Alexander the Great

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Alexander the Great
Basileus of Macedon, Hegemon of the Hellenic League, Pharaoh (Emperor) of Egypt, Shahanshah of Persia
Alexander fighting Persian king Darius III. From Alexander Mosaic, from Pompeii, Naples, Naples National Archaeological Museum
Reign	336–323 BC
Predecessor	Philip II of Macedon
Successor	Alexander IV of Macedon
Spouse	Roxana of Bactria, Stateira of Persia
Issue
Alexander IV of Macedon
Father	Philip II of Macedon
Mother	Olympias of Epirus
Born	20 July 356 BC Pella, Macedon in Greece
Died	10 June or 11 June 323 BC (aged 32) Babylon

v • d • e Wars of Alexander the Great Chaeronea (338 BC) – Thebes (338 BC) – Granicus (334 BC) – Miletus (334 BC) – Halicarnassus (334 BC) – Issus (333 BC) – Tyre (332 BC) – Gaza (332 BC) – Gaugamela (331 BC) – Persian Gate (330 BC) – Sogdian Rock (327 BC) – Aornos (327 BC) – Hydaspes (325 BC) – Malli (325 BC)

Alexander III of Macedon, popularly known to history as Alexander the Great, ("Mégas Aléxandros", Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας or Μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος,^[1]) was an Ancient Greek^i[›] king (basileus) of Macedon. Born in 356 BC, Alexander succeeded his father Philip II of Macedon to the throne in 336 BC, and died in Bablyon in 323 BC at the age of 32.

Alexander was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and it is presumed that he was undefeated in battle. By the time of his death, he had conquered the Achaemenid Persian Empire, adding it to Macedon's European territories; according to some modern writers, this was much of the world then known to the ancient Greeks (the 'Ecumene').^{[2][3]ii[›]} His father, Philip, had unified most of the city-states of mainland Greece under Macedonian hegemony in the League of Corinth. As well as inheriting hegemony over the Greeks, Alexander also inherited the Greeks' long-running feud with the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. After reconfirming Macedonian rule by quashing a rebellion of southern Greek city-states, Alexander launched a short but successful campaign against Macedon's northern neighbours. He was then able to turn his attention towards the east and the Persians. In a series of campaigns lasting 10 years, Alexander's armies repeatedly defeated the Persians in battle, in the process conquering the entirety of the Empire. He then, following his desire to reach the 'ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea', invaded India, but was eventually forced to turn back by the near-mutiny of his troops.

Alexander died after twelve years of constant military campaigning, possibly a result of malaria, poisoning, typhoid fever, viral encephalitis or the consequences of alcoholism. His legacy and conquests lived on long after him and ushered in centuries of Greek settlement and cultural influence over distant areas. This period is known as the Hellenistic period, which featured a combination of Greek, Middle Eastern and Indian culture. Alexander himself featured prominently in the history and myth of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. His exploits inspired a literary tradition in which he appeared as a legendary hero in the tradition of Achilles.

Contents 1 Sources 2 Early life 2.1 Childhood 2.2 Adolescence 3 Phillip's Heir 3.1 Regency 3.2 The Rise of Macedon 4 Exile and return 5 Accession 5.1 Balkan Campaign 6 Period of conquests 6.1 Fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire 6.1.1 Hostility 6.2 Invasion of India 6.3 After India 7 Death 7.1 Probable Causes 7.1.1 Poison 7.1.2 Natural Causes 7.2 Fate after death 8 Succession 8.1 The division of the Empire 8.2 Testament 9 Alexander's Character 9.1 Physical appearance 9.2 Personality 9.3 Megalomania 9.4 Relationships 10 Legacy 10.1 The Successors 10.2 Hellenization 10.3 Influence on Rome 11 Legend 11.1 In the Bible 11.2 In the Qur'an 11.3 In the Shahnameh 11.4 Names 11.5 In ancient and modern culture 12 Notes 13 References 14 Sources 14.1 Primary Source 14.2 Secondary Sources 15 External links

Sources

There are numerous surviving ancient Greek and Latin texts about Alexander, as well as some non-Greek texts. The primary sources, texts written by people who actually knew Alexander or who gathered information from men who served with Alexander, are all lost, apart from a few inscriptions and fragments.^[4] Contemporaries who wrote accounts of his life include Alexander's campaign historian Callisthenes; Alexander's generals Ptolemy and Nearchus;Aristobulus, a junior officer on the campaigns; and Onesicritus, Alexander's chief helmsman.^[4] Finally, there is the very influential account of Cleitarchus who, while not a direct witness of Alexander's expedition, used sources which had just been published.^[4] His work was to be the backbone of that of Timagenes, who heavily influenced many historians whose work still survives. None of these works survives, but we do have later works based on these primary sources.^[4]

The five main surviving accounts are by Arrian, Curtius, Plutarch, Diodorus, and Justin.^[4]

• Anabasis Alexandri (The Campaigns of Alexander in Greek) by the Greek historian Arrian of Nicomedia, writing in the 2nd century AD, and based largely on Ptolemy and, to a lesser extent, Aristobulus and Nearchus. It is considered generally the most trustworthy source.
• Historiae Alexandri Magni, a biography of Alexander in ten books, of which the last eight survive, by the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus, written in the 1st century AD, and based largely on Cleitarchus through the mediation of Timagenes, with some material probably from Ptolemy;
• Life of Alexander (see Parallel Lives) and two orations On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander the Great (see Moralia), by the Greek historian and biographer Plutarch of Chaeronea in the second century, based largely on Aristobulus and especially Cleitarchus.
• Bibliotheca historia (Library of world history), written in Greek by the Sicilian historian Diodorus Siculus, from which Book 17 relates the conquests of Alexander, based almost entirely on Timagenes's work. The books immediately before and after, on Philip and Alexander's "Successors," throw light on Alexander's reign.
• The Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus by Justin, is highly compressed version of an earlier history by Pompeius, with the selections governed by Justin's desire to make moralistic points, rather than with an eye for the history itself.^[4]

In addition to these five main sources some scholars, there is the Metz Epitome, an anonymous late Latin work that narrates Alexander's campaigns from Hyrcania to India, and much is also recounted incidentally by other authors, including Strabo, Athenaeus, Polyaenus, Aelian, and others.

Early life

Childhood

"The night before the consummation of their marriage, she dreamed that a thunderbolt fell upon her body, which kindled a great fire, whose divided flames dispersed themselves all about, and then were extinguished. And Philip, some time after he was married, dreamt that he sealed up his wife's body with a seal, whose impression, as be fancied, was the figure of a lion. Some of the diviners interpreted this as a warning to Philip to look narrowly to his wife; but Aristander of Telmessus, considering how unusual it was to seal up anything that was empty, assured him the meaning of his dream was that the queen was with child of a boy, who would one day prove as stout and courageous as a lion."

Plutarch describing Olympias and Philip's dreams.[5]

Alexander was born in July 356 BC, in Pella, the capital of the Kingdom of Macedon. He was the son of King Philip II, the King of Macedon. According to Plutarch, Alexander's father claimed descent from Heracles through Caranus of Macedon and his mother from Aeacus through Neoptolemus and Achilles.His mother was Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus I, the king of the north Greek state of Epirus.^[6] Although Philip had either seven or eight wives, Olympias was his principal wife for a time. On his mother's side, Alexander was a second cousin of Pyrrhus of Epirus, who himself would become a celebrated general.

According to the ancient Greek historian Plutarch, Olympias, on the eve of the consummation of her marriage to Philip, dreamed that her womb was struck by a thunder bolt, causing a flame which spread "far and wide" before dying away. Some time after the marriage Philip was said to have seen himself, in a dream, sealing up his wife's womb with a seal upon which was engraved the image of a lion.^[7] Plutarch offers a variety of interpretations of these dreams; that Olympia was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb; or that Alexander's father was Zeus. Ancient commentators were divided as to whether the ambitious Olympias promulgated the story of Alexander's divine parentage, some claiming she told Alexander, others that she dismissed the suggestion as impious.

