. This decision caused tension among the governors of Macedonia and the Greek. They did not approve such choice. Alexander, however, did not change his capital. In the background of this pressure Alexander took up his campaign to Persia, conquering the people of the country and then taking their wealth and the surviving soldiers to his empire.

The wealth he captured from the Persians was very significant and was used to sustain the army that had been formed by Phillip. It goes without saying that Alexander understood the outstanding financial obligations to the Greek soldiers as well (Worthington 2003, 77). The success of Alexander’s army in Persian territory had motivated him to explore other places. He had learnt the weakness of his enemies and was set to exploit this useful knowledge.

The Greek cities had been taken captive by the Persians and first Alexander was determined to liberate them. This success was facilitated by the fact that his army had superior weapons like armed Cretan and Macedonian archer, shields, long spears and chariots. Alexander also took many other people with him. These people’s professions included scientists, architects, explorers, engineers and court officials. They worked with the army, for instance, they were building bridges.

The Battle of Granicus

To tackle the invader, the Persians had an army in Asia Minor, which was larger than Alexander’s. Besides this, the only line of communication was a narrow line in Hellespont where he had conquered earlier, making this as a sound strategy of the Persian generals. When the two parties met at the banks of river Granicus, the generals of the Persian were convinced that their forces were superior to Alexander’s; however, in the turn of events, the Macedonians had won (Briant and Kuhrt 2010, 8).

During the winter of 334-333 BC, Alexander invaded the Asia Minor. He succeeded to conquer the western region and made the tribes of Lycia and Pisidia his subjects. Later, he advanced along the coastal region of Perga. One of experienced Greek commanders of Persian team died unexpectedly. This news spread and Alexander took advantage attacking the rest of the region (Briant and Kuhrt 2010, 9).

Invasion to India

Prior to his invasion to India, Alexander made radical changes in the army that had conquered Persia. Some of the strategies he used were as follows: release of some soldiers, admitting new ones, and grouping solders into several troops. He led the strongest troop while his commanders took charge of the rest (Briant and Kuhrt 2010, 60). These were to help him acclimate to the different climate and topology. This time round, Alexander was able to defeat the rulers and capture their empires.

Alexander death

Ever since his death, there are still unresolved issues surrounding his demise. Indeed, it seems hard to accept that a young man could die of natural causes that sprung up out of nowhere. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, at the age of thirty two after twelve years of rule in his vast Empire.

There have been many theories to account for his death but none has proven to be true, with some histories speculating that he was poisoned while others reckoning that he succumbed to malaria (Bosworth and Baynham 2002, 247). At the time of his death, his kingdom stretched from Macedonia through Greece and the Persian Empire to the fringes of India.

In addition, he had plans to expand his holdings. A year after his death, series of civil wars headed by his former generals led to the split in his empire into three kingdoms; Macedonia, Syria and Egypt. These kingdoms became great rivals and went into wars in spite of their common heritage, culture, and background (Abbott 2004, 189). Therefore, the vision of Alexander of establishing a strong Empire with one government was never achieved.

Alexander’s Contribution

One of the largest contributions of Alexander is development of the Hellenist civilization, a blend of the eastern and the western cultures. Many cultures captured mingled and developed a new idea of psychology; the Hellenist and roman civilization eventually formed the bases of the current western civilization (Bosworth and Baynham 2002, 124). The Greek language was learnt in the kingdom and various Greek profound works were written at that period.

The King also built Alexandria and Pegamum Libraries, which were centre for literature criticism and compilation of anthologies and catalogues (Rosellini and Serino 2003). Alexander also contributed much in the building and control of Empires. Primarily, he used law courts, assemblies, and governors to establish his reign, a practice that has later been used in the governance in other states.

In addition, the present Greeks benefit from the work of this great king due to tourism, making it one of the biggest sectors, where visitors tour numerous places to see the monuments and other artifacts related to the events. Alexander also influenced science and agriculture.

In the field of war, they developed advanced weapons, which contributed to their military prowess. They also drew charts of the territories; these latter developed map making. Moreover, there were new discoveries. New breeds of animals and plants were introduced, while in agriculture new methods were employed, for example, irrigation channels were introduced (Abbott 2004, 243).

Alexander also created a uniform economic world, trading among the people starting world’s economy. He opened trade areas for the merchants in various regions, thus, this trade areas formed a trade route, which is known as “Silk Routes.” The trade also benefited from the release of the Persian bullion. Some of the commodities trades were silk, spices gold, foodstuff and others.

