Alexander was born in 356 BC to King Philip of Macedon and Olympias, a princess from Epirus in North Greece. Alexander was tutored by Aristotle during his youth, while never agreeing with his philosophies, Alexander learned all he needed to know on how to run his empire. At the age of 16, his father appointed him regent of Macedonia and he helped his father to defeat the Greeks at the Battle of Chaeronea at the age of 18. In 336 BC at the age of 21, Alexander inherited the Macedonian throne from his father, when he was assasinated by his bodyguard, and former lover.
As the new King of Macedonia, Alexander led an army of revenge against the Persian Empire because of the invasion of Greece nearly a century and a half earlier. In 334 BC, he led an army of Macedonian and Greek soldiers into Asia Minor and conquered many Persian cities.
Whn he reached Egypt, the citizens willingly declared him Pharoah and ruler of all Egypt. While there, Alexander went to the oasis of Siwah to consult the famous oracle of Zues-Amon. Although noone knows what was said by the oracle, Alexander from then on believed himself to be a decendant of Amon. He also designed the layout for the infamous port city of Alexandria from the locations of the markets to the size and structure of the temples.
In leaving Egypt, he drove his forces deeper into Asia and fought and won his first major battle against the Persians at the Granicus River. The Persian king, Darius III ran from the battle signaling that Alexander had won. From there he went on to the Persian capital at Persepolis, where he burned all the buildings of the long dead King Xerxes', who had invaded Greece 150 years ago. Again, at the battle of Issus in 333 BC, Alexander won a battle against King Darius, who had fled a second time from battle. On October 1, 331, Alexander won, yet again, another major battle, the Battle at Gaugamela, against the Persians, the end of this battle also ment the end of the war of revenge on Persia.
Although Alexander was a fierce ruler and conqueror, he showed great sympathy with his fellow ruling class. Shortly after the Battle at Gaugalmela, King Darius was arrested by Bessus, a ruler of Bactria and claimant of the Persian throne. Darius died in chains, and Alexander gave him his full respect as a King and sent him home to have an honorable burial. In 329 BC, Bessus was arrested by his own allies and turned over to Alexander, who orderes him to be stripped naked and tied to a post to be humiliated in front of the soldiers before he was mutilated and dismembered for being a Persian traitor.
In the course of the next four years, Alexander and his army counquered Bactria and other eastern parts of the old Persian Empire. All the while, planting strategic cities and military colonies in certain places along the route from the Mediterranean so as to never be cut off from much needed suppiles and the comfortableness of their own Greek culture.
In 327 BC, Spitamenes, a Bactrian nobleman leading a resistance against Alexander, was assasinated by his allies. Later, he took a wife, Roxanne, the daughter of a captured leader. She was perhaps 12 years old at the time, and would bear him only one child. Also, in Hyrcania on the Caspian Sea, Alexander was given Bagoas, a male eunuch, in which he made a lover.
Alexander and his army finally crossed the Indus River and entered India in 326 BC, but the army revolted and wished to go home thinking that their journey had already taken them to far from their homes. Reluctantly, Alexander turned back only to turn south and take his army elsewhere then home. They marched to the Arabian Sea and violently conquered local tribes who did not oppose but were slaughtered anyways. After they reached the Arabian Sea, they turned west and marched through the Gedrosian Desert where many soldiers died.
In 324 BC, Alexander and his army finally reached Susa, where they could from there go home again. There also, Alexander took two more wives, one of which was the daughter of Darius. A year later on June 10th, he was dead at the age of 32. He had an infant son in Bactria who was too young to assume the duties of the King of Macedonia, and was cruelly murdered. Among the biggest achievements of Alexander the Great was that his crusade opened the East to Hellenism and to the Greek culture, forever changing and enhancing the way of life well into India.
