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Alexander
Return westward. In 325 B.C., Alexander had
ships built, and part of his army sailed westward from
the mouth of the Indus River. These troops explored the northern shore
of the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
Alexander led the rest of his troops west across the Desert of Gedrosia.
As many as half of his forces died on the way-more
soldiers than enemy armies had killed.
Upon his return to Babylon,
Alexander became busy with the administration of his vast domain, which
stretched from Greece to the Indus. He probably intended to make
Babylon
his capital. Alexander planned new expeditions to northern Africa and
Arabia. He tried to encourage trade and commerce and to develop a
greater spirit of cooperation between Macedonians and Persians. He
married a Persian princess who was a daughter of Darius, and he
performed a mass marriage ceremony joining thousands of his soldiers to
Persian women. Alexander also tried to incorporate large numbers of
Persians into his army. But he failed to establish a stable kingship to
maintain what he had won.
His death. In the spring of 323 B.C.,
Alexander became seriously ill with a fever at Babylon. He also suffered
from exhaustion and the effects of several battle wounds. He died at the
age of 32 on June 10, 323 B.C. His body was placed in a glass coffin in
a special tomb at Alexandria.
After Alexander died, his
half-brother, Philip III Arrhidaeus, became
king of Macedonia. At the
time of Alexander's death, Roxane was pregnant with his son, Alexander
IV, who later shared rule over the Macedonians with Philip. But Philip
was murdered in 317 B.C., and young Alexander was killed about seven
years later.
No one succeeded
Alexander the Great in the rule of his vast empire. His
leading generals became governors of various areas and fought among
themselves for control of the empire. By 300 B.C., Alexander's empire
had split into a number of independent states. The three most powerful
states were led by Alexander's generals Antigonus, Ptolemy, and
Seleucus.
Alexander
the Great (356-323 B.C.) was king of the
Macedonians and one of the greatest generals in history. He conquered the Persian
Empire, which stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to
India and formed much of what was then considered the civilized world.
Alexander's conquests furthered the spread of Greek ideas and customs in
western Asia and Egypt. He
thus made possible the rich culture of the Hellenistic Age.
His
youth. Alexander was born in Pella, the capital of the Macedonian
kingdom. His father was Philip II, the shrewd king and general who
conquered Greece. His mother was Olympias, a brilliant and hot-tempered
princess from Epirus in western Greece. Olympias told Alexander that his
ancestor was the hero Achilles. Throughout his life, Alexander carried
with him a copy of the great poem the Iliad, which told of the deeds of
Achilles (see ILIAD). Philip taught Alexander that the Macedonian kings
were descended from the hero Hercules (also called
Heracles), who in
Greek mythology was a son of the god Zeus.
There are many
stories about Alexander's life. Some are true, but others are legends.
According to one story, the boy Alexander tamed the great horse
Bucephalus. This magnificent steed later carried Alexander as far as
India, where it died. Alexander built a
city there and named it Bucephala after the horse.
In 343 or 342 B.C., Philip hired the great philosopher Aristotle to
tutor Alexander. Aristotle may have encouraged Alexander's interest in
other countries and peoples, as well as his curiosity about plants and
animals.
Alexander's education followed the Greek principle of
"a sound mind in a sound body." He studied literature, philosophy, and
politics, and he also received training in sports, physical fitness, and
warfare. Alexander's official schooling ended abruptly at the age of 16,
when his father called him away for duties in the government.
In
338 B.C., the 18-year-old Alexander
commanded the cavalry in Philip's army in the Battle of Chaeronea. This
battle brought Greece under Macedonian control. Philip next prepared to
invade the Persian Empire in Asia. But before he could do so, Philip was
murdered by one of his bodyguards. Thus, at the age of 20,
Alexander became king of the Macedonians.
After Philip's death, some Greek cities under Macedonian rule
revolted. In 335 B.C., Alexander's army stormed the walls of the
rebellious city of Thebes and demolished the city. About 30,000
inhabitants of the city were sold into slavery. Alexander's action
against Thebes discouraged, for a time, rebellion by other Greek cities.
Invasion of Asia.
With Greece under control, Alexander turned to his father's plan for
attacking the Persian Empire. In 334 B.C., he led an army of about
35,000 infantry and cavalry across the Hellespont from Europe to Asia.
The Persians sent out troops that met Alexander's forces at the Granicus
River. Alexander and his cavalry charged across the river and won the
battle. This victory opened Asia Minor to Alexander.
After
marching along the southern coast of Asia Minor, Alexander and his army
headed north to the city of Gordium. There, according to legend,
Alexander found a wagon with an ox yoke tied by a tight, complex knot.
An ancient prophecy said that whoever could untie this Gordian knot
would become ruler of Asia. According to the most famous version of the
story, Alexander first tried unsuccessfully to untie the knot and then
drew his sword and cut it in a single stroke.