One of the monuments of Alexander the Great is located in the city founded by Alexander in 331 BC (Rosellini and Serino 2003). This was located in Egypt where visitors went to learn the culture and tradition of the Egyptians. The most famous is ‘cleopatra’s Needles,’ and a column called ‘Pompey’s Pillar’.

Moreover, Pompey was erected in memory of Pompey who was killed in the Egyptian coast after being defeated by Ceaser. One of them had fallen; they had been transported during the Augustan age from Heliopolis. These artifacts were donated to Great Britain in1878, with one located along the Thames and the other to Unites States which was set up in Central Park (New York) in 1881 (Rosellini and Serino 2003).

The shield from the battle of Granicus, it had these inscription in bronze “Alexander, son of Philip and the Greeks, from the barbarians of Asia” (Kastrom 2008, 17). Alexander had a golden sarcophagus but was melted down to make coinage by the Ptolonius XI and was replaced with another one made of alabaster. The tomb of Alexander is situated in Alexandria where many visitors, mainly the Roman rulers and other tourists flocked regularly to witness the legacy of one of the most successful leaders in history.

However, after some time, the tomb, which is located at the cemetery near Latin Quarter of Alexandria, was later closed to the public because of safety precautions. Another monument was on Mount Athons, which is a statue of a giant man with one hand holding a city and the other a bowl of waters from all the rivers in the mountain (Rosellini and Serino 2003). Primarily, Alexander had this monument placed in Alexandria city instead of Athons.

Alexander the great may have had a humble beginning in life, but his work and leadership left a legacy that will live for a long time to come. Although he died at relatively young age, he unconditionally contributed immensely to the transformation of the society by utilizing his brilliance and brevity to fight the enemies, following the assassination of his father. Indeed, his contribution spanned across, social, economic, and political spheres, not forgetting his impact in the emergence of western civilization.

Bibliography

Abbott, Jacob. Histories of Cyrus the Great and Alexander the Great . Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

Bosworth, A. B. and Baynham, E. J. Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction . New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Briant, P. and Kuhrt, A. Alexander the Great and His Empire . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.

Kastrom, Panagiotes. The Monuments of Athen –A Historical and Archaeological Description . Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2008.

Worthington, I. Alexander the Great: a Reader . New York, NY: Routledge, 2003.

Rosellini, I. and Serino, F. Monuments of Egyptians and Nubians . New York, NY: American University in Cairo Press, 2003.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Alexander the great.

Alexander the Great, a Macedonian king, conquered the eastern Mediterranean, Egypt, the Middle East, and parts of Asia in a remarkably short period of time. His empire ushered in significant cultural changes in the lands he conquered and changed the course of the region’s history.

Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations

Photo of a marble bust of a man.

Photograph by Kenneth Garrett, National Geographic

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III or Alexander of Macedonia is known as one of the greatest generals in all history.

Alexander was born in 356 B.C.E. in Pella, Macedonia, to King Philip II. As a young boy, Alexander was taught to read, write, and play the lyre. He developed a life-long love of reading and music. When Alexander was a teenager, his father hired Aristotle to be his private tutor. He studied with Aristotle for three years and from Aristotle ’s teachings, Alexander developed a love of science, particularly of medicine and botany . Alexander included  botanists and scientists in his army to study the lands he conquered .

In 336 B.C.E., at age 20, Alexander became king of Macedonia when a political rival assassinated his father. Alexander began his reign by subduing rivals in the Greek and Macedonian regions. At a council of the League of Corinth, he was chosen as the commander of a military invasion of Asia. King Alexander began his invasion of the Middle East in 334 B.C.E. He spent most of his reign on a military campaign through northeast Africa and southwestern Asia.

Alexander built many new cities in the lands he conquered , including Alexandria in Egypt. He went on to conquer the lands of the Persian Empire, establishing more cities, and like Alexandria, often naming them after himself. His conquest continued through Asia until he reached the shores of the Ganga (Ganges) River in India. At this point, his army refused to continue further into India, exhausted and discouraged by heavy rains.

Alexander was 32 when he died in 323 B.C.E.

During his 13-year reign as the king of Macedonia, Alexander created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from Greece to northwestern India.

