Alexander the Great | Biography, Early Life and his Conquest

February 24, 2021April 30, 2020 by Santosh Bhunia

Alexander the Great is also known as Alexander III of Macedonia was born on 20 July 356 BC in Pella. Alexander extended the borders of the empire, which his father Philip II had built from the previously rather insignificant small state of Macedonia and several Greek polises, through the so-called Alexander Train and the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire to the Indian subcontinent.

After his invasion of Egypt, he was greeted there as Pharaoh. Not least because of his great military success, Alexander’s life became a popular subject in literature and art, while Alexander’s assessment in modern research, as in ancient times, was ambiguous.

When he came to power, the age of Hellenism began, in which Greek culture spread over large parts of the then known world. The cultural influences of the Hellenization survived the political collapse of the Alexander empire and its successor states and continued to have an effect in Rome and Byzantium for centuries.

Early Life of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was born in Pella, the capital of Macedonia, north of present-day Greece, probably on July 20, 356 BC. C. Son of Philip II, king of Macedonia and Queen Olympia, descended from a noble family in the kingdom of Epirus (present-day Albania).

Many details of his biography, especially from his childhood, were soon legendary decorated or invented. A good 400 years later, Plutarch reports that Alexander could no doubt trace his paternal lineage back to Heracles and Karanos, the first king of the Macedonians, which implicitly emphasizes Alexander’s descent from Zeus, the father of the gods.

Alexandre was a student of the best masters of the time. At the age of 13, he taught the Greek philosopher Aristotle. He studied rhetoric, politics, physical and natural sciences, medicine, philosophy, and geography.

It gave him a better understanding of Greek ideals and inspired him with admiration and love for the Greek spirit and culture. It was no coincidence that Aristotle always showed respect and gratitude. He said that he owed his father “live” and his teacher “lived well”. However, Alexander had Achilles as his role model in life and work, whom he considered to be a distant ancestor of his mother’s generation.

On the other hand, his tenure alongside Philip’s father generously offered him enormous courses in politics and strategy, as they were together in all the great events. This helped him gain political and military maturity at an early age.

It is noteworthy that as a replacement for his father who was in a campaign, he stifled the revolution of the Thracian tribe of Maids, while at the age of 18, in the Battle of Chaeronea, he was the commander of a military corps.

King of Macedonia – Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great stood out for his intelligence and for his ease with horse taming, in such a way that in a few hours he dominated the “Bucephalus”, which would become his inseparable mount. The art of war he had learned from his father, Felipe II, an experienced and courageous military man.

When its father was assassinated in 336 a. C., Alexander became king of the Macedonians, assuming two high positions: the head of the “League of Corinth” (union of several Greek communities) and commander of the best-prepared army of the time. For his achievements, he became known as Alexander the Great.

Pacification of Greece

Alexander III ascended the throne at the age of twenty, and the Macedonian Expansion was his main objective. He did not hesitate to liquidate everyone who plotted against his crown.

Some Greek cities had rebelled and were trying to break the Corinthian League. Thebes was the center of the revolt, he had even proclaimed the independence of Greece. The war was declared and Thebes was devastated. Only the playwright Pindaro’s house was spared, as proof of Alexandre’s respect for the arts.

The campaign in Persia

The decision for the great campaign was made and so in the spring of 334 BC Alexander, with 50,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalries on his side, set out for the great operation. A business that went down in history.

He arrived in Thrace and then in the Hellespont, where his fleet was waiting for him, consisting of 120 warships and many other auxiliary ships. He then passed through Troy, visiting the tomb of Achilles, making the appropriate sacrifices.

The cities opened their gates, one by one, to receive him. The first battle was fought on the banks of the Granicus River, where on May 22, 334 BC. Macedonians and Persians clashed. It is characteristic that more than 130,000 Persians were waiting for Alexander on the Granicus River, led by “Mithridates” and “Spithridates”, but Alexander, leading the army himself, gave the Greeks a great victory.

Destroy 500,000 Persian army

Near the city of Issues in Cilicia on November 12, 333 BC. faced the Persian army of 500,000 fighters. The Persians lost, King Darius was in danger and escaped only by fleeing. Alexander wanted to neutralize the entire Persian fleet and thus occupied Finland, Palestine, and Egypt in turn.

In fact, on the shores of Egypt, near the mouth of the Nile, and in a position suitable for the development of trade, he decided to build Alexandria. He carved its own walls and streets.

From Egypt, Alexander returned to Asia wherein Gaugamela on October 1, 331 BC. defeated again the Persian army that had been reorganized for good. The Persian army was destroyed, the most important cities of Persia – Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, where the palace of Darius – were handed over to Alexander, and the whole of Persia was now under his occupation.

