Andrew

LA/SS

Alexander The Great

       Did you know that Alexander the Great tamed a horse named Bucephalus, a horse that no one else dared to touch or ride?  When Alexander was twenty years old his father was assassinated, and he became king of Macedonia.  Who was Alexander the Great?  Was he liked by the people?  Why was he called  "The Great?" 

       Alexander was born in 356 B.C. in Pella, the capital of Macedonia.  He had a mother named Olympias.  She was princess of Epirus.  Epirus is the mountainous region bordering Albania.  She spent most of her time spoiling Alexander, practicing religious rituals with snakes, and criticizing her husband Philip II.  Alexander's father's name was Philip II.  He was King of Macedonia.  He spent most of his time trying to extend Macedonian power over neighboring Greek city-states.  He also had a sister named Cleopatra.  No, not the famous Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra, but the ordinary sister of Alexander.   

       Alexander was fearless and brought up to be a good king.  When he was about 11 years old, his father got him a tutor named Leonidas.  Leonidas toughened him physically through exercise and a lean diet.  He made Alexander march half the night so he would want his breakfast, then he would give him a small breakfast so he would want dinner.  Leonidas also taught Alexander many military skills: to run swiftly, to ride a horse bareback (without a saddle), to drive a chariot, and to use a sword and a spear.  When he was 13 years old, his father decided that he needed to be toughened mentally also.  

    His father fired Leonidas and then hired Aristotle.  So at just 18 years old, Alexander became a pupil of Aristotle.  Aristotle taught Alexander Greek  literature, philosophy, and science.  Alexander was very willing to learn.  He wanted to learn as much as he could, especially about the ideas and deeds of the Greeks.  Alexander was a fine student and an eager one.  

       Alexander's hero was Achilles.  His mother taught him that Achilles was his ancestor, and that his father was descended from Hercules.  Alexander learned the Iliad by heart.  The Iliad was a book with all the deeds of Achilles.  Achilles was one of the greatest Greek warriors in the Trojan war and hero of Homer's Iliad.  He killed Hector and was killed when Paris, a warrior, wounded him in the heel, his one vulnerable spot, with an arrow.

       At sixteen, his tutoring ended, and the young prince joined his father's army.  Before Alexander joined   his father went to war, leaving Alexander to serve as regent of Macedonia.  A regent is someone who rules for a child until the child is old enough to rule for himself.  He also acted as his father's ambassador to Athens.

       In the summer of June 336 B.C. in the theatre in Aegeae, King Philip was assassinated.  So at just 20 years old Alexander became King of Macedonia.  One of Alexander's first actions as king was to invade the Persian Empire.  At 21 years old he was the unopposed leader of the Greek world, or the tyrant of Greece.  Within 11 years he had conquered Persia, Egypt, and lands extending beyond the Indus River in the east.  He earned the right to be called "Alexander the Great."  Alexander tamed a horse named Bucephalus, that everyone was afraid to touch and ride.  Later that famous steed carried Alexander as far as India, where it died.  He then built the city of Bucephalus on the Hydaspes River in memory of his beloved horse Bucephalus.  In 333 B.C., he became seriously ill.  He recovered and marched along the coast into Syria.  He led his troops in campaigns against Greek city-states, Egypt, and the Persian Empire, ruling most of the civilized world by the time he died.

       Alexander was a great king.  He got as far as Babylon, where he came down with a fever.  In 323 B.C., only 13 years after he came to the throne, he became seriously ill, and died.  He had conquered practically all of the known world.  Like his hero Achilles, he died young.  Alexander's death spelled death for his empire.  Within 50 years, the empire had broken into three main kingdoms.  Each one was ruled by a family descended from one of his commanders.  Although the empire broke apart, Greek culture remained alive and well in these new kingdoms.