Alexander The Great

The City of Macedon

Alexander

Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/Alexander_the_Great/ 

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Alexander III of Macedon, better known as Alexander the Great (l. 21 July 356 BCE – 10 or 11 June 323 BCE, r. 336-323 BCE), was the son of King Philip II of Macedon (r. 359-336 BCE) who became king upon his father's death in 336 BCE and then conquered most of the known world of his day.

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He is known as 'the great' both for his military genius and his diplomatic skills in handling the various populaces of the regions he conquered. He is further recognized for spreading Greek culture, language, and thought from Greece throughout Asia Minor, Egypt, and Mesopotamia to India and thus initiating the era of the Hellenistic Period (323-31 BCE) during which four of his generals (his successors, known as the Diadochi), in between their wars for supremacy, continued his policies of integrating Greek (Hellenistic) culture with that of the Near East. He died of unknown causes in 323 BCE without clearly naming a successor (or, according to some accounts, his choice of the commander Perdiccas was ignored) and the empire he built was divided among the Diadochi.

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Alexander's campaigns became legendary after his death, influencing the tactics and careers of later Greek and Roman generals, as well as inspiring numerous biographies attributing to him a god-like status. Modern day historians have generally taken a more critical approach to his life and career than earlier accounts, as evidenced by criticism of his destruction of Persepolis and treatment of the citizens of Tyre, but the general consensus regarding his legacy among Western scholars, anyway, remains largely positive and he remains one of the most popular and recognizable figures in world history.

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Alexander's Youth

When Alexander was young, he was taught to fight and ride by Leonidas of Epirus, a relative of his mother Olympias, as well as to endure hardships such as forced marches. His father, Philip, was interested in cultivating a refined future king and so hired Lysimachus of Acarnania to teach the boy reading, writing, and to play the lyre. This tutelage would instill in Alexander a lifelong love of reading and music. At the age of 13 or 14, Alexander was introduced to the Greek philosopher Aristotle (l. 384-322 BCE) whom Philip hired as a private tutor. He would study with Aristotle until the age of 16, and the two are said to have remained in correspondence throughout Alexander's later campaigns, although evidence of this is anecdotal.

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Aristotle's influence directly bore upon Alexander's later dealings with the people he conquered, in that Alexander never forced the culture of Greece upon the inhabitants of the various regions but merely introduced it in the same way Aristotle used to teach his students. The influence of Leonidas may be seen in Alexander's lifelong resilience and physical stamina as well as in his skill with horses. Alexander is said to have tamed the 'untamable' Bucephalus when he was only 11 or 12 years old.

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While his various tutors' influences certainly had a profound effect upon him, Alexander seemed destined for greatness from birth. He had, first of all, a father whose accomplishments laid a firm foundation for his later success. The historian Diodorus Siculus observes:

During the twenty-four years of his reign as King of Macedonia, in which he started with the slenderest resources, Philip built his own kingdom up into the greatest power in Europe...He projected the overthrow of the Persian Empire, landed forces in Asia and was in the act of liberating the Hellenic communities when he was interrupted by Fate - in spite of which, he bequeathed a military establishment of such size and quality that his son Alexander was enabled to overthrow the Persian Empire without requiring the assistance of allies.

These achievements were not the work of Fortune but of his own force of character, for this king stands out above all others for his military acumen, personal courage and intellectual brilliance. (Book XVI.ch.1)

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While it is clear that his father had a great impact on him, Alexander himself chose to see his success as ordained by divine forces. He called himself the son of Zeus, and so claimed the status of a demigod, linking his bloodline to his two favorite heroes of antiquity, Achilles and Hercules, and modeling his behavior after theirs.

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This belief in his divinity was instilled in him by Olympias who also told him that his was a virgin birth as she had been miraculously impregnated by Zeus himself. His birth was associated with great signs and wonders, such as a bright star gleaming over Macedonia that night and the destruction of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Plutarch writes:

Alexander was born the sixth of Hecatombaeon, which month the Macedonians call Lous, the same day that the temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt; which Hegesias of Magnesia makes the occasion of a conceit, frigid enough to have stopped the conflagration. The temple, he says, took fire and was burnt while its mistress was absent, assisting at the birth of Alexander.

