= “Alexander The Great”;
$subject = “History”;
$subjectlink = “https://www.essaysauce.com/history-essays/”;
$pubdate = “21st September 2019”;
Alexander The Great was born in 356 BCE and passed away in 323 BCE dying at the young age of 32, it is not quite clear what Alexander died of however if Plutarch is to be believed Alexander contracted a fever after drinking with Medius of Larissa. Around fourteen days after he was found dead. He lived a life that you would expect of any noblemen from a greek city-state learning to read, ride, fight, and hunt. When Alexander was merely ten years old a trader proposed to sell him a steed however this horse was fearful and would not allow anyone to climb on. Alexander was quickly able to realize it was due to the shadows spooking the horse and proceeded to tame the Horse. His father was said to be overjoyed and quickly purchased the horse for his son. His father has been quoted as saying “My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedon is too small for you” and it seems that those words would follow Alexander to the grave.
He brought to the greek city states in his short yet heroic page in history, Hellenism, which is defined in the text book as “A shared Greek identity that spread throughout the lands that Greeks settled and was expressed in art, language, architecture, politics, and culture”. He brought new trade routes through which ideas and exotic goods could pass from one to another. Due to this brutal and heroic expansion, the Silk Roads were discovered, trade between Asia and the west now grew exponentially. It extended for over 5000 miles and drew its name from the vast quantities of silk that was traded across these routes. This I believed proved to be one of the most important reasons development of cultures and cities started growing further rather than stagnating. Sharing new innovations, designs, ideas, and philosophies were a big catalyst in the development of Afro-Eurasian and allowed his Hellenistic ideas to transfer.
Alexander grew up not as The Great but a mere small Greek city state prince. His father Philip II grew Macedonia into a large and triumphant city state. Due to the Macedonians new supply of gold, Philip was able to acquire heavily armored infantry and large scale calvary; Which has proven in history to be a deadly combo for victory and set up the stage for his son’s triumphs. When Alexander was about thirteen, his father found a tutor for him, this tutor being Aristotle in exchange for Philip rebuilding Stageira and restoring the ex citizens which he had displaced. The majority of the children Alexander met while in his studies would follow him to war as generals. At the ripe age of 16 Alexander stopped his studies due to his father declaring war and leaving his capable son in charge.
In 336 BCE his father was assassinated by a former friend of Philip, Pausanias. This friend was angry with the king and stabbed him to death. Alexander took the throne with haste believing in himself to be an almost demigod such as Hercules son of Zeus. In his first year of leadership Alexander was challenged by a rebellion in Thebes. Thebes resisted Alexanders march into the city and Alexander made an example out of them by totally destroying the city. When Alexander was 18 years old he first made note for himself in his victory at the Battle of Charonea. He earned the rewards of this Macedonian victory after defeating the city-states. Alexander had one goal in mind, it being the assault on Persian empire in an attempt to topple the mighty giant. An effect that Alexander didn't have in mind yet was the spreading of the cultures he would conquer.
In 334 BCE Alexander sacked the city of Baalbek, an ancient Phoenician city located in modern day Lebanon in the Beqaa Valley, he was quick to name this city Heliopolis. In what seemed to be gaining momentum he took over Ephesos from Persian rule. The Persian King Darius III would send out a general to fight at the Battle of Issos not seeing it as much of a challenge however Alexander proved victorious. Darius shocked by the general would be sure to fight him himself next time. In 332 BCE Alexander conquered Syria and Egypt where he founded Alexandria. Although Alexander took over these foreign lands of Egypt he had no intention of imposing his beliefs onto the people. He was content with letting them continue to follow their practices as long as they participated in trade and equipped him and his men.
Although we call him Alexander the Great some may argue he could be Alexander the Ruthless due to his brutality in the conquering of Tyre. After having to siege it he took the stubborn inhabitants of the city and slaughtered most of them. Those that didn’t survive were quickly sold into slavery. This reaction was a prime example of how brutal a ruler could be. Alexander in 332 BCE was soon to begin the Persian Campaigns on his journey into connecting different cultures and people under one militaristic societies rule.
In 331 BCE King Darius III returned with again a much larger force. Unfortunately Alexander being the outstanding general he was outmaneuvered Darius on the battlefield of Gaugamela where once again Darius fled. Darius was later assassinated by his cousin General Bessus, something which Alexander despised. As Alexander rode to the city of Susa they surrendered unconditionally to their new king. Alexander marched on Persepolis where if Diodurus Siculus is to be believed he started a fire that destroyed the palace and most of the city in revenge. He is said to have left the city in ruins and carried off its treasures when he marched on Bactria and Sogdianna conquering them as well.