On the day that Alexander was born, Philip was preparing himself for his siege on the Greek colony of Potidea, which bordered Macedon. On the day that Alexander was born, Philip also received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies and that his horses had won at the Olympic Games. It was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus -one the Seven Wonders of the World- was burnt leading Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it burnt because Artemis was attending the birth of Alexander.^[8]

In his early years, Alexander was raised by his nurse, Lanike (Lanike was the sister of Alexander's future general, Cleitus the Black). Later on in his childhood, Alexander was tutored by the strict Leonidas, a relative of his mother's uncle and by Lysimachus.^[9]

When Alexander was ten years old, a horse trader from Thessaly (a region of Greece to the south of Macedon famed for their horsemanship), brought Philip a horse which he offered to sell for thirteen talents. The horse refused to be mounted by anyone and Philip ordered it to be taken away. Alexander, however, asked for a turn to tame the horse and eventually managed to mount the horse. According to Plutarch, Philip, overjoyed at this display of courage and ambition, kissed him tearfully: "My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedonia is too small for you." and bought the horse for him. Alexander would name the horse Bucephalus, meaning 'ox-head'. Bucephalus would be Alexander's companion throughout his journeys as far as India. When he died (due to old age, according to Plutarch, for he was already thirty), Alexander named a city after him (Bucephala).^[10]

Adolescence

When Alexander was thirteen years old, Philip decided that Alexander needed a higher education and he began to search for a tutor. Many people were passed over including Isocrates and Speusippus, Plato's successor at the Academy of Athens, who offered to resign to take up the post. Philip offered the job to Aristotle, a former pupil of Plato's, who had left Athens to live at Lesbos. Aristotle accepted and Philip gave them as their classroom the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza. In return for teaching Alexander, Aristole's payment was that Philip rebuild Aristotle's hometown of Stageira, which Philip had razed, and that he repopulate it by buying and freeing the citizens who were slaves or pardoning those who were in exile.^[11]

Mieza acted like a boarding school for Alexander and the other noble children, like Ptolemy and Cassander that joined him there. Most of the children that were with Alexander there would be his future friends and generals. At Mieza, Artistotle taught and discussed with Alexander and his companions about healing, biology, philosophy, happiness, religion, classification, logic and art. It was also from Aristotle that Alexander got his undying love for the works of Homer and in particular the Iliad, with Aristotle giving him an annotated copy which he would take with him on campaign.^[11]

Phillip's Heir

Regency

When Alexander became sixteen years of age, his tutorship under Aristotle came to an end. Philip, the king, departed to wage war against Byzantium and the sixteen year old Alexander was left in charge as regent of the kingdom. During Philip's absence, the Thracian Maedi revolted against Macedonian rule. Alexander responded quickly and crushed the Maedi insurgence driving them from their territory, colonised it with Greeks and founded a city called Alexandroupolis.^[12]

After Philip's return from Byzantium, he was dispatched with a small force to subdue certain revolts in southern Thrace. During yet another campaign against the Greek city of Perinthus, he is reported to have saved his father's life. Meanwhile, the city of Amphissa began to work lands that were sacred to Apollo near Delphi, a sacrilege which offered the chance for further intervention in the things of Greece. Still occupied in Thrace, Philip ordered Alexander to muster an army. Afraid of other Greek states' intervention, Alexander made it look as if he was to attack Illyria instead. During this turmoil, the Illyrians thought it was the perfect chance to attack Macedonia but once again Alexander repelled the invaders.^[13]

The Rise of Macedon

Philip joined Alexander with his army in 338 BC and they marched south through Thermopylae, which they took after a stubborn resistance from its Theban garrison and went on to occupy the city of Elatia, a few days march from both Athens and Thebes. Meanwhile, the Athenians, led by Demosthenes, voted to seek an alliance with Thebes in the war against Macedonia. Both Athens and Philip sent embassies to Thebes in order to win Thebes' favour with Athens eventually gaining the alliance.^[14]

Philip carried out the mission appointed to him by the Sacred League and marched on Amphissa, captured the mercenaries sent there by Demosthenes and accepted the city's surrender. Philip retreated to Elatea and sent a final offer of peace to Athens and Thebes which was rejected.^[15]

After his victory at Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) against his Theban and Athenian enemies, Philip sold the captured Theban soldiers as slaves before establishing a garrison in Thebes and executing or banishing some of the city's anti-MacedonAian leaders. From Thebes, he went to Athens were he gave them their captured soldiers back without a ransom. Philip and Alexander marched unopposed into the Peloponnese and at Corinth, Philip was named 'Supreme Commander' of the Greek forces by decree of the League of Corinth, a federation of all Greek states except for Sparta, in his planned war against the Persian Empire.^[16]

Exile and return

"At the wedding of Cleopatra, whom Philip fell in love with and married, she being much too young for him, her uncle Attalus in his drink desired the Macedonians would implore the gods to give them a lawful successor to the kingdom by his niece. This so irritated Alexander, that throwing one of the cups at his head, "You villain," said he, "what, am I then a bastard?" Then Philip, taking Attalus's part, rose up and would have run his son through; but by good fortune for them both, either his over-hasty rage, or the wine he had drunk, made his foot slip, so that he fell down on the floor. At which Alexander reproachfully insulted over him: "See there," said he, "the man who makes preparations to pass out of Europe into Asia, overturned in passing from one seat to another."

Plutarch describing the feud at Philip's wedding.[17]

After returning to Pella, Philip fell in love with a young Macedonian noblewoman by the name of Cleopatra Eurydice, the niece of one of his generals, Attalus. This marriage made Alexander's position as heir to the throne less secure as if Cleopatra Eurydice bore a son by Philip, the son would be full Macedonian while Alexander was only half Macedonian.^[18]

During the banquet after Philip's wedding to Cleopatra Eurydice, a drunken Attalus made a speech praying to the gods that the union would produce a legitimate heir to the Macedonian throne. Alexander shouted to Attalus, "What, am I then a bastard?"^[7] and he threw his goblet at him. Philip who was also drunk drew his sword and advanced towards Alexander before collapsing leading Alexander to say, "See there," said he, "the man who makes preparations to pass out of Europe into Asia, overturned in passing from one seat to another."^[7][19]

Alexander fled from Macedon taking his mother with him. He dropped off his mother at her brother's capital, Dodona, in Epirus before he went to Illyria where he sought refuge with the Illyrian King and was treated like a guest by the Illyrians despite having defeated them in battle a few years before. Alexander returned to Macedon after six months in exile due to the efforts of a family friend, Demaratus the Corinthian, who mediated between the two parties.^[20]

The following year, the Persian satrap (governor) of Caria in Asia Minor, Pixodarus, offered the hand of his eldest daughter to Philip's mentally and physically disabled son, Philip Arrhidaeus. Olympias and several of Alexander's friends had it seem that this move showed that Philip intended to make Arrhidaeus, his heir. Alexander reacted by sending an actor, Thessalus from Corinth, to tell Pixodarus that he should not offer his daughter's hand to an illegitimate son but instead to Alexander. When Philip heard of this, he scolded Alexander for wishing to marry the daughter of Carian. Philip had four of Alexander's friends, Harpalus, Nearchus, Ptolemy and Erygius exiled and had the Corinthians bring Thessalus to him in chains.^[21]

Accession

In 336 BC, while attending the wedding of his daughter by Olympias, Cleopatra and Olympias' brother, Alexander I of Epirus at Aegae, Philip was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguard, Pausanias, who reportedly had a grudge against Philip, who was his former lover.^iii[›] As Pausanias tried to escape he tripped over a vine and was killed by his pursuers, including two of Alexander's friends Perdiccas and Leonnatus. Alexander was proclaimed King by the Macedonian army and by the Macedonian noblemen at the age of 20.^[22]

Alexander began his reign by having his potential rivals to the throne murdered. He had his cousin, the former Amyntas IV, executed, as well as having two Macedonian princes from the region of Lyncestis killed, while a third, Alexander Lyncestes, was spared. Olympias had Cleopatra Eurydice and her daughter by Philip, Europa, burned alive. When Alexander found out about this, he was furious with his mother. Alexander also ordered the murder of Attalus, who was in command of the advance guard of the army in Asia Minor. Attalus was at the time in correspondence with Demosthenes with intentions of defection to Athens. Alexander also spared the life of his half brother Arridaeus.^[22]