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Essays on Alexander The Great

Alexander the Great was one of the most influential leaders in history, and writing an essay about him can be a valuable exercise in understanding the impact of his conquests and legacy. Here are some reasons why writing an essay on Alexander the Great is important:

• Historical significance: Alexander the Great's conquests and the spread of Hellenistic culture had a profound impact on the ancient world. Understanding his achievements and the historical context in which he lived is essential for gaining insights into the development of Western civilization.
• Leadership and military strategy: Alexander the Great was a brilliant military leader who achieved remarkable success in battle. Studying his leadership style and military strategies can provide valuable lessons in leadership and management.
• Cultural influence: Alexander's conquests led to the spread of Greek culture and ideas across the ancient world. Exploring the cultural impact of his conquests can shed light on the interconnectedness of different civilizations and the exchange of ideas in the ancient world.

Writing Tips:

• Research extensively: Before writing your essay, make sure to research Alexander the Great's life, conquests, and legacy thoroughly. Use reputable sources such as academic journals, history books, and scholarly articles to gather information.
• Organize your thoughts: Create an outline for your essay to organize your thoughts and ensure a logical flow of ideas. Consider dividing your essay into sections such as early life, conquests, and legacy to structure your writing.
• Analyze and interpret: Instead of simply recounting the events of Alexander's life, strive to analyze and interpret the significance of his actions. Consider the motivations behind his conquests, the impact of his rule on different regions, and the long-term effects of his legacy.
• Use primary sources: Incorporating primary sources such as historical texts, letters, and speeches from the time of Alexander the Great can add depth and authenticity to your essay. Analyzing primary sources can provide insights into the perspectives of people from the ancient world.
• Edit and revise: After completing your essay, take the time to edit and revise your work. Check for grammatical errors, clarity of expression, and coherence of arguments. Consider seeking feedback from peers or instructors to improve the quality of your writing.

What Makes a Good Alexander The Great essay topic

When tasked with writing an essay about Alexander The Great, it's important to choose a topic that is not only interesting but also allows for in-depth exploration and analysis. To brainstorm and choose an essay topic, consider the aspects of Alexander's life and legacy that intrigue you the most. Think about the impact of his conquests, his leadership style, or his influence on future leaders. A good essay topic should be focused, specific, and allow for critical thinking and argumentation. Consider the historical significance, controversies, or lesser-known aspects of Alexander's life for a unique and engaging essay topic.

Best Alexander The Great Essay Topics

• The Legacy of Alexander The Great's Conquests
• The Influence of Alexander The Great on Hellenistic Culture
• Leadership Style of Alexander The Great
• The Impact of Alexander The Great on Military Strategy
• The Mythologizing of Alexander The Great
• Alexander The Great's Relationships with His Generals
• The Role of Women in Alexander The Great's Empire
• Alexander The Great's Influence on Eastern and Western Cultures
• The Religious Policies of Alexander The Great
• The Death of Alexander The Great: Mystery and Controversy
• The Cultural Exchange in the Hellenistic World
• The Architectural Legacy of Alexander The Great
• Alexander The Great's Influence on Modern Military Leaders
• The Psychological Profile of Alexander The Great
• Alexander The Great's Impact on Literature and Philosophy
• The Economic Policies of Alexander The Great
• The Role of Propaganda in Alexander The Great's Reign
• The Environmental Impact of Alexander The Great's Conquests
• The Legacy of Alexander The Great in Art and Sculpture
• The Educational Reforms of Alexander The Great

Alexander The Great Essay Topics Prompts

• If Alexander The Great had not died at a young age, how might the course of history have been different?
• Explore the portrayal of Alexander The Great in popular culture and its accuracy compared to historical records.
• Investigate the role of women in Alexander The Great's empire and their influence on politics and society.
• Compare the leadership styles of Alexander The Great and other historical conquerors.
• Analyze the psychological motivations behind Alexander The Great's conquests and their impact on his decision-making.

Alexander The Great: a Legacy of Conquest and Ambition

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The Life of Conquest is The Life of Alexander The Great

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20 or 21 July 356 BC

10 or 11 June 323 BC (aged 32)

Philip II of Macedon

The ancient kingdom of Macedonia

Alexander III, Alexander of Macedonia

Alexander was the son of Philip II of Macedonia and Olympias. He was taught by the Greek philosopher Aristotle from the age of 13 to 16. Aristotle inspired young Alexander's interests in philosophy, medicine, and scientific investigation.