And all the Eastern soothsayers who happened to be then at Ephesus, looking upon the ruin of this temple to be the forerunner of some other calamity, ran about the town, beating their faces, and crying that this day had brought forth something that would prove fatal and destructive to all Asia. (Plutarch, Life of Alexander, I)

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Chaeronea & the Early Campaigns

Alexander's military prowess was first noted at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE. Although only 18 years old, he helped turn the tide of battle in the decisive Macedonian victory which defeated the Greek allied city-states. When Philip II was assassinated in 336 BCE, Alexander assumed the throne, and with the Greek city-states now united under Macedonian rule following Chaeronea, embarked on the great campaign his father had been planning: the conquest of the mighty Persian Empire. Worthington states:

Homer was Alexander's bible and he took Aristotle's edition with him to Asia...During his campaigns Alexander was always intent on finding out everything he could about the areas through which he passed. He took with him an entourage of scientists to record and analyse this information, from botany, biology, zoology and meteorology, to topography. His desire to learn, and to have information recorded as scientifically as possible, probably stemmed from Aristotle's teachings and enthusiasm. (34-35)

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With a Macedonian army of 32,000 infantry and 5,100 cavalry, Alexander crossed over to Asia Minor in 334 BCE to begin his conquest of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, defeating the Persian army led by satraps at the Battle of Granicus in May. He then "liberated" (as he phrased his conquest) the cities of Sardis and Ephesus from Persian rule that same year before moving on to others in Asia Minor. At Ephesus, he offered to rebuild the Temple of Artemis, which had been destroyed by arson on the night of his birth, but the city refused his gesture. In 333 BCE, Alexander and his troops defeated the larger force of King Darius III (r. 336-330 BCE) of Persia at the Battle of Issos. Alexander went on to sack the Phoenician cities of Baalbek and Sidon (which had surrendered) in 332 BCE and then lay siege to the island city of Tyre.

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So determined was he to conquer the ancient city of Tyre that he built a causeway from the mainland to the island on which to mount his siege engines. This causeway, in time, collected silt and earth and is the reason why Tyre is a part of the mainland in Lebanon today. For their stubborn resistance, the inhabitants of the city were slaughtered and the survivors sold into slavery. His policy regarding the citizens of Tyre is cited by historians, ancient and modern, as a prime example of his ruthlessness. In 331 BCE, he conquered Egypt where he founded the city of Alexandria. At the Oracle of Siwa, in the eponymous Egyptian oasis, he was proclaimed a son of the god Zeus-Ammon.

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Though he had conquered Egypt, Alexander was not interested in imposing his own ideas of truth, religion, or behavior upon the people as long as they willingly kept the supply lines open to feed and equip his troops (an important aspect of his ability to rule vast areas, which was to be neglected by his successors). This does not mean, however, that he did not ruthlessly suppress uprisings or hesitate to viciously annihilate those who opposed him. After designing the plan for the city of Alexandria, he left Egypt for Syria and northern Mesopotamia to pursue further campaigns against Persia.

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The Persian Campaigns

In 331 BCE, Alexander met King Darius III again on the battlefield at Gaugamela (also called the Battle of Arbela), where, once again facing overwhelming numbers, he decisively defeated Darius III who fled the field. Alexander then moved on to take Babylon and Susa which surrendered unconditionally without resistance. In the winter of 330, Alexander marched toward Persepolis, meeting resistance at the Battle of the Persian Gates defended by the hero Ariobarzanes (l. 386-330 BCE) and his sister Youtab Aryobarzan (d. 330 BCE) at the head of the Persian troops. Alexander defeated this force and took Persepolis, which he then burned.

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Alexander founded many cities bearing his name during this time to further his public image not only as a "liberator" but as a god and adopted the title Shahanshah (King of Kings) used by the rulers of the First Persian Empire. In keeping with this status, Alexander introduced the Persian custom of proskynesis to the army, forcing those who addressed him to first kneel and kiss his hand.

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The Macedonian troops became progressively uncomfortable with Alexander's apparent deification and adoption of Persian customs. Assassination plots were hatched (notably in 327 BCE) only to be revealed and the conspirators executed, even if they were old friends. Callisthenes became one of these when he was implicated in a plot. Cleitus, the elder statesman who had saved Alexander's life at the Battle of Granicus, would doom himself in a similar way. In c. 327 BCE Alexander would dispose of both Callisthenes and Cleitus, in separate incidents, for treason and questioning his authority, respectively.

