Pictures of Alexander the Great and His Family
Alexander the Keen: Facts, biography and accomplishments
Alexander the Great was king of Macedonia from 336 B.C. to 323 B.C. and conquered a huge empire that stretched from the Balkans to modern-day Islamic republic of pakistan.
During his reign, Alexander the Peachy had a massive impact in his time and sent ripples into the futurity. "In a reign of 13 years Alexander shot across the Greek and Middle Eastern firmament like a meteor, transforming whatever he — often brutally — touched and ensuring the ancient globe and then eventually our world could never be the same once again," Paul Cartledge, A.Yard. Leventis professor of Greek culture at Cambridge Academy, wrote in All Most History magazine.
Alexander's triumphs too made him a legendary figure and an inspiration for future generations. "Until the internet age, Alexander the Great was probably the nigh famous man who ever lived," Cartledge wrote. "His astounding career of conquest inspired not but Caesar and Augustus simply also Mark Antony, Napoleon, Hitler and other would-be earth conquerors from the W."
Related: Has the tomb of Alexander the Great's mom been found?
Yet, despite his military machine accomplishments, ancient records say that he failed to win the respect of some of his subjects, wrote Pierre Briant, emeritus professor of history at Collège de French republic, in "Alexander the Great and His Empire" (Princeton Academy Press, 2010) and, furthermore, he had some of the people closest to him murdered.
"The personality of Alexander the Nifty was a paradox," Susan Abernethy of The Freelance History Writer told Live Science. "He had great charisma and strength of personality simply his grapheme was full of contradictions, especially in his later years (his early on 30s). Even so, he had the ability to motivate his regular army to do what seemed to exist impossible."
Where was Alexander the Great from?
Alexander was born around July 20, 356 B.C., in Pella in modern-day northern Greece, which was the administrative uppercase of ancient Republic of macedonia. He was the son of Rex Philip II and Olympias (one of Philip's 7 or eight wives) and was brought up with the belief that he was of divine birth. "From his earliest days, Olympias had encouraged him to believe that he was a descendent of heroes and gods. Zip he had accomplished would accept discouraged this belief," wrote Guy MacLean Rogers, a professor of classics at Wellesley Higher, Massachusetts, in his book "Alexander" (Random House, 2004).
Alexander'due south father was often away, conquering neighboring territories and putting down revolts. Nevertheless, King Philip Two of Macedon was one of Alexander's virtually influential role models, Abernethy said. "Philip ensured Alexander was given a noteworthy and meaning didactics. He arranged for Alexander to be tutored by Aristotle himself … His didactics infused him with a love of knowledge, logic, philosophy, music and culture. The teachings of Aristotle [would later assistance] him in the treatment of his new subjects in the empires he invaded and conquered, assuasive him to admire and maintain these disparate cultures."
Alexander watched his male parent campaign virtually every year and win victory afterward victory. Philip remodeled the Macedonian army from citizen-warriors into a professional organization, wrote Ian Worthington, professor of history and archaeology at Macquarie University, in "Philip 2 of Macedonia" (Yale University Press, 2010). Philip suffered serious wounds in battle, such as the loss of an eye, a broken shoulder and a damaged leg, according to Worthington.
Philip decided to leave his 16-year-old son in charge of Republic of macedonia while he was away on entrada, Cartledge wrote in his book "Alexander the Great" (Overlook Printing, 2004). Alexander took advantage of the opportunity by defeating a Thracian people called the Maedi and founding "Alexandroupolis," a city he named subsequently himself.
"Alexander felt the need to claiming his begetter's authority and superiority and wished to out-exercise his father," Abernethy said.
Aboriginal records, such as Plutarch's "Lives," point that Alexander and Philip became estranged afterwards in Alexander's teenage years. "Alexander may have resented his father'southward many marriages and the children born from them, seeing them as a threat to his own position," said Abernethy. At i point his mother Olympia was exiled to Epirus in western Hellenic republic.
Philip was assassinated in 336 B.C. while celebrating the nuptials of his daughter Cleopatra (not the famous Egyptian pharaoh). The person who stabbed him was said to have been one of Philip's quondam male person lovers, named Pausanias. While the aboriginal Greek historian Cleitarchus pointed to jealousy and betrayal equally the motive, as outlined by Diodorus Siculus in "Library of History," other ancient sources similar Justin in "Prototype of the Philippic History Of Pompeius Trogus" suspected that Pausanias may take been function of a larger plot to impale the king — 1 that may take included Alexander and his female parent.
At the time of his death, Philip was contemplating invading the Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire, which at its peak stretched from the Balkan peninsula to modern-day Pakistan and had repeatedly attempted to conquer the Greek globe. Philip'due south dream was passed onto Alexander, partly via his mother Olympias, co-ordinate to Abernethy. "She fostered in him a burning dynastic ambition and told him it was his destiny to invade Persia."