Alexander the Great was a king of ancient Macedonia and changed the course of history. He established the largest empire the ancient world had ever seen that stretched from Macedonia to Egypt and from Greece to part of India. Alexander III was one of the greatest military leader of antiquity.

His death is still a mystery. Alexander the Great died in Babylon, he became ill after a prolonged banquet. The most popular theories claim that he was poisoned or that he died of environmental causes such as malaria, lung infection.

“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well." “There is nothing impossible to him who will try.” “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” “When we give someone our time, we actually give a portion of our life that we will never take back.”

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History Hit Story of England: Making of a Nation

Why Is Alexander the Great’s Legacy So Remarkable?

Tristan Hughes

04 apr 2019, @ancientstristan.

Alexander the Great is one of history’s most influential figures. From a relatively small domain he conquered the superpower of the time and then went even further. He marched his armies from Europe to the Beas River in India, achieving feats that everyone believed impossible and creating one of the largest empires the world had yet seen. And all by the age of 32 .

Although the empire quickly crumbled following his death, he left one of history’s most remarkable legacies. Here are several examples of the significant imprint Alexander left on the World.

The legend that was Alexander

Stories relating to Alexander’s conquests soon became the stuff of legend. His young age, his divinity, his charisma and his megalomania were romanticised into fictional stories that remained popular down into medieval times.

“Arthurian” tales of Alexander emerged in several different cultures, each supplementing Alexander’s conquests with many fictional stories that suited their own ethnic agendas.

Jewish versions of the Alexander Romance, for instance, claimed that Alexander the Great visited the Temple of Jerusalem; meanwhile in Ptolemaic Egypt, stories spread that the Macedonian king was actually the son of the last Egyptian pharaoh Nectanebo II.

Alexander is also mentioned in the Quran as Dhul-Qharnayn – literally ‘the two-horned one.’

Romanticised versions of Alexander’s conquests became abundant. They include him venturing to far-flung mythical places, using a flying machine, learning about his death from a talking tree, going to the depths of the sea in a submarine and fighting mythical beasts in India with his army.

Arthurian tales of Alexander shone throughout Europe and the Near-East until the Renaissance period.

Divine Alexander

An illustration of Alexander the Great’s elaborate funeral carriage. A description of it survives in detail thanks to the historical source Diodorus Siculus.

After Alexander died and his body ran cold, his corpse became a symbol of divine power and legitimacy. Whoever possessed the corpse secured great sway in a post-Alexander world. A war was even fought over its possession, such was the impact he left on the world.

Following the climactic battle of Ipsus in 301 BC Ptolemy, the Successor king ruling Egypt, had Alexander’s body moved to the centre of his new capital at Alexandria and placed in a magnificent tomb.

From far and wide for the next 600 years visitors journeyed to Alexander’s city to see the tomb.

In 47 BC Julius Caesar , following his triumphant entry into Alexandria, visited the tomb in homage to his hero.

Caesar proved the first of many prominent Romans to pay such homage. To those Romans who desired great power, Alexander was an immortalised conqueror who epitomised world conquest – a man to admire and emulate.

Throughout the Roman Imperial period, many emperors would visit Alexander’s tomb – emperors including Augustus, Caligula, Vespasian, Titus and Hadrian. For them all, the body symbolised the zenith of imperial power.

Many would thus associate themselves with Alexander – some more obsessively than others. The mad emperor Caligula for instance looted Alexander’s corpse of his breastplate.

Alexander’s body remained a place of pagan pilgrimage in Alexandria until 391 AD, when the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius officially banned paganism throughout the Empire. It is likely Alexander’s tomb was either destroyed or converted during this crisis.

To this day the whereabouts of Alexander’s body and his tomb remain shrouded in mystery.

Augustus visits the tomb of Alexander the Great.

Setting the military bar

Throughout the rest of antiquity many generals revered Alexander the Great as the ideal military commander. This was especially true of his ‘Successors.’

Alexander the Great’s demise unleashed chaos onto his empire as various ambitious generals waged wars to become his true successor. Over the next forty years many formidable figures would rise and fall in antiquity’s version of Game of Thrones.

During this period many generals sought to emulate the leadership of  Alexander the Great . The man who perhaps came closest was Pyrrhus , the leader of the most powerful tribe in Epirus and famous for his campaign against Rome.

