Alexander the Great: life and legacy

Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian Empire, is considered as one of the greatest military geniuses of all times (Alexander pp).

Born in 356 B.C., Alexander was the son of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias. Tutored by Aristotle, Alexander took the throne in 336 B.C. And immediately demonstrated his talent for leadership by "quieting the restive cities of Greece, then putting down uprisings in Thrace and Illyria" and Thebes (Alexander Pp).

In 334 B.C., Alexander crossed the Hellespont, now the Dardanelles, and leading an allied Greek army "undertook the war on Persia that his father had been planning," a march that was to be one of the greatest in history (Alexander Pp). He defeated the Persian force at the Granicus River, near the Hellespont, then took Miletus and Halicarnassus, and in 333 B.C. entered Syria, "and there in the battle of Issus met and routed the hosts of Darius III of Persia, who fled before him" (Alexander Pp). Determined to conquer the entire Persian Empire, in 332 B.C. Alexander entered Egypt, and meeting no resistance, went to the oasis of Amon where is "was acknowledged as the son of Amon-Ra," and the same year founded Alexandria, "perhaps the greatest monument to his name" (Alexander Pp).

Returning to Syria in 331 B.C., Alexander again met and defeated Darius in the battle of Guagamela, and then marched south to Babylon, and on to Susa and Perspolis (Alexander Pp). Now, ruler of the Persian Empire, he pursued Darius to Ecbatana, "which submitted in 330 B.C." (Alexander Pp). Alexander pushed to Bactria, where Bessus, a cousin of Darius, having had the Persian king murdered and had declared himself king, however, when Alexander arrived in Bactria, he captured and executed Bessus (Alexander Pp). Now in the regions beyond the Oxus River, present-day Amu Darya, his men were beginning to show dissatisfaction, and in 300 B.C., a conspiracy against Alexander was "said to implicate the son of one of his generals, Parmenion...Alexander not only executed the son but also put the innocent Parmenion to death" (Alexander Pp). This was one of many instances of his harshness which further alienated his soldiers, who were not pleased with Alexander's "assuming Persian dress and the manner of a despot" (Alexander Pp).

Alexander moved on to what is today Afghanistan and into then into India, where the princes received him favorably, however, at the Hydaspes, present-day Jhelum River, he met and defeated Porus and his army, and after conquering Punjab, his men would go no farther (Alexander Pp). Alexander had built a fleet, and "after going down the Indus to its delta, he sent Nearchus with the fleet to take it across the unknown route to the head of the Persian Gulf, and daring undertaking," while Alexander himself led his men through the desert regions of modern Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, finally arriving at Susa in 324 B.C. (Alexander Pp).

At Susa, Alexander discovered that many of the officials he had chosen to govern his conquered lands were heavily involved in corruption and misrule, moreover, certain antagonisms had developed against him, for instance, in Greece, 'many decried his execution of Aristotle's nephew, the historian Callisthenes," and resented his request that he be treated as a god (Alexander Pp). Alexander had taken Roxana, a Bactrian princess as one of his many wives, however, his Macedonian officers rebelled at his attempt to force them to intermarry with the Persians and "resisted his Eastern ways and his vision of an empire governed by tolerance," and although there was a mutiny, it was unsuccessful (Alexander Pp).

In 323, while planning a sea voyage around Arabia, Alexander caught a fever and died at the age of thirty-three (Alexander Pp). His generals then began quarreling about the division of rule, and his only son, Alexander Aegus, born to Roxana after Alexander's death, was "destined for a short and pitiful life" (Alexander Pp).

Whether Alexander had designs for a world empire is debatable, however, what is true and factual is that he accomplished greater conquests than anyone before him, he simply did not have time to mold the governments of the all the lands he had conquered (Alexander Pp). He is responsible for the spread of Hellenism throughout the Middle Ease and into Asia, "establishing city-states modeled on Greek institutions that flourished long after his death" (Alexander Pp). Although there are numerous legends, such as his feats on his horse, Bucephalus, and his cutting of the Gordian knot, Alexander is incontestably considered to be one of the greatest generals of all time and "one of the most powerful personalities of antiquity" (Alexander Pp).