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INTRODUCTION
Alexander the Great, the king of Macedonia that conquered the Persian empire and annexed it to
Macedonia, is considered one of the greatest military geniuses of all times. He is the first king to be called "the
Great."
Alexander, was the son of Philip II, king of Macedonia, and of Olympia, a princess of Epirus (in the
western part of Greece). Philip and Olympia wanted nothing less than the best for their son, so when he was
13, his parents hired Aristotle to be his personal tutor. Aristotle was one of the best known and famous
teachers of the time. Alexander was trained together with other children of the nobility at Aristotle’s school,
called Nyphaeon [nif-ay-on]. Aristotle gave Alexander a thorough training in philosophy, speech, and
literature and stimulated his interest in science, medicine, and philosophy, all of which became very important
for Alexander in his later life.
GREEK RESISTANCE
Alexander became king of Macedonia at the age of 20 when his father was suddenly assassinated while
out of the country. Once in power, he quickly took care of many critics who said he was too young to rule.
Riots and unruliness broke out in parts of Macedonia. Immediately, Alexander took a group of soldiers and
restored order. It was then that people in Macedonia believed that he could, in fact, rule the empire.
Still the Greek cities, like Athens and Thebes, which had pledged allegiance to King Philip, were unsure
if they wished to do the same for a twenty-year-old boy. After the news of the dead of King Phillip, there
were rumors in these cities that Alexander too had been killed, and that the time was right for them to
separate themselves from Macedonia. Shortly after, a revolt broke out in Thebes with the support of leading
Athenians. Alexander marched south covering 240 miles in two weeks. Alexander marched up to the gates of
Thebes and let them know that it was not too late for them to change their minds. The Thebans responded by
sending out a small group of soldiers to fight. Alexander quickly repelled them with archers and light
infantrymen. The next day, Alexander's general, Perdiccas [pur-di-kas], attacked the gates of Thebes. Perdiccas
broke through and into the city. The Macedonians then stormed the city, killing almost everyone in sight,
women and children included. They plundered (robbed), sacked, burned, and razed (destroyed) Thebes, as an
example to the rest of Greece. Only the temples were spared from destruction because they belonged to the
Greek gods, the same gods that Alexander and the Macedonians worshiped. After hearing of the strength of
Alexander and his men, Athens then quickly rethought its decision to abandon Alexander and the rest of
Greece remained under Macedonian control.
CONQUERING PERSIA
Alexander went on to expand his empire by conquering many other lands. He started by fighting a
war against Greece’s most hated rival, Persia. Persia had attacked Greece in the past, before the rule of King
Philip (Alexander’s father). Alexander asked Greece for men, money, and supplies for the campaign and
promised revenge on their enemy.
Alexander began his war against Persia in the spring of 334 BC by crossing the Hellespont River with an
army of 35,000 Macedonians and 7,600 Greeks. While the boat was approaching the shore, he threw his
spear from his ship to the coast and it stuck in the ground. As he stepped onto the shore, he pulled his
weapon from the soil, and declared that “the whole of Asia will be won by the spear”.
The Macedonian army soon encountered the Persian army under King Darius III at the crossing of the
river Granicus, near the ancient city of Troy. Alexander attacked the army of Persians. Alexander's forces
defeated the enemy totaling about 40,000 men and, according to legend, lost only 110 men of his own, but
Darius, the king of Persia abandoned his soldiers, ran away, and escaped.
Continuing to advance southward, in November of 333 BC, Alexander met Darius in battle for the
second time at a mountain pass called Issus [is-yous], in northeastern Syria. The exact size of Darius's army is
unknown, but although the Persian army greatly outnumbered the Macedonians, the narrow field of battle
allowed Alexander to defeat the Persians. The Battle of Issus ended in a great victory for Alexander. Cut off
from his base, Darius again ran away, this time abandoning his mother, wife, and children to be captured by
Alexander, who treated them with respect because they were royalty. They later continued to serve
Alexander as their king.
