Welcome to the Alexander the Great page!
Alexander was born son of King Philip of Macedon in Pella, Macedonia in 356 B.C. His mother used to tell him stories and how he was a descendant of Achilles and that his father was a descendent of Hercules. He was a very intelligent boy growing up, and learned from stories and even studied under Aristotle. Aristotle gave Alexander a love for learning that he never lost. He also enjoyed learning from other places, and often talked with ambassadors from foreign lands. He was a strong and brave boy while growing up, as well. But he did have a bad temper. His greatest accomplishment as a boy was the taming Bucephalus. Bucephalus was a beautiful and lively horse that scared off everyone else. Philip was immensely proud of that deed he said a still famous quote; "O my son, seek out a kingdom worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee." Which is exactly what Alexander did when he became king of Macedonia when he was 20 (which was an old age back then, seeing how the common age of death was between 30 and 40, sometimes as old as 50). The people of Greece failed to find their love for Alexander when he first became king. He took his army to the north of Greece to gain more land and fend of barbarians. Thebes heard a rumor that Alexander had died, and tried to get other cities to join them in a revolution. Upon hearing of Thebes' revolting, he turned his army straight to them, and demolished the entire city except for it's temples and the home of a poet named Pindar. This act halted all thoughts of rebellion in the Greek states. His lack of funds didn’t stop him from heading off toward Persia with 35,000 soldiers. He hoped for a quick victory, and got it in that year, the victory opened many strategic options to claim the rest of Persia. The next year, 333 B.C., he became horribly ill but recovered and went along the cost to Syria. There, the king of Persia, Darius III, had gathered an impressive army. But Alexander crushed him there and Darius III escaped. Alexander continued to win battle after battle and soon won Persia. Next he traveled to Egypt. The Egyptians welcomed him for gaining control of Persia, their cruel rulers. Between Lake Mareotis and the Mediterranean he founded a city. Named Alexandria, that city became a world center for commerce and learning. During it's construction, Alexander traveled the dangerous trail to the temple of Zeus-Ammon, an oracle in the Libyan desert. There the oracle told Alexander that he was the son of god and would win the world. In 331 B.C. Alexander headed back toward the Persian borders to expand his land. During the time since Alexander and Darius last met, Darius was gathering an impressive army which included many dangerous and famous troops. Darius heard of Alexander's coming and cleared a vast plain for them to battle on. For a very brief time Darius was winning the battle, but a charge led by Alexander defeated Darius' army. That battle was known as the battle of Arbela or the Battle of Gaugamela as it's also known as. He quickly gained more cities in Persia and set fire to Persepolis in revenge for the Persians burning Athens in 480 B.C. On his way to India, about to cross the border, his troops mutinied after he defeated an Indian Prince. He traveled the shore with his troops after surviving several assassination attempts. Then he got caught up in his massive empire. He planed to combine the bring the best from the east to the west, which did. Babylon became the capital of this empire. To help with this, he encouraged interracial marriages, and he himself made an example by marrying a Persian princess. Alexander also gathered troops from all the provinces and placed them in his army. He tried to support trade and commerce and even created a new form of currency for his empire. He tried to move Greek ways to Asia. The second he heard that a provincial officials became corrupt he quickly replaced them. He had vast plans then to bring to light, including a governmental reorganization and exploration of Arabian lands, but could not finish them. On June 13, 323 B.C. he died of malaria in Babylon. After his body was placed in a gold coffin and taken to Memphis, Egypt, he was later moved to Alexandria to rest in a marvelous tomb. Seeing that his Son, Alexander IV, was born after Alexander's death, and he left no one to take his place, the leading generals became governors in various areas and fought with each other. None of them worthy to take Alexander's place, they were all separate countries by 311 B.C.
One of my favorite legends of Alexander is was the Gordon Knot. A wise man before Alexander took a large amount of thick rope and tied a large confusing not on what became a monument for the town, he said that who ever could untie it would become the master of Asia. Many tried before Alexander came. Alexander was the only one to figure out the riddle of the knot. He took his sword and cut the rope apart, there by undoing the knot.
Something interesting:
Did you know that
Iron Maiden
made a song about Alexander the Great? The song tells of some of his deeds and death. The song is about 8 and a half minutes long, but most of the time is filled with plain music.