Upon his father'southward death, Alexander moved quickly to consolidate ability. He gained the back up of the Macedonian ground forces and intimidated the Greek city states that Philip had conquered into accepting his dominion. Afterwards campaigns in the Balkans and Thrace, Alexander moved against Thebes, a metropolis in Greece that had risen up in rebellion. He conquered it in 335 B.C. and had the metropolis destroyed.
With Greece and the Balkans pacified, he was ready to launch a campaign against the Persian Empire.
Conquering the Persian Empire
While Alexander may take had his ain reasons for expanding eastward, "his official reason for wanting to conquer the Achaemenid Persian Empire… was to lead the allied Greeks in a war of liberation: to free forever from Persian control the Greek cities along the Anatolian coast and on the island of Cyprus, and in so doing too to verbal revenge for the Persians' invasion of Greece under Great Rex Xerxes in 480-479 BCE," Cartledge wrote.
But ironically, Alexander often fought Greek mercenaries while candidature confronting Darius Iii, the king of Persia. Even more ironically, Sparta, a city that had famously lost its rex and 300 warriors in the Battle of Thermopylae during a Persian invasion attempt, also opposed Alexander, going so far as to seek Persian help in the Spartans' efforts to overthrow him, according to Siculus.
All the same, Alexander was hugely successful against Persia. The first major boxing he won against the Perisans was in 334 B.C. at the Boxing of Granicus, fought in modern-twenty-four hour period western Turkey, not far from the ancient city of Troy. The aboriginal Greek historian Arrian wrote that Alexander defeated a force of 20,000 Persian horsemen and an equal number of foot soldiers. He then advanced down the coast of west Turkey, taking cities and depriving the Farsi navy of bases.
The second key battle he won — and peradventure the most important — was the Battle of Issus, fought in 333 B.C. most the aboriginal town of Issus in southern Turkey, close to modern-twenty-four hours Syria. In that battle, the Persians were led past Darius Iii himself. Arrian estimated that Darius had a forcefulness of 600,000 troops (probably wildly exaggerated) and initially positioned himself on a great plain where he could mass his force effectively against Alexander, who hesitated to give battle.
Darius is said to accept thought this equally a sign of timidity. "One courtier after some other incited Darius, declaring that he would trample down the Macedonian ground forces with his cavalry," Arrian wrote. So, Darius gave upwardly his position and chased Alexander. At get-go this went well, and Darius'due south soldiers got in the rear of Alexander'south force. However, Darius's army had been led to a narrow spot where the Persians could not use their superior numbers effectively, and at that point Alexander moved his force against the Persians. Alexander'due south experienced army proved too strong for the Persian force, and eventually Darius fled, along with his army.
In his haste, Darius left much of his family backside, including his female parent, married woman, infant son and 2 daughters. Alexander ordered that they be "honored, and addressed as royalty," Arrian wrote. After the battle, Darius offered Alexander a ransom for his family and alliance, through marriage.
Arrian wrote that Alexander rebuked Darius in writing, saying "in the future whenever you lot send discussion to me, accost yourself to me as King of Asia and not as an equal, and let me know, as the principal of all that belonged to you lot, if you take demand of annihilation."
Pharaoh of Arab republic of egypt
Alexander then moved south along the eastern Mediterranean, continuing a strategy designed to deprive the Persians of their naval bases. Many cities surrendered, but some, such as Tyre, which was on an island in modern-day Lebanese republic, put up a fight and forced Alexander to lay siege.
In 332 B.C., afterwards Gaza was taken by siege, Alexander entered Egypt, a country that had experienced on-and-off periods of Persian rule for two centuries. On its northern coast, he founded Alexandria, the most successful metropolis he ever congenital. Arrian wrote that "a sudden passion for the project seized him, and he himself marked out where the agora was to be built and decided how many temples were to be erected and to which gods they were to exist dedicated…".
Alexander claimed the championship of pharaoh, and according to Cartledge, looked to attach himself to the line of Egyptian rulers through a traditional anniversary. "Virtually certainly he had himself crowned pharaoh in the old Egyptian majuscule of Memphis, thereby non but ingratiating himself with the Egyptian masses but also enfolding the quondam and still powerful Egyptian priesthood in the embrace of his new Egyptian monarchy," Cartledge wrote.
Boxing of Gaugamela
With the eastern Mediterranean and Arab republic of egypt under his command, , Alexander successfully deprived the Persians of naval bases and was free to move inland to conquer the eastern half of the Persian Empire.