It was said of Pyrrhus that, of all the generals that came after Alexander, he was the one who most resembled the great conqueror:

They saw in him shadows, as it were, and intimations of that leader’s impetuosity and might in conflicts.

Later notable commanders such as Hannibal Barca and Julius Caesar similarly revered Alexander as a man to admire and emulate on the battlefield.

Upon meeting Hannibal at Ephesus in 193 BC, Scipio Africanus, the victor of Zama , asked his former foe whom he considered to be the greatest general of all time, to which Hannibal replied:

“Alexander … because with a small force he routed armies of countless numbers, and because he traversed the remotest lands.”

Hannibal placed himself third in the list.

As for Caesar, he held similar adulation for the Macedonian conqueror. A story goes that while a 31-year-old Caesar was travelling in Spain, he noticed a statue of Alexander the Great. Seeing the statue Caesar wept, lamenting how Alexander had forged a huge empire by the age of 31, while he himself had accomplished nothing.

Alexander the Great’s generalship thus inspired many of history’s most outstanding generals, including Pyrrhus, Hannibal, Caesar and, more recently, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Creating the Hellenistic World

Alexander’s conquests spread Greek culture far and wide. During his campaigns he established Hellenic-style cities throughout his empire to improve administration, communication and trade.

Several of these cities remain prominent to this day. Both Kandahar (Alexandria-Arachosia) and Herat (Alexandria-Ariana) in Afghanistan and Khujand in Tajikistan (Alexandria-Eschate) were originally cities Alexander the Great founded as is, of course, Alexandria itself.

Following Alexander’s death Hellenistic kingdoms emerged across the length and breadth of Asia – from the Alexandria-based Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt to the Indo-Greek kingdoms in India and Pakistan and the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in Afghanistan .

A portrait of King Demetrius I ‘the Invincible’, a Greek king who ruled a large empire in modern day Afghanistan at the start of the 2nd century BC. Credit: Uploadalt  / Commons.

From these areas, archaeologists have uncovered fascinating Greek-influenced art and architecture, perhaps most remarkably from the Greek-styled city of Ai Khanoum in northeastern Afghanistan.

The Hellenic art and architecture discovered at Ai Khanoum is some of the most beautiful in antiquity and provides a valuable insight to the Greeks in the East. Yet none of these fascinating Greek kingdoms would ever have existed if not for Alexander’s conquests.

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(page 1) p. 1 Introduction

• Published: July 2014
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The Introduction outlines the life of Alexander the Great, born in 356 bc , king of Macedon from 336 until his death in 323 through what we can glean from the pictorial and literary evidence we have to hand. A further vision of Alexander can be found on coins issued in the period after his death by those who took control of parts of his empires. There are also other images of Alexander that can help us build up a picture of how he was seen by his contemporaries or near-contemporaries. A great deal about the man can be understood by giving greater weight than is usually given to contemporary documents.

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Essay on Alexander the Great

Alexander, famous in history as Alexander the Great, was the son of Philip of Macedon. Macedon or Macedonia was a kingdom, situated up in the north of Greece. It was a mountainous country.

The Greeks from their plains looked upon the Macedonians as barbarians. But, like the Greeks, the Macedonians belonged to the Aryan race and regarded themselves as Greeks.

They were brave and sturdy and worked hard on their rocky soil to live.

Image Source: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Alexander_the_Great_-_Wall_painting_in_Acre,_Israel.jpg

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When the Greek city states on the mainland of Greece were fighting among themselves and heading towards decline, Macedon became very powerful under a remarkable warrior named Philip. Philip became king in 359 B.C. and became ambitious enough to extend his power. The weakness of the city states gave him a golden opportunity. He raised a powerful army famous as the Macedonian Phalanx.

It was a new type of military force. The soldiers in the Phalanx stood shoulder to shoulder like solid walls, line after line. Each soldier covered his body by holding a huge shield in his left hand. In his right hand, he held a long spear. As the Phalanx advanced in that shape, their bodies were protected by shields from the enemy arrows, while then- long spears pierced the bodies of the enemies when they advanced to fight. On either side of the marching Phalanx, there were soldiers on horseback to attack the enemy. The Macedonian Phalanx presented an advanced art of warfare in Western military system.