By 333 B.C.,
Alexander had reached the coast of Syria.
There, in a fierce battle at Issus, he defeated the king of Persia,
Darius III, but could not capture him. Alexander's army then marched
south into Phoenicia to capture key naval bases at port cities. Part of
one such city, Tyre, stood on an island about 1/2 mile (800 meters)
offshore. Unable to capture the island from the sea, Alexander ordered
his engineers to build a causeway out to the island, converting it into
a peninsula that remains even today. His troops used such weapons as
battering rams, catapults, and mobile towers in their attack. The
Tyrians on the island surrendered in 332 B.C., after seven months of fighting. Alexander's use
of huge siege machines at Tyre introduced a
new age of warfare.
Alexander next entered Egypt. The Egyptians
welcomed him as a liberator from Persian rule, and they crowned him
pharaoh. On the western edge of the Nile Delta, Alexander founded a city
in 331 B.C. and named it Alexandria after himself.
From
Alexandria, the Macedonian king
made a long, difficult trek through the Libyan Desert, a part of the
Sahara, to the oasis of Siwah. He consulted the oracle of the god
Zeus-Ammon, and, according to legend, the oracle pronounced Alexander
the son of the god.
Victory over Darius.
Alexander left Egypt in 331 B.C., traveling eastward
into the Persian Empire. King Darius had formed a huge army that met
Alexander's forces on a vast plain between the villages of Gaugamela and
Arbela, just east of the Tigris River. The Persians far outnumbered
Alexander's army, but Alexander's tactics and the training of his troops
proved superior in battle. Darius was forced to flee, and he escaped
across the Zagros Mountains into Media. This clash of armies, known as
the Battle of Gaugamela or the Battle of Arbela, ended more than two
centuries of Persian rule in Asia.
Alexander easily captured the fabled city of Babylon and then the
Persian capital at Susa. In the winter of 331-330 B.C.,
Alexander's army marched to Persepolis. There he seized the royal
palaces and captured a vast storehouse of gold and silver. Before
leaving Persepolis, Alexander had his soldiers burn down the palaces.
In the spring of 330 B.C., Alexander swung north toward the
Caspian Sea to find Darius. The Persian king could not gather enough
troops to fight Alexander, and he was killed by his own nobles. The
death of Darius left Alexander king of Asia.
Central Asia and
the Indus. Alexander moved his army into Bactria and then across the
Hindu Kush mountains into Sogdiana, overcoming local military challenges
as he went. In 327 B.C., Alexander married the Bactrian princess Roxane.
By 326 B.C., Alexander's forces had reached the upper Indus
River Valley, in what is now Pakistan. Alexander wanted to continue east
toward the Ganges River. But his homesick troops were tired of traveling
and refused to follow him any farther eastward.
During his years
in central Asia, Alexander began to adopt the customs of the Persian
kings. Many of his troops resented this change. They considered their
king a fellow warrior, not a godlike sovereign. Plots against
Alexander's life appeared, and he executed several prominent Greeks and
Macedonians who he believed had conspired against him. In a drunken
brawl, Alexander killed his good friend Cleitus, who had saved his life
at Granicus.
Return westward. In 325 B.C., Alexander had ships
built, and part of his army sailed westward from the mouth of the Indus
River. These troops explored the northern shore of the Arabian Sea and
the Persian Gulf. Alexander led the rest of his troops west across the
Desert of Gedrosia. As many as half of his forces died on the way--more
soldiers than enemy armies had killed.
Upon
his return to Babylon, Alexander became busy
with the administration of his vast domain, which stretched from Greece
to the Indus. He probably intended to make Babylon his capital.
Alexander planned new expeditions to northern Africa and Arabia. He
tried to encourage trade and commerce and to develop a greater spirit of
cooperation between Macedonians and Persians. He married a Persian
princess who was a daughter of Darius, and he performed a mass marriage
ceremony joining thousands of his soldiers to Persian women. Alexander
also tried to incorporate large numbers of Persians into his army. But
he failed to establish a stable kingship to maintain what he had won.
His death. In the spring of 323 B.C., Alexander became seriously
ill with a fever at Babylon. He also suffered from exhaustion and the
effects of several battle wounds. He died at the age of 32 on June 10,
323 B.C. His body was placed in a glass coffin in a special tomb at
Alexandria.
After Alexander died, his half-brother, Philip III
Arrhidaeus, became king of Macedonia. At the time of Alexander's death,
Roxane was pregnant with his son, Alexander IV, who later shared rule
over the Macedonians with Philip. But Philip was murdered in 317 B.C.,
and young Alexander was killed about seven years later.
No one succeeded Alexander the Great in the rule of his vast empire. His
leading generals became governors of various areas and fought among
themselves for control of the empire. By 300 B.C., Alexander's
empire had split into a number of independent states. The three most
powerful states were led by Alexander's generals Antigonus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus.
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