At the Boxing of Gaugamela, fought in 331 B.C. in northern Republic of iraq most present-24-hour interval Erbil, Alexander faced equally many as ane million troops, according to Arrian (modern scholars' estimates vary but put the total closer to 100,000 against roughly 50,000 soldiers for Alexander). Darius brought soldiers from all over his empire, and even across. Scythian horsemen from the Persian Empire'southward northern borders faced Alexander, as did "Indian" troops (as the aboriginal writers called them) who were probably from modern-day Islamic republic of pakistan.
The battle soon became a state of war of fretfulness. "For a brief period the fighting was paw to paw, but when Alexander and his horseman pressed the enemy difficult, shoving the Persians and hit their faces with spears, and the Macedonian phalanx, tightly arrayed and bristling with pikes, was already upon them, Darius, who had long been in a state of dread, now saw terrors all around him; he wheeled about — the kickoff to exercise and then — and fled," Arrian wrote. From that point on the Persian ground forces started to plummet and the Persian king fled, with Alexander in hot pursuit.
Darius was later betrayed past one of his satraps, or regional governors, named Bessus (who then claimed kingship over what was left of Persia), and was killed by his own troops in 330 B.C..
Alexander wanted a peaceful transition of power in Persia post-obit Darius'due south defeat. He needed to have the advent of legitimacy to appease the people, so Alexander provided a noble burial for Darius.
"[Providing noble burials] was a common practice by Alexander and his generals when they took over the rule of different areas of the empire," Abernethy said.
Alexander was influenced past the teachings of his tutor, Aristotle, whose philosophy of Greek ethos did not crave forcing Greek culture on the colonized. "Alexander would take abroad the political autonomy of those he conquered only not their culture or way of life. In this mode, he would gain their loyalty past honoring their culture, even after the conquest was complete, creating security and stability. Alexander himself even adopted Persian dress and certain Persian community," Abernethy said.
Wishing to incorporate the most easterly portions of the Farsi Empire into his own, Alexander campaigned in fundamental Asia from 330 and 327 B.C.. It was a rocky, frost-bitten conflict, which raised tensions within his own regular army, and led to Alexander killing two of his closest friends.
Why did Alexander kill his friends?
Alexander killing Parmenio, his quondam 2nd in command, and Cleitus, the Macedonian king's close friend who is said to take saved his life at the Battle of Granicus, may be seen as a sign of how Alexander's men were becoming tired of campaigning, and how Alexander was becoming increasingly paranoid.
At some point during Alexander's campaign in central Asia, Parmenio's son, Philotas, allegedly failed to study a plot against Alexander's life. The king, incensed, decided to impale not only Philotas and the other men accounted conspirators, simply also Parmenio, even though he apparently had nothing to practise with the declared plot.
Co-ordinate to the first-century A.D. writer Quintus Curtius (equally institute in "Alexander The Peachy: Selections from Arrian, Diodorus, Plutarch, and Quintus Curtius," Hackett Publishing, 1800), Alexander tasked a man named Polydamas, a friend of Parmenio, to perform the deed, belongings his brothers hostage until he murdered Parmenio. Arriving in Parmenio's tent in the urban center where he was stationed, Polydamas handed him 2 letters: 1 from Alexander and one from Parmenio's son.
When Parmenio was reading the letter from his son, a full general named Cleander, who aided Polydamas with his mission, "opened him (Parmenio) up with a sword thrust to his side, and so struck him a second accident in the pharynx…" killing him, Quintus Curtius wrote.
A second casualty of Alexander's fury was his friend Cleitus, who was angry at Alexander for adopting Persian wearing apparel and customs. After an episode where the two were drinking, Cleitus scolded the king, telling him, in essence, that he should follow Macedonian ways, non Farsi customs.
Cleitus lifted up his correct hand and said, "this is the hand, Alexander, that saved you and so (at the Boxing of Granicus)," according to Arrian. Alexander, infuriated, killed him with a spear or thruway.
Alexander took his deed of murder terribly. "Again and once more, he called himself his friend'due south murderer and went without nutrient and beverage for three days and completely neglected his person." Arrian wrote.
Alexander'due south terminal battles
Alexander's days in key Asia were not all unhappy. After his troops had captured a fortress at a identify called Sogdian Rock in modern-day Uzbekistan in 327 B.C. he met Roxana, the daughter of a local ruler. The two married, and they had an unborn son at the time of Alexander's death.
Despite his men's fatigue, and the fact that he was far from home, Alexander pressed on into a state that the Greeks called "India" (what is now present-twenty-four hour period Pakistan). Plutarch explained in "The Life of Alexander the Great" that he made an alliance with a local ruler named Taxiles, who agreed to allow Alexander to utilize his city, Taxila, as a base. He also agreed to give Alexander all the supplies he needed — which was very useful given Alexander'south long supply lines.
In substitution, Alexander agreed to fight Porus, a local ruler who set up out against Alexander with an army that reportedly included 200 elephants. The two armies met at the Hydaspes River in 326 B.C. Alexander bided his time; he scouted the surface area, congenital up a armada of ships and lulled Porus into a false sense of security.
