Great Leader of Ancient Greece:

Alexander the Great 

Main Life Accomplishments:

He was an ancient Greek king (basileus) of Macedon (336–323 BC). He was one of the most successful military commanders in history, and is presumed undefeated in battle. By the time of his death, he had conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks.

 

Basics:

Born: July 20, 356 BC Pella, Macedon

Died: June 10 or June 11, 323 BC (aged 32) Babylon

Nationality:  Greek

Religion: 

Fields: Politics, Military

Main Accomplishments: 

 

Chronology of Life Events:

July 356 B.C

Born at Pella, Macedonia, to King Philip II and Olympias

 

336 

Alexander becomes ruler of Macedonia

 

334

Wins Battle of the Granicus River against Darius III of Persia

 

333

Wins Battle of Issus against Darius

 

332

Wins siege of Tyre; attacks Gaza, which falls

 

331

Founds Alexandria. Wins Battle of Gaugamela against Darius

 

328 

Kills Black Cleitus for an insult at Samarkand

 

327

Marries Roxane; Begins march to India

 

326

Wins Battle of River Hydaspes against Porus; Bucephalus dies

 

324

Troops mutiny at Opis

 

June 10, 323 B.C.

Dies at Babylon in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II

 

Early Life:

Born in Pella, capital of Macedon, Alexander was the son of King Philip II of Macedon and of his fourth wife Olympias, an Epirote princess. On his mother's side, he was a second cousin of Pyrrhus of Epirus, who himself would go on to become a celebrated general; thus, there are notable examples of military genius on both sides of his family. According to Plutarch, his father was descended from Heracles through Karanus of Macedon and his mother descended from Aeacus through Neoptolemus and Achilles. Plutarch relates that both Philip and Olympias dreamt of their son's future birth. In Philip's dream, he sealed her womb with the seal of the lion. Alarmed by this, he consulted the seer Aristander of Telmessos, who determined that his wife was pregnant and that the child would have the character of a lion. Another odd coincidence is that the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was set afire on the night of his birth. Plutarch's explanation is that the Gods were too busy watching over Alexander to care for the temple.

According to five historians of antiquity (Arrian, Curtius, Diodorus, Justin, and Plutarch), after his visit to the Oracle of Ammon at Siwa, rumors spread that the Oracle had revealed Alexander's father to be Zeus, rather than Philip. In support of this, Plutarch claims that Philip avoided Olympias' bed because of her affinity for sleeping in the company of snakes.

In his early years, Alexander was raised by his nurse Lanike, who was Cleitus' older sister. Later, Alexander was educated by a strict teacher: Leonidas, himself a relative of Olympias. Leonidas' frugal ways are known to us through the extant record: reportedly, when Alexander threw a large amount of sacrificial incense into a fire, Leonidas reprimanded him, telling him that he could waste as much incense as he wished once he had conquered the spice bearing regions. Years later, following Alexander's conquest of Gaza, a city directly on the Persian spice trade route, the young king sent back over 15 tons of myrrh to Leonidas as a retort. It was Aristotle, though, who was Alexander's most famous and important tutor. The famous philosopher trained Alexander in rhetoric and literature, and stimulated his interest in science, medicine, and philosophy. Aristotle's gift to Alexander, a copy of the Iliad, was purportedly among the young king's most prized possessions—and was kept under his pillow, along with a dagger.

When Alexander was ten years old, a Thessalian brought a horse of such quality to sell to Philip that it was labeled a prodigy. As it turned out, though, the horse was so wild that no man could mount him. Young Alexander, recognizing that the horse's own shadow was the source of its fear, went to the steed and turned him towards the sun. Upon doing so, the horse calmed down, and the young king easily mounted and rode him. His father and other people who saw this were very impressed; Philip kissed him with tears of joy and said "My son, seek thee out a kingdom equal to thyself; Macedon has not room for thee." This horse was named Bucephalus, meaning "ox-headed"—though there is the possibility that the name refers to the brand that denoted the horse's origin. Bucephalus would be Alexander's companion throughout his journeys, and was truly loved: when the horse died (due to old age, according to Plutarch, for he was already 30; other sources claim that Bucephalus died of wounds sustained in a battle in India), Alexander named a city after him called Bocephia or Bucephala.

 

Wife Background:

In 327 B.C., Roxane, a Bactrian princess and the daughter of Oxyartes, married Alexander the Great. Roxane gave birth to Alexander's posthumous son, Alexander Aegus and had Alexander's second wife, Stateira (Barsine), killed. Alexander Aegus was accepted by the Macedonian generals as co-ruler with Alexander the Great's half-brother Philip III Arrhidaeus. Roxane went to live with Alexander the Great's mother Olympias in 319, but then was captured by one of Alexander the Great's successors, Cassander, in 316. Cassander had Roxane and her son killed.

Father Background:

Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC was an ancient Greek king (basileus) of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336. He was the father of Alexander the Great, Philip III and possibly Ptolemy I, the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt.

 

Born in Pella, Philip was the youngest son of the king Amyntas III and Eurydice II. In his youth, (c. 368–365 BC) Philip was a hostage in Thebes, which was the leading city of Greece during the Theban hegemony. While a captive there, Philip received a military and diplomatic education from Epaminondas, became eromenos of Pelopidas [3][4], and lived with Pammenes, who was an enthusiastic advocate of the Sacred Band of Thebes. In 364 BC, Philip returned to Macedon. The deaths of Philip's elder brothers, King Alexander II and Perdiccas III, allowed him to take the throne in 359 BC. Originally appointed regent for his infant nephew Amyntas IV, who was the son of Perdiccas III, Philip managed to take the kingdom for himself that same year.