News of Philip's death roused many states into revolt including Thebes, Athens, Thessaly and the Thracian tribes to the north of Macedon. When news of the revolt reached Alexander he responded quickly. Though his advisor's advised him to use diplomacy, Alexander mustered the Macedonian cavalry of 3,000 men and rode south towards Thessaly, Macedon's immediate neighbor to the south. When he found the Thessalian army occupying the pass between Mount Olympus and Mount Ossa, he had the men ride through Mount Ossa and, when the Thessalians awoke, they found Alexander at their rear. The Thessalians surrendered and added their cavalry to Alexander's force as he rode down towards the Peloponnese.^[23]

Alexander stopped at Thermopylae, where he was recognised as the leader of the Sacred League before heading south to Corinth. Athens sued for peace and Alexander received the envoy and pardoned anyone involved with the uprising. At Corinth, he was given the title 'Hegemon' of the Greek forces against the Persians. While at Corinth, he heard the news of the Thracian rising to the north.^[24]

Balkan Campaign

Before crossing to Asia, Alexander wanted to safeguard his northern borders and, in the spring of 335 BC, he advanced into Thrace to deal with the revolt, which was led by the Illyrians and Triballi. He was reinforced along the way by the Agriani, a Thracian tribe under the command of Alexander's friend, Langarus. The Macedonian army marched up to Mount Haemus, where they met a Thracian garrison manning the heights. The Thracians had constructed a palisade of carts, which they intended to throw upon the approaching Macedonians. Alexander ordered his heavy infantry to march in loose formation and, when the carts were thrown, to either open the ranks or lay flat on the ground with their shields over them. The Macedonian archers opened fire and when the Macedonian infantry reached the top of the mountain they routed the Thracians.^[25]

Meanwhile, a large Triballian army led by their king, Syrmus, advanced upon the Macedonian rear. The Triballians retreated to a gorge, where they were drawn out by Alexander's light infantry. On the open ground, they were crushed by Alexander's infantry and cavalry, leaving behind 3,000 dead. The Macedonians marched to the Danube River where they encountered the Getae tribe on the opposite shore. As Alexander's ships failed to enter the river, Alexander's army made rafts out of their leather tents. A force of 4,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry crossed the river, to the amazement of the Getae army of 14,000 men. The Getae army retreated after the first cavalry skirmish, leaving their town to the Macedonian army.^[26]

News reached Alexander that Cleitus, King of Illyria, and King Glaukias of the Taulanti were in open revolt against Macedonian authority. Alexander and his men started to besiege the Illyrians in a hill fort, Pelium. The following day, Glaukias arrived with his army to relieve the town. Philotas, one of Alexander's friends and generals, was trapped by the Taulanti while foraging. When Alexander heard of his friend's predicament he rushed in with his army and managed to frighten Glaukias off attacking Philotas.^[27]

Alexander and his army were trapped between the Illyrians and the Taulanti, who each held high ground. When Alexander's army moved towards the Taulanti threat, yelling their war cries, the Taulanti fled from the heights and went into the town. After noticing Pelium's lack of defenses, Alexander feigned a retreat, and, in the night, stormed the town, forcing Cleitus and Glaukias to flee with their armies, leaving Alexander's northern frontier secure.^[28]

While he was triumphantly campaigning north, the Thebans and Athenians rebelled once more. Alexander reacted immediately, but, while the other cities once again hesitated, Thebes decided to resist with the utmost vigor. This resistance was useless, however, as the city was razed to the ground amid great bloodshed and its territory divided between the other Boeotian cities. Moreover, the Thebans themselves were sold into slavery.^[29] Alexander spared only priests, leaders of the pro-Macedonian party and descendants of Pindar, whose house was the only one left standing. The end of Thebes cowed Athens into submission. According to Plutarch, a special Athenian embassy, led by Phocion, an opponent of the anti-Macedonian faction, was able to persuade Alexander to give up his demand for the exile of leaders of the anti-Macedonian party, most particularly Demosthenes.^[30]

Period of conquests

By the time of his death, Alexander had conquered most of the Ecumene, the extension of the "known world" at the time of ancient Greeks,^[2] concretely he conquered the extensions lying to the south and east of Greece, including places not explored until then.^[3]

Fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

Alexander's army crossed the Hellespont with approximately 42,000 soldiers from Macedon, various Greek city-states, mercenaries and tribute soldiers from Thrace, Paionia, and Illyria. After an initial victory against Persian forces at the Battle of the Granicus, Alexander accepted the surrender of the Persian provincial capital and treasury of Sardis and proceeded down the Ionian coast. At Halicarnassus, Alexander successfully waged the first of many sieges, eventually forcing his opponents, the mercenary captain Memnon of Rhodes and the Persian satrap of Caria, Orontobates, to withdraw by sea. Alexander left Caria in the hands of Ada, who was ruler of Caria before being deposed by her brother Pixodarus. From Halicarnassus, Alexander proceeded into mountainous Lycia and the Pamphylian plain, asserting control over all coastal cities and denying them to his enemy. From Pamphylia onward, the coast held no major ports and so Alexander moved inland. At Termessos, Alexander humbled but did not storm the Pisidian city. At the ancient Phrygian capital of Gordium, Alexander "undid" the hitherto unsolvable Gordian Knot, a feat said to await the future "king of Asia." According to the most vivid story, Alexander proclaimed that it did not matter how the knot was undone, and he hacked it apart with his sword.^[31] Another version claims that he did not use the sword, but realized that the simplest way to undo the knot was to simply remove a central peg from the chariot—around which the knot was tied.

Alexander's army crossed the Cilician Gates, met and defeated the main Persian army under the command of Darius III at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC. Darius was forced to flee the battle after his army broke, and in doing so left behind his wife, his two daughters, his mother Sisygambis, and a fabulous amount of treasure. He afterwards offered a peace treaty to Alexander, the concession of the lands he had already conquered, and a ransom of 10,000 talents for his family. Alexander replied that since he was now king of Asia, it was he alone who decided territorial divisions. Proceeding down the Mediterranean coast, he took Tyre and Gaza after famous sieges (see Siege of Tyre) suffered the most brutal attacks during Alexander's war in Asia.^[32][33] It was after his capture of Tyre that Alexander crucified all the men of military age, and sold the women and children into slavery.^[34]

During 332–331 BC, Alexander was welcomed as a liberator^[35] in an Egypt ruled by Persians and was pronounced the new Master of the Universe^[36] and son of Zeus^{[citation needed]} by Egyptian priests of the deity Amun^[36] at the Oracle of Siwa Oasis in the Libyan desert. Henceforth, Alexander often referred to Zeus-Ammon as his true father, and subsequent currency depicted him, adorned with ram horns as a symbol of his divinity.^[37] He founded Alexandria in Egypt, which would become the prosperous capital of the Ptolemaic dynasty after his death. Leaving Egypt, Alexander marched eastward into Assyria (now northern Iraq) and defeated Darius once more at the Battle of Gaugamela. Once again, Darius was forced to leave the field, and Alexander chased him as far as Arbela. While Darius fled over the mountains to Ecbatana (modern Hamedan), Alexander marched to Babylon.

From Babylon, Alexander went to Susa, one of the Achaemenid capitals, and captured its legendary treasury. Sending the bulk of his army to the Persian capital of Persepolis via the Royal Road, Alexander stormed and captured the Persian Gates (in the modern Zagros Mountains), then sprinted for Persepolis before its treasury could be looted. It was here that Alexander was said to have stared at the crumbled statue of Xerxes and decided to leave it on the ground—a symbolic gesture of vengeance. During their stay at the capital, a fire broke out in the eastern palace of Xerxes and spread to the rest of the city. Theories abound as to whether this was the result of a drunken accident, or a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Persian War. The Book of Arda Wiraz, a Zoroastrian work composed in the 3rd or 4th century AD, also speaks of archives containing "all the Avesta and Zand, written upon prepared cow-skins, and with gold ink" that were destroyed; but it must be said that this statement is often treated by scholars with a certain measure of skepticism, because it is generally thought that for many centuries the Avesta was transmitted mainly orally by the Magi.