In 329 BCE Alexander destroyed Cyropolis, defeated the Scythians and founded Alexandria-Eschate on the laxartes. The majority of the cities he founded bore his namesake due to him wanting to keep up the godly image he had to those he conquered as well as those he was fighting. He adopted the title ShahanShah( King of Kings) used by the First Persian Empire to further instill his status on his populace. The Persian custom proskynesis (Kneeling and kissing his hand before addressing him) His troops following him this far from Macedonia soon grew uncomfortable with Alexanders adoption and morphing of Persian Culture and Customs. Alexander would soon be forced to kill his close friends who were involved in plots of assassination of him. Cleitus and Callisthenes were two of these people doomed to die. They had the audacity to question the God-King and became quite vocal in their concerns about it. This is something which Alexander didn't tolerate. Cleitus was killed by a javelin hurled through him by Alexander, while Callisthenes either died in prison or was crucified.
In 327 BCE Alexander finally had the Great Persian Empire firmly in his grasp and had a new marriage with a Bactrian noblewoman known as Roxana. Having no where to conquer Alexander grew weary and restless and soon began looking at India. The Indian King Omphis of Taxila having heard of what this young leader was capable of submitted to Alexander without a fight, however Aspasioi and Assakenoi tribes disagreed. They fought bravely in battles throughout 327 and 326 BCE. At the Battle of the Hydaspes river in 362 BCE Alexander subdued these unruly tribes and was confronted by King Porus of Paurava. Due to Porus using elephants and fighting extraordinarily bravely Alexander gave him the rule of a larger area than he was previously entrusted with, after he was defeated. During this battle the horse Alexander had tamed and traveled with his entire journey was killed in battle. Alexander named one of the two cities he founded here “Bucephala” after his horse Bucephalus.
Alexander still not content with his victories intended to march on through the River Ganges in search of more glory, gold and anything on the way. His troops however worn out by the battle with Porus and exhausted due to the previous battles had a different idea, they mutinied and refused to continue. His military subjects were also starting to become angry with how comfortable he was gett
ing with Persian culture and customs. Alexander tried in vain to get them to continue conformed to their demands. Alexander split his great army in two and sent half to Susa under the command of Admiral Nearchus. He marched his other half through the Gedrosian Desert, he still stopped and destroyed left over tribes on the journey and due to this and the harsh terrains it took a great toll on his men. Alexander finally returned to Susa in 324 BCE.
When Alexander returned to the city of Susa he discovered that many of those he had left in power abused it and so did the only thing he could and executed them. Those who vandalized the tomb of Cyrus the Great met a similar fate as well. After ordering this ancient tomb to be restored he took great lengths to integrated his soldiers and merge the Persian and Macedonian culture. Alexander held a mass marriage service at Susa where he married his senior staff to Persian Noblewomen. Many of his people rejected this cultural integration and grew increasingly critical of how their king adopted the Persian way of dress and manners. They were further outraged when Persians were given promotions over Macedonians and the divisive two were forced to mix. After his troops conceded to Alexanders wishes they were once again given senior positions and held a communal feast with the army. He further pleased his people by dropping the Persian custom of Proskynesis.
Alexander would die in Babylon at the young age of 32 in June 323 BCE after suffering a high fever. There are many theories out there surrounding Alexanders death, all have the same amount of reliability due to it being impossible to truly know. They have been from poisoning to malaria and meningitis for the cause of his fever, none the less this would be the end of the rule for this Great general. When he was asked who should succeed Alexander responded the strongest thus kicking off a huge division between four of his generals. The empire was divided between Cassandra, Ptolemy, Antigonus, and Seleucus.
Plutarch however believed he gave his reign to Perdiccas, Alexanders friend as well as bodyguard. The generals discredited this idea and ignored Alexanders wish. Perdiccas was assassinated in 321 BCE. His friend Cassandra ordered the execution of his wife Roxana, Alexanders son, and his mother Olympias in order to cement his power as the new King of Macedonia. Ptolemy stole Alexanders corpse in hopes of a prophecy which stated the land his corpse was in would be prosperous. He would go on to find the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Seleucus founded the Seleucid Empire of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and some of India. These dynasties would rule their regions until the beginning of Rome.
Due to these dynasties control and influence over these regions they ruled, historians refer to it as the Hellenistic Period. A period of time where Greek culture, art, ideas, were merged with those of the local population.
Alexander himself embraced this new culture by adorning himself in Persian clothes as well as encouraging his greek men to marry Persian women further blending the two cultures. The great cities of the Hellenistic Era were Antioch in Syria, Pergamum in Asia Minor, and Alexandria in Egypt, with the famous Library of Alexandria. Although none of these cities were located in Greece they all featured Greek architecture and design.
Although Alexander didn't know it by conquering these unique and different cultures and placing them under one flag he started a kinship that would not be broken. He united different schools of thought and practices across different cultures. The spread of Hellenism throughout Persia can be seen to this day affecting those cultures still. Alexander is one of the only cases where a human can be attributed as the seed that spreader an entirely new and different culture.
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