(a symbol associated with Alexander), which is now in the . [112], In general, Greece enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity during Alexander's campaign in Asia. A few official letters addressed to the Greek cities survive in copies inscribed in stone and the content of others is sometimes reported in historical sources. [106] This was one aspect of Alexander's broad strategy aimed at securing the aid and support of the Iranian upper classes. [275] Several Buddhist traditions may have been influenced by the ancient Greek religion: the concept of Boddhisatvas is reminiscent of Greek divine heroes,[278] and some Mahayana ceremonial practices (burning incense, gifts of flowers, and food placed on altars) are similar to those practised by the ancient Greeks; however, similar practices were also observed amongst the native Indic culture. The stronghold was heavily fortified and built on a hill, requiring a siege. When Alexander reached age 13, Philip summoned Aristotle to the Macedonian court. pp. [17] Contemporaries who wrote accounts of his life included Alexander's campaign historian Callisthenes; Alexander's generals Ptolemy and Nearchus; Aristobulus, a junior officer on the campaigns; and Onesicritus, Alexander's chief helmsman. Alexander was emboldened to divide his forces, and Ambhi assisted Hephaestion and Perdiccas in constructing a bridge over the Indus where it bends at Hund,[121] supplied their troops with provisions, and received Alexander himself, and his whole army, in his capital city of Taxila, with every demonstration of friendship and the most liberal hospitality. [273] Furthermore, town planning, education, local government, and art current in the Hellenistic period were all based on Classical Greek ideals, evolving into distinct new forms commonly grouped as Hellenistic. [127] Alexander founded two cities on opposite sides of the Hydaspes river, naming one Bucephala, in honour of his horse, who died around this time. [143], Afterwards, Alexander travelled to Ecbatana to retrieve the bulk of the Persian treasure. Both Athens and Philip sent embassies to win Thebes's favour, but Athens won the contest. In the process, both Alexander IV and Philip III were murdered. In the temple of Luxor, near Karnak, he built a chapel for the sacred barge. After that victory he was sent by Alexander in pursuit of Porus, to whom he was charged to offer favourable terms, but narrowly escaped losing his life at the hands of his old enemy. [citation needed], On either 10 or 11 June 323BC, Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon, at age 32. While he was sleeping, the goddess appeared and told him to found a city there and move into it the Smyrnaeans from the "old" city. ISBN 978-0-300-16426-8. Ptolemy IX Lathyros, one of Ptolemy's final successors, replaced Alexander's sarcophagus with a glass one so he could convert the original to coinage. [79] To legitimize taking power and be recognized as the descendant of the long line of pharaohs, Alexander made sacrifices to the gods at Memphis and went to consult the famous oracle of Amun-Ra at the Siwa Oasis. Their very number, however, and the large array of monograms and symbols used to identify the mints where the coins were struck and the mint officials who supervised the work, make this one of the most . [141] In an attempt to craft a lasting harmony between his Macedonian and Persian subjects, Alexander held a mass marriage of his senior officers to Persian and other noblewomen at Susa, but few of those marriages seem to have lasted much beyond a year. [50] He also had two Macedonian princes from the region of Lyncestis killed for having been involved in his father's assassination, but spared a third, Alexander Lyncestes. [245] The Roman era writer Athenaeus says, based on the scholar Dicaearchus, who was Alexander's contemporary, that the king "was quite excessively keen on boys", and that Alexander kissed the eunuch Bagoas in public. [276] The resulting syncretism known as Greco-Buddhism influenced the development of Buddhism[277] and created a culture of Greco-Buddhist art. [144][216][243] Hephaestion's death devastated Alexander. [180], Alexander's death was so sudden that when reports of his death reached Greece, they were not immediately believed. "[263] This inscription is one of the few independent archaeological discoveries confirming an episode from Alexander's life. Instead of untangling it laboriously as expected, he . Alexander personally defeated the Scythians at the Battle of Jaxartes and immediately launched a campaign against Spitamenes, defeating him in the Battle of Gabai. Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture led to the overwhelming dominance of Hellenistic civilization and influence as far east as the Indian subcontinent. [7], Alexander III was born in Pella, the capital of the Kingdom of Macedon,[8] on the sixth day of the ancient Greek month of Hekatombaion, which probably corresponds to 20 July 356 BC (although the exact date is uncertain). This was a sign of Caracalla's increasingly erratic behaviour. Although his successors explicitly rejected such policies, Hellenization occurred throughout the region, accompanied by a distinct and opposite 'Orientalization' of the successor states. [258] This process can be seen in such great Hellenistic cities as Alexandria, Antioch[269] and Seleucia (south of modern Baghdad). Bucephalas carried Alexander as far as India. [211] However, some have denied this claim as being used to emphasise the otherworldly and heroic qualities of Alexander. [302], Alexander the Great's accomplishments and legacy have been depicted in many cultures. He also received news of a Thracian uprising. Marble portrait head of Alexander the Great: the head was cut to fit into a separately made body. [239][240] He apparently had two sons, Alexander IV of Macedon by Roxana and, possibly, Heracles of Macedon from his mistress Barsine. [130], East of Porus's kingdom, near the Ganges River, was the Nanda Empire of Magadha, and further east, the Gangaridai Empire of Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. [199][198] Nevertheless, Andrew Stewart highlights the fact that artistic portraits, not least because of who they are commissioned by, are always partisan, and that artistic portrayals of Alexander "seek to legitimize him (or, by extension, his Successors), to interpret him to their audiences, to answer their critiques, and to persuade them of his greatness", and thus should be considered within a framework of "praise and blame", in the same way sources such as praise poetry are. [162], Alexander's body was laid in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus that was filled with honey, which was in turn placed in a gold casket. [299] His court historian Callisthenes portrayed the sea in Cilicia as drawing back from him in proskynesis. [107][260] The first, and greatest, was Alexandria in Egypt, which would become one of the leading Mediterranean cities. [204], Historians have understood the detail of the pleasant odour attributed to Alexander as stemming from a belief in ancient Greece that pleasant scents are characteristic of gods and heroes. [224] He had great charisma and force of personality, characteristics which made him a great leader. Leycester Coltman, The Real Fidel Castro, p 220. When the animal died (because of old age, according to Plutarch, at age thirty), Alexander named a city after him, Bucephala. [212][213] Reconstruction of the original polychromy of the relief with Alexander on the sarcophagus shows him with brown eyes and chestnut brown hair. Apart from a few inscriptions and fragments, texts written by people who actually knew Alexander or who gathered information from men who served with Alexander were all lost. [309] His defeat of Darius was depicted as Egypt's salvation, "proving" Egypt was still ruled by an Egyptian. Details from the Alexander Sarcophagus show that he had a fair complexion with ruddy cheeks. [144] Back in Babylon, Alexander planned a series of new campaigns, beginning with an invasion of Arabia, but he would not have a chance to realize them, as he died shortly after Hephaestion. According to the ancient sources, the two sides fought bitterly for some time. GERIN Dominique, GRANDJEAN Catherine, AMANDRY Michel, DE CALLATAY Franois, La monnaie grecque, "L'Antiquit: une histoire", Ellipse, 2001. p117-119. Alexander then marched for three days to the Danube, encountering the Getae tribe on the opposite shore. [181][220] His unique abilities were further demonstrated by the inability of any of his generals to unite Macedonia and retain the Empire after his deathonly Alexander had the ability to do so. [306] In the Shahnameh, Alexander's first journey is to Mecca to pray at the Kaaba. After the defeat, Spitamenes was killed by his own men, who then sued for peace. [12], Several legends surround Alexander's birth and childhood. [21], Alexander was able to quote Euripides from memory. (107) $379.44 FREE shipping. In addition to speech works, sculptures and paintings, in modern times Alexander is still the subject of musical and cinematic works. [190], Alexander perhaps earned the epithet "the Great" due to his unparalleled success as a military commander; he never lost a battle, despite typically being outnumbered. In the winter of 327/326BC, Alexander personally led a campaign against the Aspasioi of the Kunar Valley, the Guraeans of the Guraeus Valley, and the Assakenoi of the Swat and Buner Valleys. The wine that was served could have had higher alcoholic content compared with vintages today. [102] As early as 334 BC he demonstrated awareness of this, when he challenged incumbent King Darius III "by appropriating the main elements of the Achaemenid monarchy's ideology, particularly the theme of the king who protects the lands and