Alexander then set off in pursuit of Darius anew. The Persian king was no longer in control of his destiny, having been taken prisoner by Bessus, his Bactrian satrap and kinsman. As Alexander approached, Bessus had his men fatally stab the Great King and then declared himself Darius' successor as Artaxerxes V before retreating into Central Asia to launch a guerrilla campaign against Alexander. Darius was found by one of Alexander's scouts, dying, in a baggage train being pulled by an ox. Before he died, Darius remarked that he was glad that he would not die alone. His remains were buried by Alexander next to his Achaemenid predecessors in a full military funeral.^[38] Alexander claimed that, while dying, Darius had named Alexander as his successor to the Achaemenid throne, a striking irony since it was Alexander who had pursued him to his death. Alexander, viewing himself as the legitimate Achaemenid successor to Darius, viewed Bessus as a usurper to the Achaemenid throne, and eventually found and executed this 'usurper'. The majority of the existing satraps were to give their loyalty to Alexander, and be allowed to keep their positions. Alexander, now the Persian "King of Kings", adopted Persian dress and mannerisms, which, in time, the Greeks began to view as decadent and autocratic. They began to fear that Alexander was turning into an eastern despot. Ultimately, however, the Achaemenid Persian Empire is considered to have fallen with the death of Darius. With the death of Darius, Alexander declared the war of vengeance over, and released his Greek and other allies from service in the League campaign (although he allowed those that wished to re-enlist as mercenaries in his army).

His three-year campaign, first against Bessus and then against Spitamenes, the satrap of Sogdiana, took Alexander through Media, Parthia, Aria (West Afghanistan), Drangiana, Arachosia (South and Central Afghanistan), Bactria (North and Central Afghanistan), and Scythia. In the process of doing so, he captured and refounded Herat and Maracanda. Moreover, he founded a series of new cities, all called Alexandria, including modern Kandahar in Afghanistan, and Alexandria Eschate ("The Furthest") in modern Tajikistan. In the end, both of his opponents were defeated after having been betrayed by their men—Bessus in 329 BC, and Spitamenes the year after.

Hostility

During this time, Alexander adopted some elements of Persian dress and customs at his court, notably the custom of proskynesis, a symbolic kissing of the hand that Persians paid to their social superiors, but a practice that the Greeks disapproved. The Greeks regarded the gesture as the province of deities and believed that Alexander meant to deify himself by requiring it. This cost him much in the sympathies of many of his countrymen. Here, too, a plot against his life was revealed, and one of his officers, Philotas, was executed for failing to bring the plot to his attention. The death of the son necessitated the death of the father, and thus Parmenion, who had been charged with guarding the treasury at Ecbatana, was assassinated by command of Alexander, so he might not make attempts at vengeance. Most infamously, Alexander personally slew the man who had saved his life at Granicus, Cleitus the Black, during a drunken argument at Maracanda.^[39] Later in the Central Asian campaign, a second plot against his life was revealed, this one instigated by his own royal pages. His official historian, Callisthenes of Olynthus (who had fallen out of favor with the king by leading the opposition to his attempt to introduce proskynesis), was implicated in the plot, however, there never has been consensus among historians regarding his involvement in the conspiracy.

The Persians referred to Alexander’s castle in Persia as the "Kelah-i-Dive-Sefid" meaning Castle of the White Demon^[40] with Alexander representing the Div-e Sepid of the Shahnameh epic.

Invasion of India

After the death of Spitamenes and his marriage to Roxana (Roshanak in Bactrian) to cement his relations with his new Central Asian satrapies, in 326 BC Alexander was finally free to turn his attention to the Indian subcontinent. Alexander invited all the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara, in the north of what is now Pakistan, to come to him and submit to his authority. Ambhi (Greek: Omphis), ruler of Taxila, whose kingdom extended from the Indus to the Jhelum (Greek:Hydaspes), complied. But the chieftains of some hill clans including the Aspasioi and Assakenoi sections of the Kambojas (classical names), known in Indian texts as Ashvayanas and Ashvakayanas (names referring to the equestrian nature of their society from the Sanskrit root word Ashva meaning horse), refused to submit.

Alexander personally took command of the shield-bearing guards, foot-companions, archers, Agrianians and horse-javelin-men and led them against the clans—the Aspasioi of Kunar/Alishang valleys, the Guraeans of the Guraeus (Panjkora) valley, and the Assakenoi of the Swat and Buner valleys. Writes one modern historian: "They were brave people and it was hard work for Alexander to take their strongholds, of which Massaga and Aornus need special mention."^[41][42] A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi in which Alexander himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart but eventually the Aspasioi lost the fight; 40,000 of them were enslaved. The Assakenoi faced Alexander with an army of 30,000 cavalry, 38,000 infantry and 30 elephants.^[43] They had fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to the invader in many of their strongholds like cities of Ora, Bazira and Massaga. The fort of Massaga could only be reduced after several days of bloody fighting in which Alexander himself was wounded seriously in the ankle. When the Chieftain of Massaga fell in the battle, the supreme command of the army went to his old mother Cleophis (q.v.) who also stood determined to defend her motherland to the last extremity. The example of Cleophis assuming the supreme command of the military also brought the entire women of the locality into the fighting.^[44][45] Alexander could only reduce Massaga by resorting to political strategem and actions of betrayal. According to Curtius: "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubbles." A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi.

In the aftermath of general slaughter and arson committed by Alexander at Massaga and Ora, numerous Assakenians people fled to a high fortress called Aornos. Alexander followed them close behind their heels and captured the strategic hill-fort but only after the fourth day of a bloody fight. The story of Massaga was repeated at Aornos and a similar carnage of the tribal-people followed here too.

Writing on Alexander's campaign against the Assakenoi, Victor Hanson comments: "After promising the surrounded Assacenis their lives upon capitulation, he executed all their soldiers who had surrendered. Their strongholds at Ora and Aornus were also similarly stormed. Garrisons were probably all slaughtered.”^[46]

Sisikottos, or Sashigupta who had helped Alexander in this campaign, was made the governor of Aornos. According to H. C. Seth and Ranajit Pal, he was the same as Chandragupta Maurya. After reducing Aornos, Alexander crossed the Indus and fought and won an epic battle against a local ruler Porus (original Indian name Raja Puru), who ruled a region in the Punjab, in the Battle of Hydaspes in 326 BC.

After the battle, Alexander was greatly impressed by Porus for his bravery in battle, and therefore made an alliance with him and appointed him as satrap of his own kingdom, even adding some land he did not own before. Alexander then named one of the two new cities that he founded, Bucephala, in honor of the horse who had brought him to India, who had died during the Battle of Hydaspes.^[47] Alexander continued on to conquer all the headwaters of the Indus River.

East of Porus' kingdom, near the Ganges River (original Indian name Ganga), was the powerful Nanda Empire of Magadha and Gangaridai Empire of Bengal. Fearing the prospects of facing other powerful Indian armies and exhausted by years of campaigning, his army mutinied at the Hyphasis River (the modern Beas River) refusing to march further east. This river thus marks the easternmost extent of Alexander's conquests:

As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. For having had all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at-arms and horsemen and elephants. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants.

—Plutarch , Vita Alexandri, 62^[48]

Gangaridai, a nation which possesses a vast force of the largest-sized elephants. Owing to this, their country has never been conquered by any foreign king: for all other nations dread the overwhelming number and strength of these animals. [Thus Alexander the Macedonian, after conquering all Asia, did not make war upon the Gangaridai, as he did on all others; for when he had arrived with all his troops at the river Ganges, and had subdued all the other Indians, he abandoned as hopeless an invasion of the Gangaridai when he learned that they possessed four thousand elephants well trained and equipped for war. ]"---Megasthenes (c. 350 BC-290 BC). Quoted from the Epitome of Megasthenes, Indika. (Diod. II. 35-42. ), Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian. Translated and edited by J. W. McCrindle.

