Alexander III of Macedon, sometimes known as Alexander the Great, was the monarch of the ancient Greek country of Macedon. He reigned from 20/21 July 356 BC to 10/11 June 323 BC. In 356 BC, he was born in Pella, a city in Ancient Greece, as a member of the Argead dynasty. He succeeded his father, King Philip II, on the throne at the age of twenty. Here are several interesting facts about Alexander the III of Macedon.
Aristotle was his teacher, yet he had legendary clashes with other thinkers
Alexander’s father, Philip the Second of Macedon, employed Aristotle, one of history’s greatest thinkers, to educate the 13-year-old prince. Alexander’s three-year tutelage is unknown, but it is likely that at the end of it, Aristotle’s intelligent yet worldly approach had sunk in. Alexander sought out the legendary ascetic, Diogenes the Cynic, who disregarded social niceties and slept in a big clay jar, although he was still a prince in Greece, according to tradition.
In a public plaza, Alexander approached Diogenes and asked if there was anything he could do for him with his vast wealth.
“Yes,” Diogenes said, “step aside; you’re obstructing my sun.” Alexander was charmed by Diogenes’ reluctance to be impressed, saying, “If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.”
Years later, in India, Alexander interrupted his military conquests to speak with the gymnosophists or naked philosophers from the Hindu or Jain religions who avoided human vanity and clothing.
Alexander never lost a battle throughout his 15-year conquest
People are studying the military tactics and methods of Alexander the Great in military academies today. Alexander developed a reputation for bringing his men to combat with astonishing speed from his first victory at the age of eighteen, allowing smaller forces to reach and shatter enemy lines before their adversaries were ready.
After consolidating his dominion in Greece, Alexander crossed into Asia, present-day Turkey, in 334 B.C., where he defeated the Persians under Darius III in a series of engagements. The Macedonian phalanx, a 15,000-strong combat force that Alexander led, held off the sword-wielding Persians using 20-foot-long pikes called Sarissa.
He named around 70 cities after himself, as well as one for his horse
Alexander marked his conquests by establishing dozens of settlements, mostly based on prior military fortifications, all of which he named Alexandria. The most popular of these, built-in 331 B.C. at the entrance of the Nile, is now Egypt’s second-largest city.
Other Alexandrias charts the route that his army took across modern-day Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan. Near the site of Alexander’s most costly victory in his Indian campaign, the battle of the river Hydaspes, he erected the city of Bucephala, named for his favorite horse.
It was love at first sight for Alexander and his future wife, Roxanne, when they met
Alexander, 28, was reviewing his captives after his stunning capture of Sogdian Rock, an apparently impregnable mountain citadel, in 327 B.C. Roxanne, the teenage daughter of a Bactrian nobleman, attracted his eyes.
Soon after, the monarch broke a loaf of bread in half with his sword and divided it with his new bride in a traditional wedding rite. Roxanne gave birth to the couple’s lone son, Alexander the fourth, a few months after Alexander lost his life.
Alexander the Great smelled nice and great
A highly pleasing odor emanated from Alexander’s skin, according to Plutarch’s “Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans,” written 400 years after Alexander’s death, and his breath and body all over were so fragrant as to perfume the clothing which he wore. The olfactory detail was part of a practice of ascribing godlike characteristics or attributes to conquering kings that began during Alexander’s lifetime. During a journey to Siwah in 331 B.C., Alexander the Great boldly named himself Son of Zeus.
Alexander began clothing like the Persians after defeating them
Alexander seized Persepolis, the long-time center of Persian civilization, in 330 A.D. after six years of ever-deeper forays into the Persian empire. Alexander, realizing that the only way to maintain control of the Persians was to look like one, began to wear the striped tunic, girdle, and diadem of Persian royal clothing, much to the chagrin of Macedonian cultural purists. In the Persian city of Susa in 324, he arranged a mass wedding in which he compelled over 90 leading Macedonians to marry Persian women. Alexander himself married two, Stateira and Parysatis.
One of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world is the cause of Alexander’s death
In the year 323 B.C., after downing a bowl of wine during a celebration, Alexander the Great became unwell. The 32-year-old ruler died two weeks later. Given that Philip the second of Macedon’s bodyguard assassinated him, suspicion fell on Alexander’s entourage, particularly his general Antipater and Antipater’s son Cassander, who would later command the assassinations of Alexander’s family.
Some ancient biographers suggested that Aristotle, who had ties to Antipater’s family, might have played a role. In recent times, medical professionals have theorized that Alexander died of malaria, lung infection, liver failure, or typhoid fever.
Alexander’s body was preserved in a pot of honey
Plutarch claims that Egyptian embalmers in Babylon embalmed Alexander’s body, while A. Wallis Budge, a famous Victorian Egyptologist, claimed that people submerged Alexander’s remains in honey to prevent deterioration. Alexander’s remains were returned to Macedonia a year or two after his death, only to be intercepted and brought to Egypt by Ptolemy I, one of his former generals. Ptolemy hoped that people would see him as the heir to his empire by possessing Alexander’s body.
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