When Porus mobilized his forces he found himself in a predicament; his cavalry was not as experienced as Alexander's. Equally such, he put his 200 elephants — animals the Macedonians had never faced in big numbers — upwards front.
Alexander responded by using his cavalry to assail the wings of Porus's forces, chop-chop putting Porus's cavalry to flying. The outcome was that Porus's cavalry, foot soldiers and elephants eventually became jumbled together. Making matters worse for Porus, Alexander's soldiers attacked the elephants with javelins, and the wounded elephants went on a rampage, stomping on both Alexander and Porus's troops.
With his ground forces falling autonomously, Porus stayed until the terminate and was captured. Arrian wrote that Porus was brought to the Macedonian king and said, "treat me like a king, Alexander." Alexander, impressed with his bravery and words, fabricated him an ally.
The journey home
In 324 B.C., Alexander's close friend, full general and bodyguard Haphaestion died all of a sudden from fever. Haphaestion'south decease caused a drastic modify in Alexander'due south personality, Abernethy said. "Alexander had always been a heavy drinker and the substance abuse began to take its cost. He lost his self-control and his compassion for his men. He became reckless, cocky-indulgent and inconsistent, causing a loss of loyalty by his men and officers. He had e'er had a fierce temper and been rash, impulsive and stubborn. The drinking made these traits worse."
Under such weather condition, many of his men insisted that Alexander turn back home, according to Abernethy. Sailing s downwards the Indus River, he fought a grouping chosen the Malli and was severely wounded after he led an set on against their city wall. After reaching the Indian Bounding main he split his forcefulness in three. One element, with the heavy equipment, would take a relatively safe road to Persia, the 2d, under his command, would traverse Gedrosia, a largely uninhabited deserted area that no big force had always crossed before. A tertiary forcefulness, embarked on ships, would support Alexander's force and sail alongside them.
The Gedrosia crossing was a miserable failure, and upto three-quarters of Alexander's troops died forth the mode. His armada was unable to keep up with the main force due to bad winds. "The burning estrus and the lack of water destroyed a great part of the army and especially the pack animals," Arrian wrote.
Why Alexander chose to pb part of his force through Gedrosia is a mystery. It could simply be because no i had ever attempted to bring such a large force through information technology earlier and Alexander wanted to be the first.
Return to Persia and decease
Alexander returned to Persia, this time as the ruler of a kingdom that stretched from the Balkans to Egypt to modern-mean solar day Pakistan. In 324 B.C., he arrived in Susa in present-mean solar day Islamic republic of iran, where a number of his innermost advisers got married.
Alexander got married to 2 other women, in improver to Roxana, whom he had married in central Asia. Ane was Barsine, daughter of Darius Three, and the other was a Western farsi woman Arrian identified as Parysatis. Roxana likely did not take kindly to her two new co-wives and, subsequently Alexander'due south death, she may have had them both killed, Plutarch wrote.
In 323 B.C., Alexander was in Babylon in modernistic-mean solar day Republic of iraq, and his next major armed forces target was apparently to exist Arabia on the southern end of his empire. In June 323 B.C., while he was readying troops, he defenseless a fever that would not go away. He before long had problem speaking and eventually died, with some suggesting he was poisoned. Notwithstanding, his expiry may have been appear prematurely, co-ordinate Katherine Hall, a senior lecturer in the Department of General Practise and Rural Wellness at the Academy of Otago in New Zealand.
Presently before his decease, Alexander was supposedly asked who his empire should become to. His answer was said to be "to the strongest man," although he had an unborn son. However, there was nobody potent enough to hold his empire together. "Alexander'south untimely decease, without any provision having been made for a smoothen succession (if such were indeed possible), opened the floodgates for two generations of warfare among his marshals, generals and lieutenants for their slice of his hypertrophied empire," Cartledge wrote.
Alexander's legacy
"Perhaps the nearly meaning legacy of Alexander was the range and extent of the proliferation of Greek civilisation," Abernethy said. "The reign of Alexander the Bang-up signaled the beginning of a new era in history known as the Hellenistic Age. Greek civilization had a powerful influence on the areas Alexander conquered."
Many of the cities that Alexander founded were named Alexandria, including the Egyptian city that is now home to more than four.5 million people. The many Alexandrias were located on trade routes, which increased the menstruation of commodities between the Due east and the W.
Alexander's legacy remains alive today, according to Cartledge, and is reimagined and reinterpreted by each generation; "In that location accept been many Alexanders, as many every bit there have been observers, enemies, admirers, worshippers or serious students of the human, and hero, and god."
Additional reporting past Jessie Szalay, Live Science contributor, and Jonathan Gordon, Editor of All About History.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/39997-alexander-the-great.html
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