Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, located in northern Greece and adjacent countries.
During his leadership, from 336–323 BC, Alexander the Great conquered the Greek city-states, the Persian Empire and founded more than 70 cities creating an empire that stretched across three continents and covered about two million square miles.
The Hellenistic period dates from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to the defeat of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony at Actium in 31 BC.
After his death, Alexander’s empire was divided up into kingdoms, ruled by his generals. The major dynasties sponsored major architectural programmes and were great patrons of the arts and culture.
*Alexander’s father: Philip of Macedonia
During the first half of the fourth century B.C., or city-states, remained autonomous.
But in 360 B.C., an extraordinary individual, Philip II of Macedon (northern Greece), came to power. In less than a decade, he had defeated most of Macedon’s neighboring enemies: the Illyrians and the Paionians to the west and northwest, and the Thracians to the north and northeast.
Phillip II instituted far-reaching reforms at home and abroad. Innovations—improved catapults and siege machinery, as well as a new kind of infantry in which each soldier was equipped with an enormous pike known as a sarissa—placed his armies at the forefront of military technology.
His plans for war against Asia were cut short when he was assassinated in 336 B.C. Excavations of the royal tombs at Vergina in northern Greece give a glimpse of the vibrant wall paintings and rich decorative arts produced for the Macedonian royal court which had become the leading center of Greek culture.
*The Rise and Fall of Alexander
The reign of Alexander the Great (336–323 B.C.) would change the face of Europe and Asia forever As crown prince, he received the finest education in the Macedonian court under his celebrated tutor Aristotle. At the age of twenty, already a charismatic and decisive leader, Alexander quickly harnessed the Macedonian forces that his father’s reforms had made into the premier military power in the region.
In 334 B.C., he led a grand army into Asia. With some 43,000 infantry and 5,500 cavalry, it was the most formidable military expedition ever to leave Greece. The first to reach Asiatic soil, Alexander leapt ashore, cast a spear into the land, and dramatically claimed the continent as “spear won.” In a remarkable campaign that lasted eleven years, he went on to fulfill his claim and more by conquering the Persian empire of western Asia and Egypt, and by continuing into Central Asia as far as the Indus Valley. In the end, he was defeated by his own army, which insisted on returning to Greece. On the way back, he died of fever in Babylon at the age of thirty-three.
*Aiexander’s Legacy
In his capacity as king, commander, politician, scholar and explorer, Alexander led his army 11,000 miles, founding over 70 cities and creating an empire that stretched across three continents and covered around two million square miles. The entire area from Greece in the west, north to the Danube, south into Egypt and as far to the east as the Indian Punjab, was linked together in a vast international network of trade and commerce. This was united by a common Greek language and culture, while the king himself adopted foreign customs in order to rule his millions of ethnically diverse subjects.
Alexander was acknowledged as a military genius who always led by example, although his belief in his own indestructibility meant he was often reckless with his own life and those of his soldiers. The fact that his army only refused to follow him once in 13 years of a reign during which there was constant fighting, indicates the loyalty he inspired.
After he died of a fever in Babylon in June 323 BC all the lands that he had conquered were divided up among his generals and it was these political divisions that comprised the many kingdoms of the Hellenistic period(323–31 B.C.).
With his death marking the start of the Hellenistic period, Alexander’s legacy includes the the prominent 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 civilisation 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 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, and his tactics remain a significant subject of study in military academies worldwide.
Destination – North Africa and Middle East, Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India
