Alexander the Great | Wars, Greek Empire

Alexander the Great (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BCE) is considered to have been the greatest military General, Strategist, Tactician and Ruler in all history.
He never lost a single battle and was only 32 when he died. He created a Greek Empire in the East which covered Anatolia, Syria, Judaea, Gaza, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Afghanistan and the Punjab and Sind part of Pakistan.

Alexander was the Son of Philip II of Macedon.
His Tutor was Aristotle, and his right hand man, bodyguard and most able General, was Haephestion, who was eventually appointed Chillarch, second in command of the Empire.

In 336 BCE, Philip II, his Father, was assassinated before he could attack the Persian Empire and Alexander was proclaimed King at the age of 20.
Alexander then moved his army across Greece to prevent any revolts and consolidate his power.
In 353 BCE, he fought various Tribes near the Danube to secure his northern frontier.
Alexander placed General Antipater in charge of Greece, leaving him free to attack the Persian Empire.

The most famous horse in the Ancient World belonged to Alexander the Great.
Bucephalus lived between 355-326 BCE. He was described as a massive horse with a massive head, a Black coat with a white star on his forehead.
His name meant, ‘Ox’ ‘Head’ derived from a brand mark on his rear.
Plutarch related that the horse was untameable but was made a gift to Alexander at the age of 13 when on meeting him for the first time, he tamed him.
A mythical bond of Immortality formed between Bucephalus and Alexander. Bucephalus was born with a mutation which gave him more toes than an ordinary horse, giving him mythical status. Alexander believed he himself was descended from Achilles through his mother.
Julius Caesar had a favourite horse and Caligula planned to make his horse Incitatus into a Consul.
Bucephalus died after the Battle of Hydaspes in 326 BCE. Alexander buried him in a great tomb and founded the town of Alexandria Bucephala on the right hand side of the Jhelum River. Its location today is unknown.

Alexander established Greek Rule in his conquered territories through Provincial Governors called Satraps.

In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great took a Greek Army through the Khyber Pass to invade the Kingdom of Ghandara (India).
He conquered various mountain tribes but was faced with a major army under Porus, King of the Punjab region.
In 326 BCE he won the Battle of the Hydaspes against King Porus, but allowed him to live and become the Satrap of his own Kingdom.
When Alexander tried to push further East, the Greek Army mutinied and he was obliged to end his Campaign on the river Hyphasis, which then became the eastern frontier of his Empire.

Alexander built a fleet and sailed south down the Indus to the Indian Ocean.
Here he divided his forces, half marched back with him to Persia from the Indus River to the Strait of Hormuz. Crossing the Gedrosian Desert took sixty days and he lost 12,000 soldiers to exhaustion.
The other half of his army was sent with the fleet under his Admiral Nearchus to explore the coast back to the Persian Gulf and return to Susa in Persia.

In 334/3 BCE, Nearchus was appointed Satrap of newly conquered Lycia and Pamphylia.
Nearchus masterminded the Naval blockade of the Persian Fleets that led to the Fall of the Levant and Egypt.
In 328 BCE, Nearchus was then sent to join Alexander in Afghanistan (Bactria).
In 326 BCE, Alexander built a Fleet on the Indus near Taxila, and appointed Nearchus as Admiral. The Fleet then sailed down the Indus, whilst the army followed along the shore.
In 325 BCE, Nearchus took between 17-20,000 men with the Fleet to explore the Persian Gulf.
The journey is described in depth in Indica by Arrian.

Alexander planned the conquest of Carthage but died before he could make the preparations.

Diodorus Siculus’ version:
- Diodorus Siculus, Arrian and Justin all maintain that he had been poisoned.
Plutarch’s version:
- Plutarch disagreed that Alexander had been poisoned, and maintained that he succumbed to a fever and died two weeks later.

Alexander the Great was buried in a Mausoleum with a conical roof in Alexandria. Although it is now lost, it was known as a major landmark in the Greco-Roman world for 600 years.
Strabo wrote in volume XIV, that the body of Alexander the Great was placed in a golden coffin full of white Honey.

There then followed the Hellenisation of the Levant and the East. Greek Culture and Greek Cities were established and developed in the region.
However, by the time the Roman Empire took over these regions, Persia, Babylon and India had been lost.

Arrian
- The Indica
Diodorus Siculus
- Bibliotheca Historia, 40 Books of which 17 cover Alexander the Great.
Quintus Curtius Rufus
- Historiae Alexandri Magni, 10 Books about Alexander the Great of which 8 have survived.
Plutarch
- ‘Parallel Lives’ He has paired Alexander the Great with Julius Caesar.
Justin
- ‘Historiae Philippicae’, 44 Books, of which books 12 and 13 cover Alexander the Great.

Persepolis