That is a good question, especially since most people have no
idea. The answer, however, is a challenge. Alexander the Great was the greatest general ever and one of the world's greatest conquerors, creating an empire reaching from Greece to India and from the Caspian Sea to Egypt. His
exploits have been handed down over the centuries and still fuel serious
discussions 2,500 years after his death. Yet his fame among the general public
is overtaken by people like Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, and Napoleon, to name only a few – a very unfortunate fate for
such a great man!
Alexander was born as the son of King Philip II of Macedonia and Queen Olympias, meaning that on his father's side, he was a
descendant of Heracles, and on his mother's side of Achilles. At age twenty, he
ascended the throne after his father was murdered in 336 BC. It took him two
years to secure Macedonia's northern borders and obtain recognition from the other Greek city-states to act
as their leader in his campaign to free the Greek cities of Asia
Minor still under Persian rule. By capturing all the harbors of
the eastern Mediterranean, he inevitably made
the Persian navy inoperative and obsolete. He faced the Great King Darius III during the Battle of Gaugamela and came out victorious, although he had not
captured the King. That happened only after a wild chase further east in Central Asia's heart. Having acquired the title of King
of Asia, he pursued his dream east to the Indus,
where his army mutinied and refused to march further east. Alexander had no choice but to turn back. In 323 BC in Babylon, he died from an unconfirmed illness – not the heroic
death he evidently must have wished for (see updated info: About the death of Alexander). During his years of kingship, he
outdid and outshone every King before and after him.
His life and exploits have reached us only
second-handed as the original texts by his court historians Callisthenes, the nephew of Aristotle,
and Eumenes, his father's secretary, were lost in time. King
Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt,
of Macedonian stock and one of Alexander's generals, wrote an Alexander
biography which, although lost, was still available at the time Plutarch, Arrian, Diodorus, and Curtius wrote their history. There
are other less complete literary sources to which we must add
information provided by archaeological excavations and discoveries – an ongoing
process.
Unfortunately, there is no
easy way to summarize Alexander's all too short life, crammed with battles, sieges,
campaigns, and endless marches over hills, crossing rivers, deserts, and
towering mountain ranges. The further east he moved, the more challenging his
operations became as he ventured through generally uncharted territories.
So, it may be best to illustrate his life and
exploits piecemeal, just as I discovered them over the years. An excellent place to
start is Pella in modern Greece, where Alexander was born in the early summer of 356 BC. In fact,
his birth coincided with the fire of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, and it is said that the goddess was too busy helping
Alexander into this world, neglecting her temple duties. Legend
or not, the fact remains that Alexander made quite an entrance on the stage of life!
We know very little about his youth, which Plutarch tells nearly
exclusively. Every schoolboy, however, is familiar with the story of Alexander taming the wild horse Bucephalus. King Philip was presented with an unusual Thessalian horse
during the yearly horse market. The horse reared up, ignoring all commands, and
Philip found it unmanageable and
vicious, not the kind of mount he would trust in the heat of a battle. But the
ten-year-old Alexander
had other ideas and wanted to have this horse at all costs, much to Philip's annoyance, no doubt as he was himself a fine
connoisseur. Anyway, the King gave his son a chance. Alexander had noticed that the horse was afraid of his own
shadow and turned him to face the sun, whispered sweet words in his ear, and
was able to calm him down. This is how he won his confidence and managed to
ride him to the greatest joy and probably relief for his father and all present. This
may have been when Philip exclaimed, "look for another kingdom, my son; Macedonia
is too little for you." Alexander called his horse Bucephalus, meaning Oxhead,
after the white blaze on his head. Since that day, Alexander
and Bucephalus have been inseparable. When his magnificent mount died
of old age in India,
he even named a city after him.
Plutarch also tells us another anecdote about young Alexander, who apparently received a group of ambassadors
from Persia
in his father's absence. The prince impressed them by asking the right
questions that were not childish. He inquired, for instance, about the roads leading
to the heart of Asia, their King and how he
carried himself towards his enemies, what size of army he could muster, and
other things along that line. Useless to say that the Persian delegates were
very much impressed and full of admiration for the son of Philip.
Alexander's first preceptor was the austere Leonidas, a kinsman of Queen Olympias, followed by Lysimachos the Acarnanian, who called himself Phoenix, and Alexander
Achilles. When the young prince was about twelve years old, his father sent for Aristotle, the most learned and
celebrated philosopher of his time. He thought the temple of the Nymphs at Mieza was the appropriate location (see: Mieza, Alexander's schooling). With boys his age, he received the doctrine of
Morals and Politics, and those theories the philosophers professed for oral
communication only to the initiated. Alexander's interest in medicine must have come from Aristotle, a skill he used to treat his sick friends throughout
his life.
Even King Philip must have noticed and recognized how bright and
intelligent his son was. After all, he trusted him with the seal of Macedonia while he led an expedition against Byzantium. Alexander was only sixteen years old at the time and proved up to his role of
Regent as he successfully fought the rebellious Maedi. That is when he founded
his first city.
At the Battle of Chaeronea, opposing King Philip's forces against an alliance of the Greek city-states
led by Athens and Thebes, who felt that Macedonia under Philip was gaining too much power, the King entrusted his
son with the command of the left wing. At eighteen, the young prince and his
cavalry killed the unbeatable Theban Band to the last man, eliminating the centuries-old
entity for good. Despite Athens' resentment to accept Macedonia as
their equal in the repeated peace negotiations, they were ruled by the master
of all the free city-states - although they so profoundly believed in their own
freedom. That winter, Philip summoned them to send their delegation to Corinth, and soon The League of Corinth was born. This meant that each state individually had to swear
not to harm any other member of the Common Peace (or Philip or his descendants, for that matter) and not
interfere in their internal affairs. They also swore not to become allies with
any foreign power that could damage any member of the Treaty. No member could
undertake any operation that might endanger the peace or overthrow its
constitution.
This is, in a nutshell, the baggage Alexander had accumulated when his father was brutally murdered during the wedding of his
daughter Cleopatra, Alexander's
sister, in the summer of 336 BC. Alexander,
now twenty years old, became King of Macedonia and Hegemon of all Greece,
except Sparta, who always wanted to
stand apart. His task was to continue in his father's footsteps, who had
already made preparations to free the Greeks of Asia Minor.
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