Alexander spoke to his army and tried to persuade them to march further into India but Coenus pleaded with him to change his opinion and return, the men, he said, "longed to again see their parents, their wives and children, their homeland". Alexander, seeing the unwillingness of his men agreed and turned south. Along the way his army conquered the Malli clans (in modern day Multan), reputed to be among the bravest and most warlike peoples in South Asia. During a siege, Alexander jumped into the fortified city alone with only two of his bodyguards and was wounded seriously by a Mallian arrow.^[49] His forces, believing their king dead, took the citadel and unleashed their fury on the Malli who had taken refuge within it, perpetrating a massacre, sparing no man, woman or child.^[50] However, due to the efforts of his surgeon, Kritodemos of Kos, Alexander survived the injury.^[51] Following this, the surviving Malli surrendered to Alexander's forces, and his beleaguered army moved on, conquering more Indian tribes along the way. He sent much of his army to Carmania (modern southern Iran) with his general Craterus, and commissioned a fleet to explore the Persian Gulf shore under his admiral Nearchus, while he led the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route through the Gedrosian Desert (now part of southern Iran and Makran now part of Pakistan).

In the territory of the Indus, he nominated his officer Peithon as a satrap, a position he would hold for the next ten years until 316 BC, and in the Punjab he left Eudemus in charge of the army, at the side of the satrap Porus and Taxiles. Eudemus became ruler of a part of the Punjab after their death. Both rulers returned to the West in 316 BC with their armies. In 321 BCE, Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire in India and overthrew the Greek satraps.

After India

Discovering that many of his satraps and military governors had misbehaved in his absence, Alexander executed a number of them as examples on his way to Susa. As a gesture of thanks, he paid off the debts of his soldiers, and announced that he would send those over-aged and disabled veterans back to Macedonia under Craterus, but his troops misunderstood his intention and mutinied at the town of Opis, refusing to be sent away and bitterly criticizing his adoption of Persian customs and dress and the introduction of Persian officers and soldiers into Macedonian units. Alexander executed the ringleaders of the mutiny, but forgave the rank and file. In an attempt to craft a lasting harmony between his Macedonian and Persian subjects, he held a mass marriage of his senior officers to Persian and other noblewomen at Susa, but few of those marriages seem to have lasted much beyond a year. Meanwhile, upon his return, Alexander learned some men had desecrated the tomb of Cyrus the Great, and swiftly executed them. For they were put in charge of guarding the tomb Alexander held in honor.

His attempts to merge Persian culture with his Greek soldiers also included training a regiment of Persian boys in the ways of Macedonians. Most historians believe that Alexander adopted the Persian royal title of Shahanshah (meaning: "The King of Kings").

It is claimed that Alexander wanted to overrun or integrate the Arabian peninsula, but this theory is widely disputed. It was assumed that Alexander would turn westwards and attack Carthage and Italy, had he conquered Arabia.

After traveling to Ecbatana to retrieve the bulk of the Persian treasure, his closest friend and possibly lover^[52] Hephaestion died of an illness, or possibly of poisoning. Alexander, distraught over the death of his longtime companion, sacked a nearby town, and put all of its inhabitants to the sword, as a 'sacrifice' to Hephaestion's ghost. Alexander mourned Hephaestion for six months.

Death

On either June 10 or 11, 323 BC, Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon, one month short of his 33rd birthday.^[53] Plutarch gives a lengthy account of the circumstances of his death, echoed (without firm dates) by Arrian. Roughly 14 days before his death, Alexander entertained his admiral Nearchus, and then, instead of going to bed, spent the night and next day drinking with Medius of Larissa.^[54] After this, and by the 18th of Daesius (a Macedonian month) he had developed a fever, which then grew steadily worse.^[54][55] By the 25th of Daesius, he was unable to speak.^[55] By the 26th, the common soldiers had become anxious about his health, or thought he was already dead. They demanded to see him to which Alexander's generals aquiesced.^[55] They soldiers slowly filed past him, whilst Alexander raised his right hand in greeting, still unable to speak.^[56] Two days later, on the 28th of Daesius (although Aristobolus's account says it was the 30th), Alexander was dead.^[54][55] Conversely, Diodorus recounts that Alexander was struck down with pain after downing a large bowl of unmixed wine in honour of Hercules, and (rather mysteriously) died after some agony.^[57], which is also mentioned as an alternative by Arrian, but Plutarch specifically refutes this claim.^[54]

Probable Causes

Poison

Given the propensity of the Macedonian aristocracy to assassination,^[58] it is scarcely suprising that allegations of foul play have been made about the death of Alexander. Diodorus, Plutarch, Arrian and Justin all mention the theory that Alexander was poisoned. Plutarch dismisses it as a fabrication,^[59] whilst both Diodorus and Arrian say that they only mention it for the sake of completeness.^[57][60] The accounts are nevertheless fairly consistent in fingering Antipater, recently removed from the position of Macedonian viceroy, and at odds with Olympias, as the head of the alleged plot. Perhaps taking his summons to Babylon as a death sentence in waiting,^[61] and having seen the fate of Parmenion and Philotas^[62], Antipater arranged for Alexander to be poisoned by his son Iollas, who was Alexander's wine-pourer.^[62][59][60] There is even the suggestion that Aristotle may have had a hand in the plot.^[59][60] Perhaps the strongest argument against the poison theory is the fact that twelve days had passed between the start of his illness and his death and in the ancient world, such long-acting poisons were probably not available.^[63]

Natural Causes

Several diseases have been suggested as the cause of Alexander's death; malaria or typhoid fever are obvious candidates.^[64] A 1998 article in the New England Journal of Medicine attributed his death to typhoid fever complicated by bowel perforation and ascending paralysis,^[64] whereas another recent analysis has suggested pyrogenic spondylitis or meningitis as the cause.^[65] Other illnesses could have also been the culprit, including acute pancreatitis or the West Nile virus.^[66][67] Another theory is that Alexander may have died as a result of overdosing on Hellebore, a plant at that time used medicinely, but deadly in large doses.^[68] Natural cause theories also tend to emphasisee that Alexander's health may have been in general decline after years of heavy drinking and suffering severe wounds (including one in India that nearly claimed his life).^[64] Furthermore, it has also been suggested that the anguish that Alexander felt after Hephaestion may have contributed to his declining health.^[64]

Fate after death

Alexander's body was placed in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus, which was in turn placed in a second gold casket.^[69] According to Aelian, a seer called Aristander foretold that the land where Alexander was lain to rest "would be happy and unvanquishable forever"^[70] Perhaps more likely, the successors may have seen possession of the body as a symbol of legitimacy (it was a royal prerogative to bury the previous king).^[71] At any rate, Ptolemy stole the funeral cortege^{[Note 4]}, and brought it to Memphis.^[70][69] His successor, Ptolemy II Philadelphus transferred the sarcophagus to Alexandria, where it remained until at least Late Antiquity.^[72] Ptolemy IX Lathyros, one of the last successors of Ptolemy I, replaced Alexander's sarcophagus with a glass one, and melted the original down in order to strike emergency gold issues of his coinage.^[72] Pompey, Julius Caesar and Augustus all visited the tomb whilst in Alexandria, the latter allegedly accidentally knocking the nose off the body.^[72] Caligula was said to have taken Alexander's breastplate from the tomb for his own use.^[72] In around 200 AD, Emperor Septimius Severus closed Alexander's tomb to the public.^[72] His son and successor, Caracalla, was a great admirer of Alexander, and visited the tomb in his own reign.^[72] After this, details on the fate of the tomb are sketchy.^[72]

The so-called "Alexander Sarcophagus," discovered near Sidon and now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, is so named, not because it was ever thought to have contained Alexander's remains but because its bas-reliefs depict Alexander and his companions hunting and in battle with the Persians. Originally thought^[73] to have been the sarcophagus of Abdalonymus (died 311 BC), the king of Sidon appointed by Alexander immediately following the battle of Issus, 331,^[74] some recent opinion makes it earlier than Abdalonymus' death.^[75]