 

Mother Background:

Olympias (in Greek, Ολυμπιάς; ca. 376–316 BC) was an Epirote princess, the fourth wife of the king Philip II of Macedon, the mother of Alexander the Great and queen consort of Macedon. A devout worshipper of the Greek god Dionysus, she was said to have kept snakes that terrified the men. Olympias apparently was originally named Myrtale (or 'Mistilis'). Later she may have been called Olympias as a recognition of Philip's victory in the Olympic Games of 356 BC. As a child she was called Polyxena and then, at marriage, Myrtale; later she was also known as Olympias and Stratonice.

 

Olympias was daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, descent from the lineage of Aeacidae (a well respected family of Greece). Neoptolemus was named after the son of Achilles, from whom the family claimed descent. Her brother was Alexander I of Epirus, a kingdom ruled later by Pyrrhus. When her father died ca. 360 BC, his brother and successor Arymbas (grandfather of Pyrrhus) made a treaty with the new king of Macedonia, Philip II of Macedon. The alliance was cemented with a diplomatic marriage: Arymbas' niece Olympias became queen of Macedonia in 359 BC.

It is said that Philip II had first fallen in love with Olympias when they were among the initiates into the Kabeiria Mysteries of Dionysus in the Greek island of Samothrace. Their marriage was stormy, however, and Olympias returned to Epirus in the fall of 357 BC, wintering there and having an adulterous affair. Late in spring 356 BC, under pressure from her uncle, the Epirotan king Arymbas, she returned to Pella, the Macedonian capital. Upon her return, she was pregnant, and she bore her son Alexander in late July 356 BC. Not long afterwards (late spring 355 BC) she also bore Philip a daughter, Cleopatra.

Despite the arrival of his first legitimate son (he had already fathered another illegitimate son, Philip III), Philip II was scorned for having a child not of "pure Macedonian blood". Angry at her husband for not accepting Alexander, Olympias insisted it was Zeus, King of the Gods, who had impregnated her while she slept under an oak tree (which were sacred to him). Alexander appeared to have believed the tale, as he later sought confirmation of his divine descent at the sanctuary of Zeus Ammon (of the sands) in the Siwa Oasis in Egypt.

Olympias was angered by Philip's marriage to Cleopatra Eurydice, in 337 BC. She was not angry because Philip had chosen a new woman to be his wife — indeed, he had several lovers, both male and female, and multiple wives — but because upon marrying Eurydice he divorced Olympias and disowned their son, Alexander. At the wedding banquet, Cleopatra Eurydice's guardian Attalus wished that the new couple would produce "legitimate heirs" together.

Accompanied by Alexander, Olympias withdrew for approximately a year to Epirus, where her brother Alexander I of Epirus was now king. She and her son returned to Pella after an apparent reconciliation, or at least cessation of hostilities; Philip had cemented his ties to Alexander I by offering him the hand of his and Olympias' daughter Cleopatra in marriage. At Philip's wedding soon afterwards, he was murdered; it is unclear whether Olympias had anything to do with its planning, but unlikely that Alexander, her son, was in on the murder. It is only known for sure that Alexander had the body of Philip's assassin (Pausanias of Orestis) chained to stakes and left on public display to starve as a criminal (apotumpanismos. The head of the body of Pausanias was found to have on it a golden crown, supposedly put there by Olympias. Pausanias' body was ultimately taken down from the crucifixion cross and placed over Philip's body. The two were cremated together in a typical Macedonian rite. Olympias dedicated a memorial to Pausanias. The sword used by Pausanias to kill Philip was hung in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, per special orders from Olympias herself, under the name Mistilis.

 

Olympias murdered Caranus, son of Philip and his last wife, Cleopatra Eurydice. She also murdered Caranus's sister, Europa, and forced Cleopatra Eurydice to hang herself. During the absence of Alexander, with whom she regularly corresponded on public as well as domestic affairs, she wielded great influence in Macedon, causing trouble to the regent, Antipater.

Upon Alexander's death in 323 BC, Olympias withdrew again into Epirus. She supported her grandson Alexander, son of Alexander the Great, and in 317 BC, allied with Polyperchon who had succeeded Antipater in 319 BC. Olympias took the field with an Epirote army in an attempt to drive Cassander, Antipater's son, from power in Macedon.

When she engaged Eurydice III (Philip's granddaughter through his wife Audata) in battle, Eurydice's troops defected to Olympias, unwilling to fight against the mother of Alexander. Olympias imprisoned Eurydice and her husband Philip Arrhidaeus; he was executed and Eurydice was forced to hang herself. For a short period Olympias was mistress of Macedonia.

Cassander hastened from Peloponnesus, and, after an obstinate siege, compelled the surrender of Pydna, where Olympias had taken refuge. One of the terms of the capitulation had been that Olympias' life should be spared. In spite of this, she was brought to trial for the numerous and cruel executions of which she had been guilty during her short span of power. Condemned without a hearing, she was put to death in 316 BC by the friends of those whom she had slain. Cassander is said to have denied her remains the rites of burial.]

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