Taking advantage of the weakness of the Greek city states, Philip of Macedon invaded them and destroyed their freedom. Ultimately, he became the supreme master of the entire Greek world. With unlimited ambition, Philip next prepared to invade the Persian Empire in the East. As he was about to march on his eastern expedition, he suddenly fell dead in hands of an assassin in the year 336 B.C.

Alexander, the son of Philip of Macedon, was only twenty years old when his father met his unexpected death. He was born in 356 B.C. As bold as his father and much more ambitious, young Alexander ascended the throne of Macedon and assured the waiting army that he would soon take up the invasion of the East. His generals and soldiers did not doubt the ability of their young monarch and his liking for battles.

Alexander’s mother Olympias had inspired her son from his childhood to become a great hero like the Greek heroes of the epics of Homer. In his romantic dream, he hoped of becoming a hero like the mythical Achilles.

When Alexander was only 13, his father appointed the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle as the tutor of the young prince. It was from that great teacher that Alexander got the vision of a wider world, a desire for knowing many subjects, and for discovering new things for sake of knowledge. Temperamentally, Alexander was proud, haughty, cruel revengeful and emotional. At the same time, his education made him enlightened and cultured. He was a curious mixture of bad and good qualities, vices and virtues.

From his early youth, Alexander received a good military training and showed his genius as a born soldier. When Philip was fighting his famous battle of Chaeronea to conquer Greece, the 18 year old Alexander assisted his father as the commander of the cavalry force and amazed the army by daring acts of heroism. The Macedonian soldiers since then regarded the young hero as a rare general and became devoted to him as their future leader. His energy, tact, courage and ability, as well as thirst for battles proved his worth as a prospective conqueror.

The death of king Philip brought to young Alexander his opportunity for greatness. His father had prepared the ground for his rise. He was now the undisputed leader of Macedon and Greece and the supreme commander of the Macedonian army to which were joined the Greek soldiers of the mainland. With everything ready, Alexander looked towards the East to undertake the mission of his father’s hopes.

Some of the Greek city states felt that the death of king Philip was the end of Macedonian supremacy. They, therefore, rose in revolt to regain independence. But Alexander was too strong for them. He taught a lesson to the revolting city states by destroying the city state of Thebes completely. All houses of that place were raged to ground except the house of a poet named Pindar and a few places of worship. As a demonstration of his anger, he slaughtered six thousand people of thebes. Many others were sold as slaves.

By such extreme cruelty, Alexander silenced the Greek city-states into submission. They were forced to accept him as their leader and subscribed soldiers to his army for the invasion of the East. As the leader of the Greek race Alexander at last proceeded towards the East in the year 334 B.C. His brief career as a world conqueror began.

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• Alexander: Life, Indian Expedition and Causes of His Defeat
• Alexander’s Invasion To India
• Alexander’s Invasion and its Effects on India

Alexander the Great

Introduction.

Alexander the Great is one of the most influential figures in world history, and his legacy is still felt today. He was an ancient Macedonian ruler who conquered an empire that extended from Greece to India. He was a brilliant general and strategist, and his conquests opened up new trade routes and facilitated the spread of civilization. His empire ultimately fell apart, but his influence on world history was profound. Alexander’s legacy is evident in the way that he changed world civilizations. He introduced new technologies and practices, such as horseback riding and warfare, to countries that had never experienced them. He also helped to unify different cultures and forge new alliances. His legacy is undeniable, and his impact on world history will be remembered for generations.

Alexander the Great lived up to his moniker as he was widely considered the most formidable political and military figure of his time. In 356 BC, Alexander the Great was born to King Phillip II of Macedon and Queen Olympias. Alexander rose to be king of Macedonia after the passing of his father in 336 BC. He was a master tactician who meticulously plotted his moves before each assault. Alexander’s use of strategic maneuvers was a key to his victory, and the phalanx was one of his most famous tactics, and for a good reason: it left very little room for enemy attack (Bearzot & Landucci, 2016). He was a master tactician who could switch strategies mid-battle and knew the value of using cavalry as an assault weapon. His education under Aristotle had primed him well for the role of monarch.

As a result of his extensive schooling, Alexander was able to act quickly and bravely and take extraordinary risks. His charismatic leadership was a key factor in his victories on the battlefield. Leading from the front, communicating with each soldier, and taking hits alongside them was key factor in his consistent victories. He was successful because he was an assertive leader with the resolve to triumph over any obstacles that stood in his way. The greatest accomplishment of his life was the victory over the Persians and Greeks, the invasion of Asia Minor, Egypt, and the protection of the Mediterranean Sea, a vital trade pathway.

