Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great
Basileus
Alexander in the Alexander Mosaic
King of Macedon
Reign336–323 BC
PredecessorPhilip II
Successor
Hegemon of the Hellenic League
Reign336–323 BC
PredecessorPhilip II
SuccessorDemetrius I of Macedon
Pharaoh of Egypt
Reign332–323 BC
PredecessorDarius III
Successor
  • Alexander IV
  • Philip III
    Horus name
    • mk-kmt
    • Mekemet
    • Protector of Egypt
    G5
    SHqAq
    n
    nw
    D40
    Second Horus name:
    • ḥḳꜣ-ḳnj tkn-ḫꜣswt
    • Heqaqeni tekenkhasut
    • The brave ruler who has attacked foreign lands
    G5
    HqAq
    n
    nw
    D40
    t
    k
    n
    D54
    N25
    N25
    N25
    Third Horus name:
    • ḥḳꜣ ḥḳꜣw nw tꜣ (r) ḏr-f
    • Heqa heqau nu ta (er) djeref
    • The ruler of the rulers of the entire land
    G5
    HqAqHqAHqAqN33nwN33N17
    N34
    r
    f
    Fourth Horus name:
    • ṯmꜣ-ꜥ
    • Tjema'a
    • The sturdy-armed one
    G5
    T
    mA
    a
    Nebty name
    • mꜣj wr-pḥty jṯ ḏww tꜣw ḫꜣswt
    • Mai werpehty itj dju tau khasut
    • The lion, great of might, who takes possession of mountains, lands, and deserts
    G16
    E23wr
    r
    F9
    F9
    V15N25
    N25
    N33
    N17
    N17
    N33
    N25
    N25
    N33
    Golden Horus
    • kꜣ (nḫt) ḫwj bꜣḳ(t) ḥḳꜣ wꜣḏ(-wr) šnw n jtn
    • Ka (nakht) khui baq(et) heqa wadj(wer) shenu en Aten
    • The (strong) bull who protects Egypt, the ruler of the sea and of what the sun encircles
    G8
    E1
    n
    iw x D40q
    t
    b
    D10HqAM14N35AV9
    Z1
    it
    n
    HASH
    Prenomen  (Praenomen)
    • stp.n-rꜥ mrj-jmn
    • Setepenre meryamun
    • Chosen by Ra, beloved by Amun
      M23L2
      C2C12stp
      n
      N36
      M23L2
      mrC12C2stp
      n
    Nomen
    • ꜣrwksjndrs
    • Aluksindres
    • Alexandros
    G39N5
    Arw
    k
    z
    in
    d
    r
    z
King of Persia
Reign330–323 BC
PredecessorDarius III
Successor
  • Alexander IV
  • Philip III
Born20 or 21 July 356 BC
Pella, Macedon
Died10 or 11 June 323 BC (aged 32)
Babylon, Mesopotamia, Macedonian Empire
Spouse
Issue
GreekἈλέξανδρος[b]
DynastyArgead
FatherPhilip II of Macedon
MotherOlympias of Epirus
ReligionAncient Greek religion

Alexander III of Macedon (Ancient Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος, romanizedAlexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great,[c] was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon.[d] 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, Central Asia, parts of South Asia, and Egypt. By the age of 30, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to northwestern India.[1] He was undefeated in battle and is widely considered to be one of history's greatest and most successful military commanders.[2][3]

Until the age of 16, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle. In 335 BC, shortly after his assumption of kingship over Macedon, he campaigned in the Balkans and reasserted control over Thrace and parts of Illyria before marching on the city of Thebes, which was subsequently destroyed in battle. 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.[4][5]

In 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Persian Empire and began a series of campaigns that lasted for 10 years. Following his conquest of Asia Minor, Alexander broke the power of Achaemenid Persia in a series of decisive battles, including those at Issus and Gaugamela; he subsequently overthrew Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety.[e] After the fall of Persia, the Macedonian Empire held a vast swath of territory between the Adriatic Sea and the Indus River. Alexander endeavored to reach the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea" and invaded India in 326 BC, achieving an important victory over Porus, an ancient Indian king of present-day Punjab, at the Battle of the Hydaspes. Due to the demand of his homesick troops, he eventually turned back at the Beas River and later died in 323 BC in Babylon, the city of Mesopotamia that he had planned to establish as his empire's capital. Alexander's death left unexecuted an additional series of planned military and mercantile campaigns that would have begun with a Greek invasion of Arabia. 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.

With his death marking the start of the Hellenistic period, Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion and syncretism that his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism and Hellenistic Judaism. He founded more than twenty cities, with the most prominent being the city of Alexandria in Egypt. 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. The Hellenistic period developed through the Roman Empire into modern Western culture; the Greek language became the lingua franca of the region and was the predominant language of the Byzantine Empire up until its collapse in the mid-15th century AD. Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mould of Achilles, featuring prominently in the historical and mythical traditions of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. His military achievements and unprecedented enduring successes in battle made him the measure against which many later military leaders would compare themselves,[f] and his tactics remain a significant subject of study in military academies worldwide.[6] Legends of Alexander's exploits coalesced into the third-century Alexander Romance which, in the premodern period, went through over one hundred recensions, translations, and derivations and was translated into almost every European vernacular and every language of the Islamic world.[7] After the Bible, it was the most popular form of European literature.[8]

  1. ^ Bloom, Jonathan M.; Blair, Sheila S. (2009) The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture: Mosul to Zirid, Volume 3. (Oxford University Press Incorporated, 2009), 385; "[Khojand, Tajikistan]; As the easternmost outpost of the empire of Alexander the Great, the city was renamed Alexandria Eschate ("furthest Alexandria") in 329 BCE."
    Golden, Peter B. Central Asia in World History (Oxford University Press, 2011), 25;"[...] his campaigns in Central Asia brought Khwarazm, Sogdia and Bactria under Graeco-Macedonian rule. As elsewhere, Alexander founded or renamed a number of cities, such as Alexandria Eschate ("Outernmost Alexandria", near modern Khojent in Tajikistan)."
  2. ^ Yenne 2010, p. 159.
  3. ^ "Alexander the Great's Achievements". Britannica. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021. "Alexander the Great was one of the greatest military strategists and leaders in world history."
  4. ^ Heckel & Tritle 2009, p. 99.
  5. ^ Burger, Michael (2008). The Shaping of Western Civilization: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment. University of Toronto Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-55111-432-3.
  6. ^ Yenne 2010, p. viii.
  7. ^ Doufikar-Aerts, Faustina (2020). "The Arabic Alexander Romance: Mirror of a Bold, Clever, and Devout Prince". In Seigneurie, Ken (ed.). A Companion to World Literature. Wiley. p. 1. doi:10.1002/9781118635193.ctwl0072. ISBN 978-1-118-99318-7.
  8. ^ Mínguez Cornelles, Víctor; Rodríguez Moya, Inmaculada (2024). The visual legacy of Alexander the Great from the Renaissance to the age of revolution. Routledge research in art history. New York London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-032-54990-3.

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