(356-323 B.C.E) Macedonian ruler.
Alexander the great was born in a town called pella in the summer of 356 B.C.E.His father was PHILIP OF MACEDON,and his mother was Olympias.Philip II ascended to the throne in 359 B.C.E.at the age of 24.Under Philip II, Macedonia thrived and emerged as a strong power.Philip reorganized his army into infantry phalanx using a new weapon known as the sarissa,which was a very long(18 foot) spear.This wasba devastating force against all other armies using the standard-size spears of the time.
Alexander ‘s birth and early childhood are unclear,related only by Plutarch,who wrote his Life of Alexander around 100 C.E,many centuries later.In his youth Alexander had a classical education,with ARISTOTLE as one of his teachers .One of his teachers.One of his tutors,Lysimachus,promoted Alexander’s Identification with the Greek hero Achilles.Later ,Philip II took another wife,Cleopatra,who bore him a son named Caranus and a daughter.
Thisd created a second heir to the throne.Olympias was a strong-willed woman who jealously guarded her son’s right to succesion.She had given Philip his eledest son,However,She was no longer in favor with Philip.
At the age of 18,Alexander and his Father led a cavarly against the armies of Athens and THEBES, which were fighting the last line of Greek Defenses against Philip’s conquest.Philip had set a trap with his maneuver and at the decisive moment,Alexander ,with his cavarly,sprung the trap.This victory at the Battle of Chaeronea in August 338 completed Philip’s Conquest of Greece.In 336 Philip was murdered by Pausanias ,a bodyguard.up[on the death of his Father,Alexander and his mother ,Olympias ,did away with any of his political rivals who were vying for the throne.Philip’s second wife and children were slain.
ALEXANDER THE KING
Alexander became king in 336.He was an absolute ruler in Macedonia and king of the city-states of Athens,Sparta and Thebes.As a new king,he had to prove that he was as powerful a ruler as his father,Philip II, had been.Revolts against his rule first occurred in Thrace.In the spring of 335,Alexander and his army defeated the Thracians and advanced into the Triballian kingdom across the Danube river.Alexander faced the challenge of Placating the recently conquered GREEK City states.While Alexander was in the Triballian kingdom,the Greek cities rebelled against the Macedonian rule.
The Athenian orator DEMOSTHENES spread a rumor that Alexander ha been fatally wounded in an attack.News of Alexander’s death sparked rebellions in other Greek states,such as Thebes.Thebans attacked the Macedonian garrison of their city and drove out the Macedonian general parmenio.Their victory was due to a Greek mercenary named Memnon of rhodes.Memnon defeated parmenio at Magnesia and pushed him back to northwest Asia minor.Alexander returned to Thebes after his victories and strong opposition from the Thebans,but Alexander defeated them swiftly.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST PERSIA
Alexander embarked on a campaign against Persia in the spring of 334.The Persians had attacked Athens in 480,burning the sacred temples of Acropolis and enslaving Ionian Greeks.Alexander,a Macedon,won great favor with the Greeks by uniting them against Persia.He set out with an army of 30000 infantry, 5000 cavalry and a fleet 120 warships.The core force was the infantry phalanx,with 9000 men armed with sarissa.The Persian army had about 200000 men, including Greek mercenaries. Memnon,the Greek mercenary general led,the Persian force. Alexander had an excellent knowledge of Persian war strategy from an early age.In the spring of 334 he crossed the Hellespont(Dardanelles) into Persian territory. The Persian army stationed themselves uphill on a steep, slippery Rocky terrain on the eastern Bank of the river Granicus. Here they met Alexander’s army for the first time in May 334.Alexander was attacked on all sides but managed to escape, though he was wounded.
The Persians left the battle,thinking they had claimed victory,and behind only their Greek mercenaries to fight ,resulting in a very high casualty rate on the Persian side.Alexander armies advanced south along the Ionian coast.Some cities surrendered outright.Greek cities such as Ephesus,Welcomed him as a liberator from the Persians.Memnon’s forced still presented a threat to Alexander.They stationed themselves at sea,and as Alexander did not wish to join in a sea battle,they were unable to stop his advances on land.In the city of Halicarnassus, alexander took the city,burned it down,and installed Ada, his ally,as queen.The persian cities Termessus ,Aspendus,Perge,Selge and Sagalassus were taken afterward without much difficulty.This ease of conquest continued untill reached Celaenae, where he ordered his general and antigonus to placate the region.
“DIVINE” RULER OF ASIA
Throughout his military campaign people perceived Alexander to be divine.Even the ocean according to legend, seemed to be servile toward him and his armies.There was a legend involving a massive knot of rope ,Starting that he who could unravel the Knot would rule the world.Money had tried,while alexander merely cut through the knot with his sword.Upon Hearing this,king Gordius of Gordium Surrendered his lands.The story this divine prophecy being fulfill spread quickly.Memnon’s death was also regarded as proof of Alexander’s divine quality.This Hastened Alexander’s progress through the Persian territories of the eastern Mediterranean,which were long-held conquered greek states.
The Battle of Issus in the gulf Iskanderun was a decisive battle fought in the November 333.The Persian king Darius himself let the Persian forces.Darius had a massive force, much larger than Alexander’s army.Darius was brilliant,approaching Alexander’s army from the rear and cutting of the army’s supplies.The Battle occurred on a narrow plain not large enough for the massive armies ; it was fought across the steep-sided river pinarus.This lost the advantage for the persians,and Alexander emerged victorious as king Darius III Fled.
The Battle of Issus was a turning point. Alexander
moved from the Greek states that he liberated to lands inhabited by the Persians themselves. He conquered Byblos and Sidon unopposed. In Tyre he faced real opposition. The city fortress was on an island in the sea, and his prospects were worsened by his lack of a fleet. To his aid came liberated troops, defected from the Persian fleet. The army and the people of Tyre were defeated—most were tortured and slain, somewere sold into slavery. Other coastal cities then readily surrendered.
In 331 Alexander marched on to Egypt. Egyptians
welcomed him as he was freeing them from Persian
control, and the city of Alexandria was founded in
his name. Alexander took a journey across the desertto the temple of Zeus Ammon, where an oracle toldhim of his future and that he would rule the world.From Egypt, Alexander corresponded with Darius, thePersian king. Darius wanted a truce, but Alexanderwanted the whole of the Persian Empire.
The same year he marched into Persia to pursue
Darius. He conquered the lands around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Alexander encountered Darius at Gaugamela and defeated the Persian army. Babylon and Susa fell, and he reaped their riches. After conquering the Persian capital of Persepolis, he rested there for a few months and then continued his pursuit of Darius. However, his own men had already assassinated Darius.
Alexander started to adopt Persian dress and customs in order to combine Greek and Persian culture as a new, larger empire. He married Roxane, creating a queen who was not Greek, and this lost some of his Greek supporters. Still he gathered enough military support to invade India in 327. After many conquests he encountered Porus, a powerful Indian ruler, who put up a great battle near the river Hydaspes.
After this his men were then reluctant to advance further into India. Alexander was seriously injured with a chest wound, and his armies retreated from India. Alexander died on June 10, 323 b.c.e., at the age of 33. Different scenarios have been proposed for the cause of his death, which include poisoning, illness that followed a drinking party, or a relapse of the malaria he had contracted earlier. Rumors of his illness circulated among the troops, causing them to be more and more anxious. On June 9, the generals decided to let the soldiers see their king alive one last time, and guests were admitted to his presence one at a time. Because the king was too sick to speak, he just waved his hand. The day after, Alexander was dead.
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