Alex the GREAT!

Alexander was born in 356 B.C.E, son to the Philip II, the ruler of Macedonia. During his childhood, he watched his father transform Macedonia into a deadly war-machine, which conquer any land. His father hired the Greek philosopher Aristotle, as Alex's teacher, giving him the opportunity to develop his interests in science, medicine, philosophy, and literature. At the age of 16, his father left the country to conquer some neighbors, and Alex was left to rule. This shows that his father trusted him to be mature enough to take responsibility at such an early age. Indeed, he repressed a rebellion from a neighboring country of Macedonia (Thrace), took over their cities and renamed them Alexandropolis, after himself. He also conquered Greece at the age of 18, when his father put him in command of troops. When his father remarried, his wife's uncle indirectly insulted Alexander, who therefore threw his cup of wine in the man's face, wherefore his father assaulted him. Philip was assasinated and Alex was left to rule the fast empire.

What made Alex so successful were his strategics and his speed. He managed to cover a distance of 240 miles in just 2 weeks: with an entire army. During the beginning of his reign, he had to surpress Greek and other revolts, only after which he could give his attention to further conquests. He took over all of the Greek mainland and advanced to Persia and the rest of Asia Minor. He is well known for his respect towards victims of his conquests, especially Darius and his family. He then conquered Phoenicia and Syria, followed by Egypt, where he marched to an oracle, in order to gain respect from the Egyptians, as their rightful king. This shows that he accepted other culture's beliefs. He was also very fair when facing Darius' revolting attack in Babylon, he chose to start battle in the morning, instead of taking advantage of the night. Nevertheless, he won anyways, but Darius fled. When he later found Darius assasinated, Alex gave him a noble royal funeral and paid his respects, before avenging the Bactrian murderer. Later, he invaded the Punjab of India, but his men refused to go on, as they were already so far away from their homeland. Therefore, they returned, loosing many men on the way. When the were back, Alex held huge celebrations at Susa and married himself and many of his men to Persian noblewomen, as well as legalizing past marriages between his soldiers and native women. He wanted to create a new dynasty of mixed ancestry. He planned a campaign against Arabia, but shortly after that he contracted a high fever and died in 323 B.C.E.

Alexander hadn't left a successor to his vast empire, so chaos was, as always great. Through his many conquests, he had sped the spread of ideas, bringing Greek culture to new parts of the world. Through Greek language, ancient Jewish scriptures were translated, making Judaism and Christianity available to many others. Alex remains to be known for his violent temper after too much wine at his festivities, but he was still the great conqueror on the outside.

 

http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/AlexandertheGreat.html
http://jasonretherford.wordpress.com/2005/04/21/alexander-the-great-and-his-influence/
http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Article/777720