the peasants". [163] Other illnesses fit the symptoms, including acute pancreatitis, West Nile virus,[164][165] and Guillain-Barr syndrome. Ronald H. Fritze, Egyptomania: A History of Fascination, Obsession and Fantasy, p 103. New Haven: Yale University Press. He is described as having one eye light and one eye dark. He invited the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara (a region presently straddling eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan), to come to him and submit to his authority. [161], Several natural causes (diseases) have been suggested, including malaria and typhoid fever. [302], Alexander features prominently in modern Greek folklore, more so than any other ancient figure. Among Alexander's family, "the king or ruler who ended up dying in his bed was rare," says Philip Freeman, a biographer of Alexander the Great and a classical historian at Luther College in . [94], Alexander then chased Darius, first into Media, and then Parthia. At Termessos, Alexander humbled but did not storm the Pisidian city. [85], Babylonian astronomical diaries say that "the king of the world, Alexander" sent his scouts with a message to the people of Babylon before entering the city: "I shall not enter your houses". Irish playwright Aubrey Thomas de Vere wrote Alexander the Great, a Dramatic Poem. According to Diodorus, Alexander's last plans called for military expansion into the southern and western Mediterranean, monumental constructions, and the intermixing of Eastern and Western populations. He then continued south towards the Peloponnese. Left to fight alone, they were defeated. [42] Olympias and several of Alexander's friends suggested this showed Philip intended to make Arrhidaeus his heir. [39], At the wedding of Cleopatra, whom Philip fell in love with and married, she being much too young for him, her uncle Attalus in his drink desired the Macedonians would implore the gods to give them a lawful successor to the kingdom by his niece. [169] Perhaps more likely, the successors may have seen possession of the body as a symbol of legitimacy, since burying the prior king was a royal prerogative. Legends say that two boys from Bactria, Tapassu and Bahallika, visited . It is also known as the Macedonian Star, Macedonian Sun, Sun of Vergina, and Star of Vegina, after Macedonian royal tombs. His troops misunderstood his intention and mutinied at the town of Opis. However, the memorial was found to be dedicated to the dearest friend of Alexander the Great, Hephaestion. [51], Attalus was at that time corresponding with Demosthenes, regarding the possibility of defecting to Athens. Alexander is a male given name.The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Aleksander and Aleksandr.Related names and diminutives include Iskandar, Alec, Alek, Alex, Alexandre, Aleks, Aleksa and Sander; feminine forms include . [22], During his youth, Alexander was also acquainted with Persian exiles at the Macedonian court, who received the protection of Philip II for several years as they opposed Artaxerxes III. Caligula was said to have taken Alexander's breastplate from the tomb for his own use. [75], When Alexander destroyed Tyre, most of the towns on the route to Egypt quickly capitulated. When the Thessalians awoke the next day, they found Alexander in their rear and promptly surrendered, adding their cavalry to Alexander's force. [102] The latter were in many cases additionally connected through marriage alliances with the royal Achaemenid family. Greek-speaking communities in central Anatolia and in far-eastern Anatolia survived until the Greek genocide and GreekTurkish population exchanges of the early 20th century AD. The elephant had gold rings around its tusks and an inscription was on them written in Greek: "Alexander the son of Zeus dedicates Ajax to the Helios" ( ). [107], The foundation of the "new" Smyrna was also associated with Alexander. [3][4], Until the age of 16, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle. It was originally thought to have been the sarcophagus of Abdalonymus (died 311 BC), the king of Sidon appointed by Alexander immediately following the battle of Issus in 331. [295] This act was in defiance of a prediction by Tiberius's soothsayer Thrasyllus of Mendes that Caligula had "no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae". Alexander the Great appears in Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and Hinduism. [149] Another theory is that his successors wilfully or erroneously misheard "ti Krateri""to Craterus", the general leading his Macedonian troops home and newly entrusted with the regency of Macedonia. This text underwent numerous expansions and revisions throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages,[301] containing many dubious stories,[299] and was translated into numerous languages. This also showed Alexander's eagerness to fight, in contrast to his father's