Alexander III the Great, the King of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian Empire is considered one of the greatest military geniuses of all times. [16], When Alexander was ten years old, a trader from Thessaly brought Philip a horse, which he offered to sell for thirteen talents. Philip was then named Hegemon (often translated as "Supreme Commander") of this league (known by modern scholars as the League of Corinth), and announced his plans to attack the Persian Empire. By the time of his death at thirty-two, he ruled the largest Western empire of the ancient world. 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. He also mentions that this was the only unsuccessful project of Alexander. 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. [105] This behaviour cost him the sympathies of many of his countrymen. 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. [212] Thus, rather than megalomania, his behaviour may simply have been a practical attempt at strengthening his rule and keeping his empire together. [202], Alexander was erudite and patronized both arts and sciences. [260], On the other hand, some Roman writers, particularly Republican figures, used Alexander as a cautionary tale of how autocratic tendencies can be kept in check by republican values. However, the memorial was found to be dedicated to the dearest friend of Alexander the Great, Hephaestion. After a skirmish near modern Shāhrūd, the usurper had Darius stabbed and left him to die. 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. \"Philip ensured Alexander was given a noteworthy and significant education. Darius fled the battle, causing his army to collapse, and left behind his wife, his two daughters, his mother Sisygambis, and a fabulous treasure. Undefeated in battle, he un leashed his army on countries great and small to forge an empire that stretched over three continents, from Greece to India and as far south as Egypt. [184] Alexander also recognized the potential for disunity among his diverse army, which employed various languages and weapons. The provinces became independent kingdoms, and the generals, following Antigonus’s lead in 306, took the title of king. [230] Two of these pregnancies — Stateira's and Barsine's — are of dubious legitimacy. [229], Green argues that there is little evidence in ancient sources that Alexander had much carnal interest in women; he did not produce an heir until the very end of his life. He is also said to have sent an expedition to discover the causes of the flooding of the Nile. He became king of the fringe Greek kingdom of Macedonia in 336 BC at the age The cosmopolitan art and mythology of Gandhara (a region spanning the upper confluence of the Indus, Swat and Kabul rivers in modern Pakistan) of the ~3rd century BC to the ~5th century AD are most evident of the direct contact between Hellenistic civilization and South Asia, as are the Edicts of Ashoka, which directly mention the Greeks within Ashoka's dominion as converting to Buddhism and the reception of Buddhist emissaries by Ashoka's contemporaries in the Hellenistic world. [186], At Issus in 333 BC, his first confrontation with Darius, he used the same deployment, and again the central phalanx pushed through. [116] A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi in which Alexander was wounded in the shoulder by a dart, but eventually the Aspasioi lost. [151][152][153] In a 2014 manuscript in the journal Clinical Toxicology, Schep suggested Alexander's wine was spiked with Veratrum album, and that this would produce poisoning symptoms that match the course of events described in the Alexander Romance. In return for teaching Alexander, Philip agreed to rebuild Aristotle's hometown of Stageira, which Philip had razed, and to repopulate it by buying and freeing the ex-citizens who were slaves, or pardoning those who were in exile. Macedon is too small for you", and bought the horse for him. 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. [103] However, when, at some point later, Alexander was on the Jaxartes dealing with an incursion by a horse nomad army, Spitamenes raised Sogdiana in revolt. [237], Over the course of his conquests, Alexander founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most of them east of the Tigris. His official historian, Callisthenes of Olynthus, was implicated in the plot, and in the Anabasis of Alexander, Arrian states that Callisthenes and the pages were then tortured on the rack as punishment, and likely died soon after. [114] Ambhi hastened to relieve Alexander of his apprehension and met him with valuable presents, placing himself and all his forces at his disposal. [204] His delusions of grandeur are readily visible in his will and in his desire to conquer the world,[148] in as much as he is by various sources described as having boundless ambition,[205][206] an epithet, the meaning of which has descended into an historical cliché. He lost another child when Roxana miscarried at Babylon. However, his successors explicitly rejected such policies. [181] Nevertheless, Perdiccas read Alexander's will to his troops.[60]. Alexander followed close behind and captured the strategic hill-fort after four bloody days. [62][64], In 336 BC Philip II had already sent Parmenion, with Amyntas, Andromenes and Attalus, and an army of 10,000 men into Anatolia to make preparations for an invasion to free the Greeks living on the western coast and islands from Achaemenid rule. Campaigning against the Greek city of Perinthus, Alexander is reported to have saved his father's life. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed. The famous encounter between Alexander and Diogenes the Cynic occurred during Alexander's stay in Corinth. 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. From that time, Ptolemy ruled Egypt nomi… [14] Such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception. Ptolemy was appointed as satrap of Egypt in 323 BCE, by Perdiccas during the succession crisis that erupted following Alexander the Great. He also received news of a Thracian uprising. [163] Perhaps more likely, the successors may have seen possession of the body as a symbol of legitimacy, since burying the prior king was a royal prerogative. [280] In medieval India, Turkic and Afghan sovereigns from the Iranian-cultured region of Central Asia brought positive cultural connotations of Alexander to the Indian subcontinent, resulting in the efflorescence of Sikandernameh (Alexander Romances) written by Indo-Persian poets such as Amir Khusrow and the prominence of Alexander the Great as a popular subject in Mughal-era Persian miniatures. [266][267], Legendary accounts surround the life of Alexander the Great, many deriving from his own lifetime, probably encouraged by Alexander himself. 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