Succession

The division of the Empire

Alexander had no obvious or legitimate heir, his son Alexander IV by Roxane being born posthumously. This left the huge question mark as to who would rule the newly-conquered, and barely-pacified Empire.^[76] According to Diodorus, Alexander's companions asked him when he was on his deathbed to whom he bequeathed his kingdom; his laconic reply was "tôi kratistôi" – "to the strongest".^[57] Given that Arrian and Plutarch have Alexander speechless by this point, it is possible that this is an apocryphal story.^[77] Diodorus, Curtius and Justin also have the more plausible story of Alexander passing his signet ring, to Perdiccas, one of his bodyguard and leader of the companion cavalry, in front of witnesses, thereby possibly nominating Perdiccas as his successor.^[57][76]

In the event, Perdiccas initially avoided explicitly claiming power, instead suggesting that Roxane's baby would be king, if male; with himself, Craterus, Leonnatus and Antipater as guardians.^[78] However, the infantry, under the command of Meleager, rejected this arrangement since they had been excluded from the discussion. Instead, they supported Alexander's half-brother Philip Arrhidaeus.^[78] Eventually, the two sides reconciled, and after the birth of Alexander IV, he and Philip III were appointed joint kings of the Empire - albeit in name only.^[78]

It was not long, however, before dissension and rivalry began to afflict the Macedonians. The satrapies handed out by Perdiccas at the Partition of Babylon became power bases for each general, from which to launch his own bid for power.^[79] After the assassination of Perdiccas in 321 BC, all semblence of Macedonian unity collapsed, and 40 years of war between the 'successors' (diadochi) ensued, before the Hellenistic world settled into 4 stable power blocks: the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire in the east, the kingdom of Pergamon in asia minor, and Macedon.^[79] In the process both Alexander IV and Philip III were murdered.^[79]

Testament

Diodorus relates that Alexander had given detailed written instructions to Craterus some time before his death.^[80] Although Craterus had already started to implement some of Alexander's, the successors chose not to further implement them, on the grounds that they were impractical and extravagant.^[80] The testament called for military expansion into the Southern and Western Mediterranean, monumental constructions, and the intermixing of Eastern and Western populations. Its most remarkable items were:

• The construction of a monumental pyre to Hephaestion, costing 10,000 talents
• The construction of a monumental tomb for his father Philip, "to match the greatest of the pyramids of Egypt"
• The erection of great temples in Delos, Delphi, Dodona, Dium, Amphipolis, Cyrnus and Ilium.
• The building of "a thousand warships, larger than triremes, in Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and Cyprus for the campaign against the Carthaginians and the other who live along the coast of Libya and Iberia and the adjoining coastal regions as far as Sicily"
• The building of a road in northern Africa as far as the Pillars of Heracles, with ports and shipyards along it.
• The establishment of cities and the "transplant of populations from Asia to Europe and in the opposite direction from Europe to Asia, in order to bring the largest continent to common unity and to friendship by means of intermarriage and family ties."^[80][61]

Alexander's Character

Physical appearance

Green provides a description of Alexander's appearance, based on ancient sources:

"Physically, Alexander was not prepossessing. Even by Macedonian standards he was very short, though stocky and tough. His beard was scanty, and he stood out against his hirsute Macedonian barons by going clean-shaven. His neck was in some way twisted, so that he appeared to be gazing upward at an angle. His eyes (one blue, one brown) revealed a dewy, feminine quality. He had a high complexion and a harsh voice".^[81]

Many descriptions and statues portray Alexander with the aforementioned gaze looking upward and outward. Both his father Philip II and his brother Philip Arrhidaeus also suffered from physical deformities, which had lead to the suggestion that Alexander suffered from a congenital scoliotic disorder (familial neck and spinal deformity).^[82] Furthermore, as noted above, it has been suggested that this may have contributed to his death.^[82]

Personality

Alexander's personality is well described by the ancient sources. Some of his strongest personality traits seem to have formed in response to his parents.^[81] His mother had huge ambitions for Alexander, and encouraged him to believe it was his destiny to conquer the Persian Empire.^[81] Indeed, Olympias may have gone to the extent of poisoning Philip Arrhidaeus so as to disable him, and prevent him being a rival for Alexander.^[59] Olympias's influence does seem to have instilled huge ambition and a sense of destiny in Alexander,^[83], and Plutarch tells us that his ambition "kept his spirit serious and lofty in advance of his years"^[84] Alexander's relationship with his father seems to have generated the competitive side of his personality; he seemed to have a need to out-do his father, as his reckless nature in battle suggests.^[81] Whilst Alexander worried that his father would leave him "no great or brilliant achievement to be displayed to the world",^[85] he still attempted to downplay his father's achievements.^[81]

One of Alexander's strongest personality traits seems to have been his violent temper and rash, impulsive nature,^[84][86] which undoubtedly contributed to some of his decisions during his life.^[81] Plutarch thought that this part of his personality was the cause of his weakness for alcohol.^[84] Although Alexander was stubborn, and did not respond well to orders from his father, he seems to have been easier to persuade by reasoned debate.^[87] Indeed, set beside his fiery temperament, there was a calmer side to Alexander; intelligent, logical and calculating. He had a great desire for knowledge, a love for philosophy and was an avid reader.^[88] This was no doubt in part due to his tutelage by Aristotle; Alexander seems to have been intelligent and quick to learn.^[87][81] The tale of his "solving" the Gordian knot neatly demonstrates this. We are told that he had great self-restraint in "pleasures of the body", contrasting with his lack of self control with alcohol.^[89][84] The intelligent and rational side to Alexander is also amply demonstrated by his ability and success as a general.^[86]

Alexander was undoubtedly erudite, and was a patron to both the arts and sciences.^[84][88] However, he appears to have had little interest in sports, or the Olympic games (unlike his father), seeking only the Homeric ideals of glory and fame.^[83][84] He had great charisma and force of personality, characteristics which made him a great leader of men.^[86][76] This is further emphasised by the inability of any of his generals to unite the Macedonians, and retain the Empire after his death – only Alexander had had the personality to do so.^[76]

Megalomania

During his final years, and especially after the death of Hephaestion, Alexander began to exhibit signs of megalomania and paranoia.^[61] His extraordinary achievements, coupled with his own ineffable sense of destiny, and the flattery of his companions, may have combined to produce this effect.^[90] His delusions of grandeur are readily visible in the testament that he ordered Craterus to fulfil, and in his desire to conquer all non-Greek peoples.^[61]

He seems to have come to believe himself a diety, or at least sought to deify himself.^[61] Olympias has always insisted to him that he was the son of Zeus,^[91] a theory apparently confirmed to him by the oracle of Ammon at Siwa.^[92] He began to identify himself as the son of Zeus-Ammon.^[92] Alexander adopted some elements of Persian dress and customs at his court, notably the custom of proskynesis, a peculiarly Persian practice whereby persons of inferior status has to prostrate themselves before their superiors (in this case, Alexander) Persians paid to their social superiors, and a practice of which the Greeks disapproved.^[93][94] The Greeks regarded the gesture as the province of deities and believed that Alexander meant to deify himself by requiring it; this cost him much in the sympathies of many of his countrymen.^[94]

Relationships

Alexander's sexuality has long been the subject of debate. Although Alexander married at least twice, there is little evidence that he had a strong interest in women, as evidenced by his failure to produce an heir until the very end of his life.^[81] Furthermore, we are told that Alexander had great self-control in "pleasures of the body",^[89] and although he accumulated a harem in the style of Persian kings, he used it rather sparingly.^[95] He does, however, seem to have formed strong friendships with women, even including Darius's mother Sisygambis, who supposedly died from grief when Alexander died.^[81]

Undoubtedly the great emotional relationship of Alexander's life was with his companion, general and bodyguard Hephaestion, the son of a Macedonian noble.^[81][96][97] Hephaestion's death devastated Alexander, sending him into a six month period of grieving.^[96][98] This event may have contributed to Alexander's failing health, and detached mental state during his final months.^[61][64] Whether Alexander's realtionship with Hephaestion was sexual is nowhere explicitly stated by the ancient sources, although it is hinted at.^[99] If it indeed was, then this was not at all unusual in Greek culture.^[100][101]

