[275], The Syriac version of the Alexander Romance portrays him as an ideal Christian world conqueror who prayed to "the one true God". Alexander the Great. [193], Some of Alexander's strongest personality traits formed in response to his parents. Alexander the Great was an ancient Macedonian ruler and one of history’s greatest military minds who, as King of Macedonia and Persia, established the largest empire the ancient world had ever seen. During the ensuing Battle of Chaeronea, Philip commanded the right wing and Alexander the left, accompanied by a group of Philip's trusted generals. They crossed the Hellespont, a narrow strait between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara, and faced Persian and Greek forces at the Granicus River. The Macedonians were a Greek tribe. Alexander was the first to break the Theban lines, followed by Philip's generals. Ancient Antioch, Glanville Downey, Princeton University Press, 2015. [54], Before crossing to Asia, Alexander wanted to safeguard his northern borders. Death While considering the conquests of Carthage and Rome, Alexander the Great died of malaria in Babylon (now Iraq), on June 13, 323 B.C. They went on to occupy the city of Elatea, only a few days' march from both Athens and Thebes. [189], Historian and Egyptologist Joann Fletcher has said that the Alexander had blond hair. [99] He claimed that, while dying, Darius had named him as his successor to the Achaemenid throne. [209] Alexander adopted elements of Persian dress and customs at court, notably proskynesis, a practice of which Macedonians disapproved, and were loath to perform. [258] Julius Caesar dedicated a Lysippean equestrian bronze statue but replaced Alexander's head with his own, while Octavian visited Alexander's tomb in Alexandria and temporarily changed his seal from a sphinx to Alexander's profile. His chroniclers recorded valuable information about the areas through which he marched, while the Greeks themselves got a sense of belonging to a world beyond the Mediterranean. [248] Koine spread throughout the Hellenistic world, becoming the lingua franca of Hellenistic lands and eventually the ancestor of modern Greek. After surviving battle after fierce battle, Alexander the Great died in June 323 B.C. In popular culture, the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden included a song titled "Alexander the Great" on their 1986 album Somewhere in Time. [138] Back in Babylon, Alexander planned a series of new campaigns, beginning with an invasion of Arabia, but he would not have a chance to realize them, as he died shortly after Hephaestion. Written by bass player Steve Harris, the song retells Alexander's life. [16], On its way back to Macedonia, the funerary cart with Alexander's body was met in Syria by one of Alexander's generals, the future ruler Ptolemy I Soter. Alexander followed this advice, but the route turned to be unfavorable because of swampy terrain. At ...read more, Alexander Graham Bell, best known for his invention of the telephone, revolutionized communication as we know it. [59] While the other cities again hesitated, Thebes decided to fight. But he’d never live to see it happen. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the east, Hellenistic influence on Indian art was far-ranging. [102], In 329 BC, Spitamenes, who held an undefined position in the satrapy of Sogdiana, betrayed Bessus to Ptolemy, one of Alexander's trusted companions, and Bessus was executed. He decided to take his life by self-immolation. Fordham University. In the week before Alexander's death, historical accounts mention chills, sweats, exhaustion and high fever, typical symptoms of infectious diseases, including typhoid fever. He had accompanied the Greek army back from Punjab, upon request by Alexander. [91] Plutarch recounts an anecdote in which Alexander pauses and talks to a fallen statue of Xerxes as if it were a live person: Shall I pass by and leave you lying there because of the expeditions you led against Greece, or shall I set you up again because of your magnanimity and your virtues in other respects? [199] He had a calmer side—perceptive, logical, and calculating. To further diffuse the situation, Alexander returned their titles and hosted a huge reconciliation banquet. [133] Meanwhile, upon his return to Persia, Alexander learned that guards of the tomb of Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae had desecrated it, and swiftly executed them. Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture in the east resulted in a new Hellenistic civilization, aspects of which were still evident in the traditions of the Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century AD and the presence of Greek speakers in central and far eastern Anatolia until the Greek genocide and the population exchange in the 1920s. Alexander and his exploits were admired by many Romans, especially generals, who wanted to associate themselves with his achievements. In the aftermath of Massaga and Ora, numerous Assakenians fled to the fortress of Aornos. After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, he succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. Alexander was proclaimed king on the spot by the nobles and army at the age of 20. [49] Alexander spared Arrhidaeus, who was by all accounts mentally disabled, possibly as a result of poisoning by Olympias. Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion and syncretism which his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism. [88] Alexander stayed in Persepolis for five months. [156], Several natural causes (diseases) have been suggested, including malaria and typhoid fever. [180] Nevertheless, Perdiccas read Alexander's will to his troops.