Early in his reign, Alexander set his sights on one of the world’s most important kingdoms, Persia. He required Persia’s wealth to sustain the massive army he obtained from his dad, and Persia’s reach and wealth made it possible. Darius III, king of Persia then, had a significantly larger army of huge troops. However, Alexander’s army, utilizing their superior military prowess, annihilated the Persian defending force near the river Granicus in Turkey. The hetairoi (companion cavalry) were his armies’ most formidable weapon. He defeated the Persians in three crucial battles and seized their kingdom, which included Phoenician territories and Egypt.

What this meant was that every major city in the Mediterranean was now part of Alexander’s empire. A further military victory was the 7-month siege of the fortified harbor of Tyre in 332 BC. Alexander’s undersized force prevailed at the Battle of Issus because their superior quickness and the tight limits of the battlefield helped them overcome their numerical disadvantage (Burstein, 2015). After his conquest of Egypt, he assumed the title of Pharaoh and had numerous cities christened in his glory. Alexander the Great’s military campaigns impacted all aspects of world life in the third century. Business with Asia and the number of ways to transport products to Europe finally opened when his kingdom began to gain strength. The empire’s stability allowed merchants to conduct business without fear of invasion from other parts of the world.

The Silk Road and other big trade routes flourished due to government support and promotion. Chinese silk was in high price in the Mediterranean at the time. The expansion of trade along the Silk Road led to the prominence of both Palmyra and Petra as major economic hubs. In addition to the success of the caravan towns, the Egyptian metropolis of Alexandria also thrived under Alexander. Alexandria grew to become an important domestic & global trading center. Because of its proximity to the Mediterranean, Alexandria’s Imperial Harbor became a thriving hub for marine trade. Alexander the Great played a role in introducing a unified currency that facilitated commerce.

The Persian Empire was enormous, extending across the Caspian Seas to the Indus River and from Egypt to the Indus River. By setting fire to the Persian city, Alexander stole the gold mines from the Persian monarchs and used them to create a new currency. This windfall allowed him to establish additional settlements and expand his network of trade routes and commercial pursuits. Even with the advent of industrialization, Alexander’s economic model continued to exist as the gold standard. Alexander is remembered not just for establishing peace and prosperity in the economy via trade but also for helping to establish modern political institutions (Liberty, 2017). When he died without an heir, his generals split up his kingdom and anointed themselves as rulers over the various regions. This was the end of his dynasty.

Alexandria became a center of scholarship after its library was founded. The development of historical timekeeping followed. Religions also emerged and expanded due to shifts in the social climate. After numerous dynasties were annexed, Greek cities encompassed many territories. Many Jews got Hellenized and embraced everything about Greek culture as a result. They learnt the Greek alphabet and transcribed the Hebrew Bible into Greek. As a result of the severity of the situation, many people ceased using Hebrew in daily life. Buddhism flourished throughout Asia after a governmental shift in India and the introduction of Hellenism. Buddhist teachings were disseminated by monks who traveled the Silk Road as merchants. Even though Alexander the Great was only king for thirteen years, his legacy will live forever. He left an indelible mark on the western world by altering its economic, social, and political landscape.

Alexander the Great was one of the most influential figures in ancient history. His legacy has been felt throughout the world for centuries, and his accomplishments have impacted world civilizations. He spread Hellenism and Greek culture throughout the world, making it one of the most influential civilizations in history. He also created an effective military machine that allowed him to conquer vast territories. His conquests ultimately led to the development of many different civilizations. While Alexander’s legacy is difficult to measure, his influence on world history is undeniable. His conquests helped to shape the modern world and set a standard for future conquests. His legacy is one of the most important in history, and his impact on world civilizations will be felt for generations to come.

Bearzot, C. S., & Landucci, F. (2016). Alexander’s Legacy.

Burstein, S. M. (2015). Alexander’s Unintended Legacy: Borders.  Greece, Macedon and Persia: Studies in Social, Political and Military History in Honour of Waldemar Heckel , 118-126.

Liberty, R. F. E. R. (2017). Macedonia Says It’s Ready to Give Up Claim as Sole Heir to Alexander the Great’s Legacy.  Accessed on ,  22 , 2022.

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