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Alexander's habit of drinking to excess was well known, and certainly in the case of Cleitus' death, significantly influenced the murder. Both Cleitus and Callisthenes had become quite vocal in their criticism of Alexander's adoption of Persian customs. Though capable of great diplomacy and skill in dealing with conquered peoples and their rulers, Alexander was not known for tolerating personal opinions which conflicted with his own, and this intolerance was exacerbated by drinking. Cleitus' death was swift, through a javelin Alexander hurled at him, while Callisthenes was imprisoned and died in confinement.

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India & Mutiny

In 327 BCE, with the Persian Empire firmly under his control and newly married to the Bactrian noblewoman Roxana (l. c. 340 to c. 310 BCE), Alexander turned his attention to India. Having heard of the exploits of the great Macedonian general, the Indian King Omphis of Taxila submitted to his authority without a fight, but the Aspasioi and Assakenoi tribes strongly resisted. In battles throughout 327 BCE and into 326 BCE, Alexander subdued these tribes, finally meeting King Porus of Paurava at the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BCE.

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Porus charged Alexander's forces with elephants and fought so bravely with his troops that, after defeating Porus, Alexander installed him as ruler of a larger region than he had previously held. Alexander's horse Bucephalus was killed in this battle, and Alexander named one of the two cities he founded after the battle 'Bucephala' after him.

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Alexander intended to march on and cross the River Ganges toward further conquests, but his troops, worn out by the hard-fought battle with Porus (in which, according to Arrian, Alexander lost 1000 men), mutinied in 326 BCE and refused to go further. Alexander tried to persuade his men to press on but, failing to win them over, finally assented to their wishes. He split his army in two, sending half back to Susa by sea under the command of Admiral Nearchus through the Persian Gulf, and marching the other half on through the Gedrosian Desert in 325 BCE, almost a full year after his troops had mutinied.

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His reasoning behind this decision, both the delay in withdrawal after the mutiny and the form it finally took, is still unclear and debated by historians. Even though he had abandoned his conquest of India, he still paused on his march to subdue those hostile tribes he encountered along the way. The harsh terrain of the desert, and the military engagements, took a great toll on his troops, and by the time they reached Susa in 324 BCE, Alexander had sustained considerable losses.

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Alexander intended to march on and cross the River Ganges toward further conquests, but his troops, worn out by the hard-fought battle with Porus (in which, according to Arrian, Alexander lost 1000 men), mutinied in 326 BCE and refused to go further. Alexander tried to persuade his men to press on but, failing to win them over, finally assented to their wishes. He split his army in two, sending half back to Susa by sea under the command of Admiral Nearchus through the Persian Gulf, and marching the other half on through the Gedrosian Desert in 325 BCE, almost a full year after his troops had mutinied.

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His reasoning behind this decision, both the delay in withdrawal after the mutiny and the form it finally took, is still unclear and debated by historians. Even though he had abandoned his conquest of India, he still paused on his march to subdue those hostile tribes he encountered along the way. The harsh terrain of the desert, and the military engagements, took a great toll on his troops, and by the time they reached Susa in 324 BCE, Alexander had sustained considerable losses.

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At about this time, in 324 BCE, his lifelong friend, possibly his lover, and his second-in-command, Hephaestion, died from a fever, though some reports suggest he may have been poisoned. The claim that Alexander was homosexual or bisexual is supported by biographies written after his death and Hephaestion is routinely noted as his lover as well as his best friend. Historians' accounts of Alexander's response to this event universally agree that his grief was insupportable.

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Alexander's Death

While still processing the grief of Hephaestion's death, Alexander returned to Babylon in 323 BCE with plans for expanding his empire but he would never realize them. He died at Babylon at the age of 32 on 10 or 11 June 323 BCE after suffering ten days of high fever. Theories concerning his cause of death have ranged from poisoning to malaria to meningitis to bacterial infection from drinking contaminated water (among others).

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Plutarch says that, 14 days before his death, Alexander entertained his fleet admiral Nearcus and his friend Medius of Larissa with a long bout of drinking, after which he fell into a fever from which he never recovered. When he was asked who should succeed him, Alexander said, “the strongest”, which answer led to his empire being divided between four of his generals: Cassander, Ptolemy, Antigonus, and Seleucus (known as the Diadochi or 'successors').