Alexander The Great

The Hero: Alexander the Great

In the month of October the great King of Macedonia, Alexander the Great, was born. He was the son of Philip II, who is considered as an excellent general of Macedonia, and princess Olympias of Epirus. He inherited the best qualities and character of both of his parents. His father possessed strong and determined abilities of a real general and his mother was unreliable and out of control. Throughout his childhood, most of his friends were women. Lanice, who is a nurse, took good care of Alexander during his early life. Her younger brother, Clitus, was AlexanderÐ''s playmate and considered one of his faithful friend. Alexander's early life was just like an ordinary Greek life. He often played hoop and balls and enjoyed night stories. In his seventh year, he was assigned to a teacher who taught him good manners and conducts as well as kept him out of trouble. Leonidas, a relative of his mother became his tutor. He was a really strict person and somewhat a disciplinarian but a very effective and efficient teacher to Alexander. His intellectual capability was seen at age ten. At this early age, he was already reciting the Iliad. He was also subjected for hard trainings and physical work-outs that taught him of survival of hardships and neediness (Cummings 49-51).

The famous Greek philosopher of all time, Aristotle, became Alexander's tutor. Aristotle discussed concepts about philosophy, government and politics, literature which include poetry and drama and the various sciences. Most importantly, Aristotle explained to Alexander that slavery was normal and natural and he did mention the Persians which were represented to be barbarians (Lendering)

When his father died, he became the inheritor of his throne at an early age of twenty. Alexander was not the only legal heir of the kingship. In fact a much older Amyntas, son of Peddicas, is one of them. Many jealous people including other leaders of opposition requested to the agreement of Alexander and tried to threaten Alexander with all their power. His succession was successful and his first concern was the trial of the murderers of his father (Cummings 84-86). The two sons of Aeropus were suspected to be the prime murderer and were punished by death. Alexander also became an authority of the Hellenes. It was a position previously held by King Phillip. He has gained recognition as the new king from his territories including Greece (O'Brien 43-46).

But there are some territories that are doubtful on Alexander's capability as a leader. To prove that they are wrong, he collected his army and defeated all his enemies. Those who rebelled against Macedonian empire, including Thebes, were attacked by Alexander's Army. The conqueror has started his path to victory. He had plans on conquering the Persian Empire and the rest of Asia (Lendering).

His ambition to conquer Persia was build up because it was his father ambition to control the territories held by the Persian Empire. By size, the Macedonian Empire ruled by Alexander has no matched to that of Persian but it does not hold back Alexander to pursue his and his father's ultimate dream. As preparation, he formed an army consisting of 35, 000 soldiers handling only a little amount of money. Their first encounter occurs at the bank of Granicus River. The Macedonian soldiers fought their best and eventually won over the Persian.

Alexander became ill for the moment. When he recovered from the illness, they began their marched to Syria. At that time, the King of Persia was Darius III. He captured King's wife and mother and conquered Tyre in which many Tyrians died and about 30,000 became slaves. His victory in Tyre was regarded as his best and greatest military attack. He also conquered Gaza and experienced the same destiny as Tyre.

Alexander went to Egypt but unlike others they gave Alexander a warm welcome. He built a city here named after him. He designed the general design of the city and directed all workmen to do it exactly. Alexandria became the center of commercial and economical connections (Nigel 37-40).

Alexander did not stop attacking Persian Empire. Darius had formed a large army which includes the best skilled soldiers and prepared them with weapons and chariots. The Persians have fight to Arbela and defeated Alexander. The fight on Arbela was considered the most crucial and decisive military encounters in history of battles (Anonymous 2005).

The city of Babylon was eventually controlled by Alexander and immediately the other Persia cities like Susa and Persepolis have surrendered. This victory supplied him a great amount of treasures and great number of slaves.

Alexander followed Darius in Zagros Mountains. Darius was killed by his own troop and this death of the king of Persian Empire made Alexander the King of Asia. All the territories of Persian were gained by the Macedonian making the Macedonian Empire the most dominant. He founded cities on areas he defeated (Anonymous 2005).

When Alexander somehow lost his temper, he had killed his close friend Clitus and the death of Clitus have gained sympathy on Macedonian troops. Plots of murder of Alexander were planned against him (Cumming 391-392).

They extended their territory up to India. They reached India