preference for diplomacy. [263] The temple was designed by Pytheos, one of the architects of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Throughout time, art objects related to Alexander were being created. The Great Macedonian King on the Buddhist Trail. This campaign, initially against Bessus, turned into a grand tour of central Asia. Alexander eventually agreed and turned south, marching along the Indus. Alexander the Great was apparently fascinated with everything that could be seen as a symbol of power. [287], The Itinerarium Alexandri is a 4th-century Latin Itinerarium which describes Alexander the Great's campaigns. [17] Some of the cities he founded became major cultural centers, many surviving into the 21st century. Later in his childhood, Alexander was tutored by the strict Leonidas, a relative of his mother, and by Lysimachus of Acarnania. Below is a coin with the face of Alexander the Great, depicting the king with the lion's scalp on his head. ApieceOfGreece. ", Peter Turchin, Thomas D. Hall and Jonathan M. Adams, ", Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, pp 158. Their works are lost, but later works based on these original sources have survived. [a] He succeeded his father Philip II to the throne in 336 BC at the age of 20, and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy military campaign throughout Western Asia and Egypt. [241][242], Alexander also had a close relationship with his friend, general, and bodyguard Hephaestion, the son of a Macedonian noble. Aelian writes of Alexander's visit to Troy where "Alexander garlanded the tomb of Achilles, and Hephaestion that of Patroclus, the latter hinting that he was a beloved of Alexander, in just the same way as Patroclus was of Achilles. Men's Coin Sterling Silver Ring, Star of Vergina Symbol of Alexander the Great Handmade Greek Signet Ring, Greek Jewelry, Men's Jewelry. [313] In medieval Europe, Alexander the Great was revered as a member of the Nine Worthies, a group of heroes whose lives were believed to encapsulate all the ideal qualities of chivalry. [261], The city of Pella, in modern Jordan, was founded by veterans of Alexander's army, and named it after the city of Pella, in Greece, which was the birthplace of Alexander. [26], Suda writes that Anaximenes of Lampsacus was one of Alexander's teachers, and that Anaximenes also accompanied Alexander on his campaigns. Alexander the Great is central to identity in Greece and Macedonia, which are quarreling over Macedonia's name and bragging rights to the 4th century B.C. [9][10] He was the son of the erstwhile king of Macedon, Philip II, and his fourth wife, Olympias (daughter of Neoptolemus I, king of Epirus). [149] Arrian also mentioned this as an alternative, but Plutarch specifically denied this claim. Constantinople 1453: The End of Byzantium. Moreover, that a very pleasant odour exhaled from his skin and that there was a fragrance about his mouth and all his flesh, so that his garments were filled with it, this we have read in the Memoirs of Aristoxenus. [45], In summer 336BC, while at Aegae attending the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to Olympias's brother, Alexander I of Epirus, Philip was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguards, Pausanias. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars broke out across the Macedonian Empire, eventually leading to its disintegration at the hands of the Diadochi. [155] However, in a 2003 BBC documentary investigating the death of Alexander, Leo Schep from the New Zealand National Poisons Centre proposed that the plant white hellebore (Veratrum album), which was known in antiquity, may have been used to poison Alexander. p. 75. Along the way his army conquered the Malhi (in modern-day Multan) and other Indian tribes and Alexander sustained an injury during the siege. [166] Natural-cause theories also tend to emphasize that Alexander's health may have been in general decline after years of heavy drinking and severe wounds. [191] This was due to use of terrain, phalanx and cavalry tactics, bold strategy, and the fierce loyalty of his troops. Possible causes include a drunken accident or deliberate revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Persian War by Xerxes;[90] Plutarch and Diodorus allege that Alexander's companion, the hetaera Thas, instigated and started the fire. military genius. Alexander then led the League of Corinth, and used his authority to launch the pan-Hellenic project envisaged by his father, assuming leadership over all Greeks in their conquest of Persia.[5][6]. Justin stated that Alexander was the victim of a poisoning conspiracy, Plutarch dismissed it as a fabrication,[151] while both Diodorus and Arrian noted that they mentioned it only for the sake of completeness. [69] According to the story, Alexander proclaimed that it did not matter how the knot was undone and hacked it apart with his sword.