Alexander the Great was one of the most important forces known to man. Alexander the Great then crossed the Hellespoint, which is now called the Dardanelles and, as head of a Greek army undertook the war on Persia that his father had been planning. The march he had begun was to be one of the greatest in history. Alexander was one of the biggest influenced on people of all time and one of the most powerful personalities. He really molded people into acting the correct way. He brought people together and showed them how to live better. He defiantly changed the lives of many.
Alexander the Great was born in 356 BC Philip his father was the brother of Perdiccas III king of Macedonia. His mother’s name was Olympia’s. Olympia’s was the daughter of King Neoptolemus I. He was known wide to be a great powerful man. Alexander had a younger sister named Cleopatra.
The whole family had a lot of very important background. It was a fact that Alexander and Cleopatra’s parents did not get along. At this time it was a Macedonian tradition to have many wives. Philip had several and Olympia’s hated them all. She felt much hate towards them. When one of her rivals gave birth to a retarded son Arridaeus, there were many rumors that Olympia’s poisoned him.
Olympia’s told Alexander that Philip wasn’t his real father although he was. He made sure the boy was well educated, even the great philosopher Aristotle was one of Alexander’s tutors. Even thought he though him well Philip wasn’t a very good father. He always discouraged Alexander and made him feel worthless. When Alexander the great was 3 his father’s son King Perdiccas died. His young son Amyntas was supposed to take his place as ruler
. Philip was supposed to help him but he made his way above him making himself King Philip II. He proved to be a strong ruler, and in a few decades he conquered As a teenager Alexander became friends wit a boy around his age named Hephaestion. It was rumored that they were lovers. At this time Homosexuality was accepted in Greece. Even Alexander’s father had many male lovers. Till this day no one really knows the relationship between the two but it is said that throughout their lives they stood by each other.
When Alexander turned his father went away to war, leaving Alexander to serve as leader of Macedon. During the time Philip was away Alexander led people to the area known today as Bulgaria where he made his first city, Alexandropolis. After the success of this he became a general in his father’s army.
Even though it seemed Alexander was a good son, things were still tense between him and his father. His father would always try to hurt him in any way possible. On one occasion Philip was injured while fighting soldiers, He fell to the ground and played dead while Alexander shielded him and had to fight off his attackers. Philip never even acknowledged that Alexander had saved his life.
Alexander was known as having a bad temper. He would always yell at everyone and start fights. He was always upset that his father did not come about him. One time at a party Alex got mad at something that someone said and started fighting. “History does not record what they said, but it was enough to enrage Philip. He pulled his sword, lunged at Alexander – and fell drunkenly to the floor. “Look, men,” Alexander sneered, “he’s about to cross from Europe to Asia, and he falls crossing from couch to couch.” This was about the time when they were planning to invade the Asia Minor. Much time had gone buy and many important things happened to his family and friends.
All these people had a great effect on the way he acted in his job as a leader. After his father’s murder in 336 BC Alexander became King Alexander III. Once he got power he had many people executed such as his cousin. One person suprisingly he did not kill was his retarded half-brother. Philip’s last bride had given birth to her second daughter, and Olympia’s is said to have had the child killed in front of the mother. Alexander became king when he was twenty years old. He was very good looking but he was a big drinker. He had good health and was very athletic. He enjoyed reading, music, and the theater. He was very kind to his friends and all his men. And he was, of course, a very good general.
After taking power Alexander proceeded with Philip’s planned war on Persia. In a few years he conquered most of Asia Minor. He was called “Lord of Asia. Because Alexander wanted the Persians to accept him as their leader, he tried to treat them well. Trying to get along he learned the ways of the people which he lived amongst from that point on. ”He found interest in other countries, philosophy, ethics, politics, plants, animals, and a wide range of other topics. “ Alexander’s attempts to get on the sides of the Persians, along with his increasing ego annoyed the men around him.
The son of one of his most trusted generals became involved in a plot to assassinate him. He ended up being executed along with his son. Alexander began getting extremely In 327 B.C fell in love with the chief’s daughter Roxanne. They were married and Roxanne became pregnant. Because of all his work Alexander had little time to spend with his wife, and it was four years before she became pregnant again. After marrying her, Alexander invaded India and conquered There was one time where his men didn’t want to fight anymore. They were tired and wanted to go home. Only once he finally agreed to turn back. Most of the time he would attack cities while going home. One time he even came close to death when he was stabbed with an arrow.
In 325-324 he returned to Persia. He saw that many of the governors hadn’t been doing their job as he was away and had them killed quickly. Alexander the great took his job very seriously. He wanted his people and the Persians to get along so he ordered them to marry. For this he only picked his eighty most important men. He himself married King Darius’s daughter, who was named Barsine. His best friend married Barsine’s sister Drypetis.
Alexander also began promoting Persians to high-ranking positions in his army, saying that Persians and Macedonians should share the empire. He tried hard to have unity but no one else was willing to do this. He failed. Even the marriages between his men and the Persian girls mostly broke up after Alexander’s In the fall of 324 Alexander’s friend Hephaestion died. Alexander was very upset.
The following summer Alexander became ill, and on June 13 he died in Babylon. He was 32. Historians have said that he died from malaria, but recently it has been said that he died of typhoid fever. The empire was soon torn apart by the struggles that Alexander the Great’s advisors and generals had. This was now called the Diadochi. Diadochi is Greek for successors.
In 319 the “Antipater” died and was succeeded as regent by Polyperchon, whom did Antipater’s son Cassander quickly oust. In time Roxanne and her son were also killed by Cassander, who became the king of Macedon in 305 BC. Alexander Aegus was thirteen when he died. He left his empire in his own words, “to the strongest.
Whether or not Alexander had plans for any world conquering cannot be determined but he had accomplished greater conquests than any before him. He was one of the greatest generals of all time and one of the most powerful personalities of antiquity. He influenced the spread of Hellenism throughout the Middle East and into Asia; establishing city-states modeled on Greek institutions that flourished long after his death. Alexander will never be superior to any man and will remain forever as “the Great” in the pages of History as we know it.