Alexander married two women: Roxana, daughter of a Bactrian nobleman, Oxyartes^[102]; and Stateira, a Persian princess and daughter of Darius III of Persia.^[103] His posthumus son by Roxana, Alexander IV of Macedon, became a pawn in the power-struggle between the diadochi, and was killed before he reached adulthood, probably in 310 BC.^[104]

Legacy

The Successors

Alexander's most obvious legacy was the introduction of Macedonian rule to huge new swathes of Asia.^[106] Many of these areas would remain in Macedonian hands, or under Greek influence for the next 200–300 years. The successor states that emerged were, at least initially, dominant forces during this epoch, and these 300 years are often referred to as the Hellenistic Period.^[106]

The eastern borders of Alexander's empire began to collapse even during his lifetime.^[76] However, the power-vacuum he left in the north-west of the Indian subcontinent directly gave rise to one of the most powerful Indian dynasties in history. Taking advantage of the neglect shown to this region by the succesors, Chandragupta Maurya (referred to in European sources as Sandrokotto), of relatively humble origin, took control of the Punjab, and then with that power-base proceeded to conquer the Nanda Empire of northern India.^[107] In 305 BC, Seleucus, one of the successors, marched to India to reclaim the territory; instead, he ceded the area to Chandragupta in return for 500 war elephants. These in turn played a pivotal role in the Battle of Ipsus, the result of which did much to settle the division of the Empire.^[107]

Hellenization

Hellenization is a term coined by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen to denote the spread of Greek language, culture and population into the former Persian empire after Alexander's conquest.^[106] That this export took place is undoubted, and can be seen in the great Hellenistic cities of, for instance, Alexandria and Antioch.^[108] However, exactly how widespread and deeply permeating this was, and to what extent it was a deliberate policy is controversial. Alexander certainly made deliberate attempts to hybridise Greek and Persian culture, culminating in his improbable scheme to homogenise the populations of Asia and Europe.^[109] However, the successors explicitly rejected such policies after his death.^[109] Nevertheless, Hellenization occurred throughout the region, and moreover, this was accompanied by a distinct and opposite 'Orientalization' of the Successor states.^[109][108]

The core of Hellenistic culture was essentially Athenian by origin.^[108][110] The Athenian koine dialect had been adopted by Philip II for official use, and was thus spread throughout the Hellenistic world, becoming the lingua franca, by Alexander's conquests.^[108] Furthermore the town planning, education, local government, and art current in the Hellenistic period were all based on Classical Athenian ideals.^[108]

Some of the most unusual effects of Hellenization can be seen in India, in the region of the relatively late-arising Indo-Greek kingdoms.^[111] There, isolated from Europe, Greek culture apparently hybridised with Indian, and especially Buddhist influences. The first realistic portrayals of the Buddha appeared at this time; they are modelled on Greek statues of Apollo.^[111] Several Buddhist traditions may have been influenced by the ancient Greek religion; the concept of Boddhisatvasis reminiscent of Greek divine heroes,^[112] and some Mahayana ceremonial practices (burning incense, gifts of flowers and food placed on altars) are similar to those practiced by the ancient Greeks. Zen Buddhism draws in part on the ideas of Greek stoics, such as Zeno.^[113] One Greek king, Menander probably became Buddhist, and is immortalized in Buddhist literature as 'Milinda'.^[111]

Influence on Rome

In the late Republic and early Empire, educated Roman citizens used Latin only for legal, political, and ceremonial purposes, and used Greek to discuss philosophy or any other intellectual topic. No Roman wanted to hear it said that his mastery of the Greek language was weak. Throughout the Roman world, the one language spoken everywhere was Alexander's Greek.^{[citation needed]}

Alexander and his exploits were admired by many Romans who wanted to associate themselves with his achievements, although very little is known about Roman-Macedonian diplomatic relations of that time. Polybius started his Histories by reminding Romans of his role, and since then subquent Roman leaders saw him as his inspirational role leader. Julius Caesar wept in Spain at the mere sight of Alexander's statue; when asked to see other great military leaders Caesar said Alexander was the only great one. Pompey the Great rummaged through the closets of conquered nations for Alexander's 260-year-old cloak, which the Roman general then wore as the costume of greatness. Augustus' empire was seen as the more perfect successor of Alexander's. However, in his zeal to honor Alexander, Augustus accidentally broke the nose off the Macedonian's mummified corpse while laying a wreath at the hero's shrine in Alexandria, Egypt. The unbalanced emperor Caligula later took the dead king's armor from that tomb and donned it for luck. The Macriani, a Roman family that rose to the imperial throne in the 3rd century A.D., always kept images of Alexander on their persons, either stamped into their bracelets and rings or stitched into their garments. Even their dinnerware bore Alexander's face, with the story of the king's life displayed around the rims of special bowls.^[114]

In the summer of 1995, a statue of Alexander was recovered in an excavation of a Roman house in Alexandria, which was richly decorated with mosaic and marble pavements and probably was constructed in the 1st century AD and occupied until the 3rd century.^[115]

Legend

Alexander was a legend in his own time. His court historian Callisthenes portrayed the sea in Cilicia as drawing back from him in proskynesis. Writing after Alexander's death, another participant, Onesicritus, went so far as to invent a tryst between Alexander and Thalestris, queen of the mythical Amazons. When Onesicritus read this passage to his patron, Alexander's general and later King Lysimachus reportedly quipped, "I wonder where I was at the time." (Plutarch, Alexander' 46.2)

In the first centuries after Alexander's death, probably in Alexandria, a quantity of the more legendary material coalesced into a text known as the Alexander Romance, later falsely ascribed to the historian Callisthenes and therefore known as Pseudo-Callisthenes. This text underwent numerous expansions and revisions throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages, exhibiting a plasticity unseen in "higher" literary forms. Latin and Syriac translations were made in Late Antiquity. From these, versions were developed in all the major languages of Europe and the Middle East, including Armenian, Georgian, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, Serbian, Slavonic, Romanian, Hungarian, German, English, Italian, and French. The "Romance" is regarded by many Western scholars as the source of the account of Alexander given in the Qur'an (Sura The Cave). It is the source of many incidents in Ferdowsi's "Shahnama". A Mongolian version is also extant. Some believe that, excepting certain religious texts, it is the most widely read work of pre-modern times.

Alexander is also a character of Greek folklore (and other regions), as the protagonist of 'apocryphal' tales of bravery. A maritime legend says that his sister is a mermaid and asks the sailors if her brother is still alive. The unsuspecting sailor who answers truthfully arouses the mermaid's wrath and his boat perishes in the waves; a sailor mindful of the circumstances will answer "He lives and reigns, and conquers the world", and the sea about his boat will immediately calm. Alexander is also a character of a standard play in the Karagiozis repertory, "Alexander the Great and the Accursed Serpent". The ancient Greek poet Adrianus composed an epic poem on the history of Alexander the Great, called the Alexandriad, which was probably still extant in the 10th century, but which is now lost to us.

In the Bible

Daniel 8:5–8 and 21–22 states that a King of Greece will conquer the Medes and Persians but then die at the height of his power and have his kingdom broken into four kingdoms. This is sometimes taken as a reference to Alexander.^{[citation needed]}

Alexander was briefly mentioned in the first Book of the Maccabees. All of Chapter 1, verses 1–7 was about Alexander and this serves as an introduction of the book. This explains how the Hellenistic influence reached the Land of Israel at that time.

In the Qur'an

Alexander the Great sometimes is identified in Persian and Arabic traditions as Dhul-Qarnayn, Arabic for the "Two-Horned One", possibly a reference to the appearance of a horn-headed figure that appears on coins minted during his rule and later imitated in ancient Middle Eastern coinage.^{[citation needed]} Accounts of Dhul-Qarnayn appear in the Qur'an, and so may refer to Alexander.

References to Alexander may also be found in the Persian tradition. The same traditions from the Pseudo-Callisthenes were combined in Persia with Sassanid Persian ideas about Alexander in the Iskandarnamah. In this tradition, Alexander built a wall of iron and melted copper in which Gog and Magog are confined.

