Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE)

Alexander was a Macedonian king whose extraordinary military conquests ensured him a lasting place in the annals of war and empire. Despite the brevity of his life, Alexander enjoyed a favorable locus in time; his career would be the bridge linking what historians refer to as the Hellenic and Hellenistic periods of ancient history.

Alexander the Great (Megas Alexandres in the vernacular), otherwise known as Alexander III, was born in Pella, Macedon, the capital of the kingdom, in 356 BCE. The exact date of his birth is uncertain but is traditionally assigned to July 20. Alexander's youth was marked by a rocky relationship with his [Page 10]sovereign father, Philip II of Macedon, though sources indicate Philip II was proud of his son after Alexander tamed his legendary steed, Bucephalus (“ox-head” in Greek). Alexander's mother, Olympias of Epirus, on the other hand, seems to have enjoyed a close relationship with Alexander. Speculation continues as to whether Olympias and Alexander were co-conspirators in the assassination of Philip II.

Nevertheless, both parents thought Alexander deserved the best in education, and Philip II arranged for private tutelage from the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who nursed young Alexander on rhetoric and literature, including Alexander's favorite work, Homer's Iliad. Alexander often likened himself to Achilles, the celebrated hero of the Trojan War, and claimed descent from the hero by way of Olympias's lineage. In fact, one of Alexander's tutors, Lysimachus, referred to Alexander as “Alexander Achilles,” and referred to himself as Phoenix, the famous tutor of Achilles in the Iliad. From his father's line, Alexander was linked genealogically to Hercules. By extension, Alexander was therefore related to Zeus, but this idea was further cemented by Olympias, who proclaimed that it was Zeus himself who had impregnated her, leaving Alexander as the resulting offspring. Ideas of his own divine descent remained with Alexander throughout his life.

After the assassination of Philip II in 336 BCE, Alexander rose to the throne; although years earlier, in 340 BCE, Alexander had been appointed to act as sole regent in Macedon when Philip II went to attack Byzantium. Alexander quickly crushed any hopes of rebellion in his southern Greek neighbors, whom Philip II was able to bring under his control, largely due to the economic and political distress caused by the Peloponnesian War. In 334 BCE Alexander began perhaps his most famous conquest, that of the Persian Empire, held under the leadership of King Darius III.

It was during these conquests that Alexander is reported to have loosed the infamous “Gordian Knot,” which, according to prophecy, was a feat to be accomplished only by the king of Asia. Whether the intricate knot was loosed by a stroke of Alexander's sword, or by his removing the pole pin to which the knot was attached, remains unsettled. Regardless, the prophecy had been fulfilled by Alexander, and so it followed that he became the next king of Asia Minor.

Relief of Alexander the Great in Thessaloniki, Greece: the King of Macedonia who conquered the Persian Empire and annexed it to Macedonia, Alexander the Great is considered one of the greatest military geniuses of all

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