Alexander entered Egypt in 331 BC. When he arrived, he was welcomed by the Egyptians. Alexander
ordered a city to be designed after Greek cities and built in his name at the mouth of the Nile River. The city
of Alexandria, as it was named would become one of the major Greek cultural centers in the Mediterranean
world in the following centuries.
After arriving, Alexander was voluntarily made pharaoh by the Egyptians, who had despised living
under Persian rule. He exchanged letters with Persian King Darius while he was in Egypt, and the king offered
a truce with Alexander with a gift of several western provinces of the Persian Empire.
Alexander refused to
make peace unless he could have the whole empire. In the middle of 331 BC, Alexander marched back to into
Persia to find Darius and conquer the whole Persian empire.
Alexander reorganized his forces and started for Babylon, in present day Iraq, with an army of
40,000 infantry and 7000 cavalry. He conquered the lands between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and found
the Persian army which, according to the exaggerated accounts, was said to number a million men. The two
armies met on the battlefield the next morning and the Macedonian forces swept through the Persian army
and slaughtered them. Again, King Darius fled as he had done in the past, this time to his mountain palace in
Ecbatana, in present-day Iran. At the end of the battle the remainder of Darius’ soldiers surrendered and
Alexander was proclaimed king of Persia. To win the continued support of the Persian aristocracy (rulers) he
appointed mainly Persians as provincial governors. After four months, the Macedonians made their way to
King Darius’ palace, but didn’t find him there. They burned the royal palace at Ecbatana to the ground thus
completing the end of the ancient Persian Empire.
Alexander continued his pursuit of Darius for hundreds of miles. When he finally caught up to him, he
found the Persian king dead in his coach, assassinated by his own men. Alexander had the assassin executed
and gave Darius a royal funeral.
ALEXANDER IN INDIA
In the spring of 327 BC, Alexander and his army marched into India invading the ancient country,
Punjab. This led to one of the greatest of Alexander's battles in India against Porus, one of the most powerful
Indian leaders, at the river Hydaspes [hi-das-pees]. In July of 326 BC, Alexander's army crossed the heavily
defended river in dramatic fashion during a violent thunderstorm to meet Porus' forces. The Indians were
defeated in a fierce battle, even though they fought with elephants, which the Macedonians had never before
seen. Alexander captured Porus and, like the other local rulers he had defeated, allowed him to continue to
govern his territory.
Alexander's next goal was to travel south down the Indus River so that they might reach the ocean on
the southern edge of the world. The army rode down the rivers on rafts and stopped to along the way to
attack and subdue villages when necessary. During this trip, Alexander also searched for the Indian
philosophers, called the Brahmins, who were famous for their wisdom, and debated them on philosophical
issues. He became legendary for centuries in India for being both a wise philosopher and a fearless conqueror
and leader.
One of the villages in which the army stopped belonged to the Malli, who were said to be one of the
most warlike of the Indian tribes. Alexander was wounded several times in this attack, most seriously when an
arrow pierced his breastplate and his ribcage. The Macedonian officers rescued him in a narrow escape from
the village. After this near-death experience, when Alexander and his army reached the mouth of the Indus
River in July 325 BC, they turned westward and headed for home, back to Macedonia.
ALEXANDER'S DEATH
Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king and the great conqueror, died at the age of 33, on June 10,
323 BC. It is believed that he died from the disease we now know as Malaria. When Alexander died, he had
no son of his own, so he died without designating a successor. This led to chaos among the Greek empire.
Alexander’s generals began to split the empire between themselves. General Seleucus took control of
Persia, General Antigonas of Macedonia, and General Ptolemy of Egypt. This was the beginning of the end of
the Greek civilization. By 146BC, Greece and Macedonia had both been conquered by the Romans. The
Romans stole many statues and works of art from the Greek temples, and by 30 BC had also conquered Persia
and Egypt. However, the Romans admired many things about the Greek way of life and they copied many of
the ideas to use in Rome, which helped the Greek ways and the Greek culture to continue.