Conquest of the Persian Empire

After Greece was pacified, Alexander III began the conquest of the Persian empire, which was an obstacle in the routes of silk, spices, and all Greek trade abroad.

In 334 BC, Alexander III crossed the Hellespont – a strip of sea between European Greece and Asian Greece, heading towards Asia Minor, where he faced the Persians for the first time and achieved important victories, arriving in Georgia, where he cut with the sword “ Gordian knot ”, which according to prophecy assured him the domination of Asia.

Macedonian Army

When Alexander the Great arrived in Asia Minor, he had nine thousand spearmen distributed in six battalions, forming the “phalanges” whose main weapon was the sarissa a long spear, in addition to the cavalry that formed the base of the attack.

Frightened by the warlike might of the Macedonian leader, Dario III proposed the peaceful sharing of the empire. Alexandre refused and continued on his conquests along the Mediterranean coast.

In 332 BC Alexander III occupied Egypt, where he was treated by the priests as a son of God. He founded the city of ” Alexandria ” which became the administrative center of the Macedonian empire. In 331 BC, The Persian king, Darius III is finally defeated and Alexander enters Babylon.

After the death of Dario in 330 BC, Alexander was acclaimed “king of Asia and successor to the Persian dynasty.” Everywhere the Emperor gained trust and respect from the conquered peoples. In 328 BC, he married Roxana, daughter of the Bactria satrap, with whom had a son.

Indian campaign

Alexander the Great continued his imperialist project towards the East. In 327 BC, went to India, mythical country for the Greeks, in which it founded military colonies and the cities of Nicaea and Bucephala, this one erected in memory of its horse, on the banks of the river Hydaspes.

Upon reaching the Bias River, his troops refused to continue. Alexandre decided to return and on the way back, in 324 BC, arrives at Susa, where it takes two new wives, Estatira, daughter of Dario III, and Parysatis II, a young Persian of the local nobility. In 323 BC, Alexander the Great arrives in Babylon, where he catches a fever that, in ten days, takes his life.

Alexander the Great last year and his death

Alexander had the Persian royal treasure minted, throwing the Achaemenid fortune into the Middle East exchange system, which funded a steep increase in the volume of market transactions in the Mediterranean. The fact that the Attic coin base was now – except in Ptolemaic Egypt – generally accepted in the Hellenistic world facilitated international trade and shipping.

At the Olympic Games in 324 BC, Alexander had the so-called exile decree announced, with which he ordered the Greek Polis to resume the citizens who were exiled for political reasons. This constituted a massive encroachment on the autonomy of the cities, led to violent conflicts in the communities, and was ultimately the reason why Athens and several other cities rose against Macedonian rule after the king’s death in the Lamian War.

In February 323 BC, he returned to Babylon. Here he prepared new campaigns that would lead to the capture of the Arabian Peninsula. Whether, as Diodorus reports, also planned to subsequently conquer the western Mediterranean with Carthage has long been controversial.

Most recent research suggests that Alexander did indeed prepare such an expedition since the Macedonians had a very large fleet in 322 during the Lamian War, which was supposedly originally built for the company against Carthage.

In May, shortly before the planned departure of the army to Arabia, Alexander announced that his dead friend Hephaestion was henceforth to be worshiped as a demi-god after a messenger had arrived from the Siwa oasis, where Alexander had asked for Hephaestion’s deification.

On this occasion, he organized celebrations at which he surrendered to the excessive drink. The next day he developed a fever and finally died on June 10th.

Since then, several theses regarding the cause of death have been discussed, including one according to which Alexander contracted West Nile fever. Alcohol poisoning is also constantly being considered.

However, according to a tradition that was widespread in antiquity, it was poisoned (allegedly with the poisonous water of the Styx ). It is more likely that his physical debilitation from numerous combat injuries and excessive wine consumption has led to illness.

Since the doctors at that time trusted in the cleansing effects of induced vomiting and diarrhea, it was common to administer white doses in small doses. The handed down symptoms Alexander’s are typical of White Germer poisoning. Doctors may, therefore, have made his condition worse by repeated doses of the drug.

Alexander’s body is said to have been placed in honey for preservation. Contrary to the deceased’s wish to be buried in the Siwa ammonium, he was buried in Alexandria.

Alexander’s last words when asked who he would leave his empire to have said: The best. Alexander also made a dark prophecy: he believes that his friends will organize great funeral games for him. He gave his signet ring to Perdiccas, who had been his closest confidant after Hephaestion’s death.