Some Muslim scholars^[who?] disagree that Alexander was Dhul-Qarnayn. There are actually some theories that Dhul-Qarnayn was a Persian King with a vast Empire as well, possibly King Cyrus the Great.^{[citation needed]} The reason being is Dhul-Qarnayn is described in the Quran as a monotheist believer who worshipped Allah (God). This would remove Alexander as a candidate for Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander was a polytheist. Yet contemporaneous Persian nobles would have practiced Zurvanism, thus disqualifying them on the same basis.

In the Shahnameh

The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, one of the oldest books written in modern Persian, has a chapter about Alexander. It is a book of epic poetry written around 1000 AD, and is believed to have played an important role in the survival of the Persian language in the face of Arabic influence. It starts with a mythical history of Iran and then gives a story of Alexander, followed by a brief mention of the Arsacids. The accounts after that, still in epic poetry, portray historical figures. Alexander is described as a child of a Persian king, Daraaye Darab (the last in the list of kings in the book whose names do not match historical kings), and a daughter of Philip, a Roman king. However, due to problems in the relationship between the Persian king and Philip's daughter, she is sent back to Rome. Alexander is born to her afterwards, but Philip claims him as his own son and keeps the true identity of the child secret.

Names

Alexander is also known in the Zoroastrian Middle Persian work Arda Wiraz Nāmag as "Alexander the accursed",^[116][117] in the Persian language Guzastag,^[118] due to his conquest of the Persian Empire and the destruction of its capital Persepolis. He is also known as Eskandar-e Maqduni^{[citation needed]}(Alexander of Macedonia") in Persian, al-Iskandar al-Makduni al-Yunani^[119] ("Alexander the Macedonian, of Greece") in Arabic, אלכסנדר מוקדון, Alexander Mokdon in Hebrew, and Tre-Qarnayia in Aramaic (the two-horned one, apparently due to an image on coins minted during his rule that seemingly depicted him with the two ram's horns of the Egyptian god Ammon), الاسكندر الاكبر, al-Iskandar al-Akbar ("Alexander the Great") in Arabic, سکندر اعظم, Sikandar-e-azam in Urdu and Skandar in Pashto. Sikandar, his name in Urdu and Hindi, is also a term used as a synonym for "expert" or "extremely skilled".

In ancient and modern culture

Around seventy towns or outposts are claimed to have been founded by Alexander.^[120] Diodorus Siculus credits Alexander with planning cities on a grid plan.^[121]

Alexander has figured in works of both "high" and popular culture from his own era to the modern day.

Alexander was depicted on the reverse of the Greek 100 drachmas coin of 1990-2001.^[122]

During the last few years there have been many claims by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia that Alexander the Great is actually a part of the country's history, and that present-day ethnic Macedonians are the descendants of the Ancient Macedonians. Many Albanians today also see themselves as descendants of Alexander the Great.

Notes

References

Sources

Primary Source

• Arrian, translated by Aubrey De Selincourt, (1987). The Campiagns of Alexander. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044253-7.
• Plutarch, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert, (1988). The Age of Alexander. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044286-3.

Secondary Sources

• Partha Bose, (2003). Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-74114-113-3.
• Will Durant, (1966). The Story of Civilization: The Life of Greece. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-41800-9.
• Edited by Bill Fawcett, (2006). How To Loose A Battle: Foolish Plans and Great Military Blunders. ISBN 0-06-076024-9
• Nick McCarty (2004). Alexander the Great. Penguin Group. ISBN 0-670-04268-4.
• Mary Renault, (2001). The Nature of Alexander the Great. ISBN 0-141-39076-X.
• Green, Peter (1992). Alexander of Macedon: 356–323 B.C. A Historical Biography. University of California Press. ISBN 0520071662. 
• Lane Fox, Robin (1973). Alexander the Great. Allen Lane. ISBN 0860077071. 
• Lane Fox, Robin (1980). The Search for Alexander. Little Brown & Co. Boston. ISBN 0316291080. 
• Renault, Mary (1979). The Nature of Alexander. Pantheon Books. ISBN 039473825X. 
• Wilcken, Ulrich (1997) [1932]. Alexander the Great. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393003817. 
• Worthington, Ian (2003). Alexander the Great. Routledge. ISBN 0415291879. 
• Worthington, Ian (2004). Alexander the Great: Man And God. Pearson. ISBN 9781405801621. 
• Danforth, Loring M. (1997). The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691043566. 
• Stoneman, Richard (2004). Alexander the Great. Routledge. ISBN 0415319323. 
• Bowra, Maurice (1994). The Greek Experience. Phoenix Books. ISBN 1-85799-122-2. 
• Sacks, David (1995). Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World. Constable and Co.. ISBN 0-09-475270-2. 
• Nandan, Y & Bhavan, BV (2003). British Death March Under Asiatic Impulse: Epic of Anglo-Indian Tragedy in Afghanistan. ISBN 8172763018. 
• Gunther, John (2007). Alexander the Great. Sterling. ISBN 1402745192. 
• The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare: Greece, the Hellenistic World and the Rise of Rome. Cambridge University Press. 2007. ISBN 0521782732. 
• Tripathi, Rama Shankar. History of Ancient India. 
• Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, K. A. Berney, Paul E. Schellinger (1994). International dictionary of historic places. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1884964036. 
• Nicolas Grimal (1992). A History of Ancient Egypt (reprint ed.). Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0631193960. 
• Narain, AK (1965). Alexander the Great: Greece and Rome–12. 
• Pomeroy, S.; Burstein, S.; Dolan, W.; Roberts, J. (1998). Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509742-4. 
• Hammond, N. G. L. (1989). The Macedonian State: Origins, Institutions, and History.. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-814883-6. 
• Bhanwarlal Nathuram Luniya (1978). Life and Culture in Ancient India: From the Earliest Times to 1000 A.D.. Lakshmi Narain Agarwal. 
• James Bissett Pratt (1996). The Pilgrimage of Buddhism and a Buddhist Pilgrimage. ISBN 8120611969. 
• James Jerome Murphy; Richard A. Katula, Forbes I. Hill, Donovan J. Ochs (2003). A Synoptic History of Classical Rhetoric. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 17. ISBN 1880393352. http://books.google.es/books?id=PqM4VQL9qKEC&pg=PA17&dq=%2B%22alexander+the+great%22+%2B%22known+world%22&lr=. 
• Cartledge, Paul. "Alexander the Great: hunting for a new past?" History Today, 54 (2004).
• Fox, Robin Lane, "Riding with Alexander" Archaeology, September 14, 2004.

External links

Primary Sources

• Plutarch, Of the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander the Great (English)
• Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus (English)
• Alexander the Great: An annotated list of primary sources from Livius.org
• Wiki Classical Dictionary, extant sources and fragmentary and lost sources

Other

• A Bibliography of Alexander the Great by Waldemar Heckel
• Pothos.org: Alexander's Home on the Web
• Alexander III the Great, entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
• Alexander the Great on the Web, a comprehensive directory of some 1,000 sites
• Alexander The Great in the French museum Le Louvre
• Alexander, The Great Mystery by T. Peter Limber in "Saudi Aramco Magazine"
• Trace Alexander's conquests on an animated map
• Alexander the Great of Macedon, a project by John J. Popovic
• Alexander in the Punjab. A Photo Essay, photos of all sites Alexander visited
• Alexander the Great Coins, a site depicting Alexander's coins and later coins featuring Alexander's image

Alexander the Great Argead dynasty Born: 356 BC Died: 323 BC
Preceded by Philip II	King of Macedon 336–323 BC	Succeeded by Philip III & Alexander IV
Preceded by Darius III	Great King (Shah) of Persia 330–323 BC
	Pharaoh of Egypt 332–323 BC
Preceded by New Title	King of Asia 331–323 BC

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Persondata
NAME	Alexander the Great
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Alexander III, Μέγας Aλέξανδρος (Greek)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Greek military commander
DATE OF BIRTH	July 20, 356 BC
PLACE OF BIRTH	Pella, Macedon
DATE OF DEATH	June 10, 323 BC
PLACE OF DEATH	Babylon