[60]. [278] In medieval Europe, Alexander the Great was revered as a member of the Nine Worthies, a group of heroes whose lives were believed to encapsulate all the ideal qualities of chivalry. Alexander the Great was 32 years old when he died. After the assassination of Perdiccas in 321 BC, Macedonian unity collapsed, and 40 years of war between "The Successors" (Diadochi) ensued before the Hellenistic world settled into four stable power blocs: Ptolemaic Egypt, Seleucid Mesopotamia and Central Asia, Attalid Anatolia, and Antigonid Macedon. This ensured that Alexander would not be outflanked, while his phalanx, armed with long pikes, had a considerable advantage over the Persians' scimitars and javelins. [43], In summer 336 BC, while at Aegae attending the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to Olympias's brother, Alexander I of Epirus, Philip was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguards, Pausanias. The Macedonian army resented Alexander’s attempt to change their culture and many mutinied. [19] The malaria version was nonetheless supported by Paul Cartledge. As the story goes, Alexander took on the challenge but was unable to unravel the knot by hand. [232] Green suggested that, in the context of the period, Alexander formed quite strong friendships with women, including Ada of Caria, who adopted him, and even Darius' mother Sisygambis, who supposedly died from grief upon hearing of Alexander's death. Alexander wanted to press on and attempt to conquer all of India, but his war-weary soldiers refused, and his officers convinced him to return to Persia. In the winter of 327/326 BC, Alexander personally led a campaign against the Aspasioi of Kunar valleys, the Guraeans of the Guraeus valley, and the Assakenoi of the Swat and Buner valleys. Bucephalus. He died in Babylon at the age of 32 on 10 or 11 June 323 BCE after suffering ten days of high fever. [69] In the following year, 332 BC, he was forced to attack Tyre, which he captured after a long and difficult siege. [70] At the ancient Phrygian capital of Gordium, Alexander "undid" the hitherto unsolvable Gordian Knot, a feat said to await the future "king of Asia". San Jose State University. [238] The temple was designed by Pytheos, one of the architects of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. [185], When faced with opponents who used unfamiliar fighting techniques, such as in Central Asia and India, Alexander adapted his forces to his opponents' style. Not one to take “no” for an answer, Alexander sent some of his men to scale the rock and take the Sogdians by surprise. [18], When Alexander was 13, Philip began to search for a tutor, and considered such academics as Isocrates and Speusippus, the latter offering to resign from his stewardship of the Academy to take up the post. When Alexander's symptoms were entered to the Global Infectious Disease Epidemiology Network, influenza gained the highest probability (41.2%) on the list of differential diagnoses. This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, attending the birth of Alexander. He became mute because of a previous injury to his neck from the Siege of Cyropolis. But Persia’s rule as a ...read more, Born into obscurity in the British West Indies, Alexander Hamilton made his reputation during the Revolutionary War and became one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers. [19] According to author Andrew Chugg, there is evidence Alexander died of malaria, having contracted it two weeks before his death while sailing in the marshes to inspect flood defences. When Alexander was 13, Philip called on the great philosopher Aristotle to tutor his son. [62][64], In 336 BC Philip II had already sent Parmenion, with Amyntas, Andromenes and Attalus, and an army of 10,000 men into Anatolia to make preparations for an invasion to free the Greeks living on the western coast and islands from Achaemenid rule. [217][218] He apparently had two sons, Alexander IV of Macedon by Roxana and, possibly, Heracles of Macedon from his mistress Barsine. [4][5] In 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire (Persian Empire) and began a series of campaigns that lasted 10 years. His mother, Sisygambis, was so upset she disowned him and adopted Alexander as her son. [41] However, it appears Philip never intended to disown his politically and militarily trained son. Possible causes include a drunken accident or deliberate revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Persian War by Xerxes;[90] Plutarch and Diodorus allege that Alexander's companion, the hetaera Thaïs, instigated and started the fire. [20] The poisoning version is featured particularly in politically motivated Liber de Morte Testamentoque Alexandri (The Book On the Death and Testament of Alexander), which tries to discredit the family of Antipater. Macedon was an Ancient Greek polity. ", "Was Alexander The Great Poisoned By Toxic Wine? Alexander struggled to capture Sogdia, a region of the Persian Empire that remained loyal to Bessus. It included: Alexander earned the epithet "the Great" due to his unparalleled success as a military commander. [147], The strongest argument against the poison theory is the fact that twelve days passed between the start of his illness and his death; such long-acting poisons were probably not available.

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