91 Alexander The Great Facts You Should Know About The Ruler

Alexandria city is named after Alexander the Great.

Philip II transformed the Macedonian army into the most violent troops of his time by developing Macedonian phalanx, logistic systems, siege equipment, and cavalry. Alexander later inherited this strong army.

Alexander the Great or Alexander III of Macedon was the king of Macedonia's ancient Greek kingdom. Born in Pella, he was a part of the Argead dynasty, an ancient Greece city, in 356 BC.

He was a successor of King Philip II, his father, and became king when he was 20. Alexander conducted long military campaigns across Northeastern Africa and Western Asia in his ruling years. He built one of history's largest empires by the age of 30, and it stretched from north-western India to Greece.

Facts About Alexander The Great

Alexander's empire extended to a range of 2 million sq. mi (5.2 million sq. km). He could frighten the Greek city-states with the Macedonian troops left behind by his father to accept Alexander's rule.

• Not only was Alexander's conquests legendary, but his rule also transformed the history of Asia and Europe.
• When Alexander asked the homeless philosopher Diogenes, what Alexander could do for him, the philosopher simply asked Alexandr to stop blocking the sun.
• It is reported that Alexander said that he would very much like to be Diogenes if he were not Alexander.
• In his last will, Alexander expressed his wish to see the translation of the Asian population to Europe and vice-versa to bring this large continent together and form a unity.
• He believed that shaving the beard was tidier and would avoid ugly beard-grabbing during combat. He strongly endorsed the shaving of beards.
• While conquering many places, Alexander never attempted to conquer the Sparta city-state.
• After Alexander defeated the Persians, he dressed like them and married two Persian women.
• Alexander found a tribe during his Indian campaign that hadn't yet discovered fire.
• When his beloved horse died, he named a city after it and also gave the horse a state funeral.
• The presence of war elephants in India kept Alexander from expanding further.
• It is believed that ancients like Alexander were all buried in honey. These candied corpses were allegedly dug up years later and eaten as medicine.
• Among the 70 cities Alexander found, he named 20 of them after himself.
• Alexander had heterochromia iridium, meaning one eye was brown, and the other was blue.
• Alexander was King of Asia, King of Persia, Pharaoh of Egypt, and King of Macedonia, all at the same time.
• Many viewed Alexander as a drunken tyrant during his lifetime.
• Alexander provided his troops with licorice rations as it would quench their thirst.
• Not only was he undefeated in battle, but his rule was also the turning point in Asian and European history.
• The Persian Book of Kings considers Alexander to be a great king, whereas Zoroastrian literature portrays him in a negative character.
• When Prince Ambhi of the Taxila kingdom of India surrendered, not only did he retain his title under Alexander, but he also received gifts from him.
• Alexander is considered one of the most successful and greatest military commanders.

Alexander The Great's History

Alexander was born to the fourth wife of King Philip II, Olympias, the daughter of Epirus King, Neoptolemus I. Olympias was the principal wife of Philip out of seven or eight wives, probably because she was the mother of Alexander.

• Numerous Legends surround the childhood and birth of Alexander the Great.
• Plutarch, a Greek biographer, states that Olympias dreamed about a thunderbolt striking her womb the night before marriage to the Macedonian king Philip.
• It is also said that Philip dreamt that he secured his wife's womb with a seal engraved with the image of a lion.
• Alexander's father, Philip, was prepared to siege Potidea city on the Chalcidice peninsula on the day of Alexander's birth.
• Philip got the news of the victory of Parmenion, his general against Paeonian and Illyrian armies, with the victory of his horses at the Olympic Games on the same day.
• It was said that one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Ephesus' Temple of Artemis, burnt down on the same day.
• This incident led Hegesias of Magnesia, a Greek historian and rhetorician, to state that the temple burnt as Artemis was attending Alexander's birth and was away from the temple.
• Lanike was the sister of the future general of Alexander and a nurse. She raised Alexander in his early years.
• He was raised as a noble Macedonian youth, and he learned to hunt, play the lyre, fight, and ride.
• When a trader from Thessaly brought a horse to Philip that was hard to tame for ten years, Alexander sensed this horse's fear of shadow and tamed it.
• He named him Bucephalus, which translates to 'ox-head.' Bucephalus carried Alexander until India, and the horse later died due to old age.
• Philip chose Aristotle to tutor Alexander, the 13-year-old boy, providing Mieza's Temple of Nymphs as a classroom.
• Philip promised Aristotle to restore his hometown, Stageria, by freeing all the ex-citizens to tutor Alexander.
• For Alexander, Mieza was a boarding school with other Macedonian nobles' kids, like Cassander, Hephaistion, and Ptolemy.
• Many students in this school would later become generals and friends of Alexander.
• Aristotle taught them art, logic, religion, morals, medicine, and philosophy.
• Alexander the Great developed a liking towards Homer's works.
• Anaximenes of Lampsacus was also one of the tutors of Alexander the Great, as per Suda.
• Alexander completed his education at the age of 16 under Aristotle.
• When Philip II was at war against Thracians, leaving Alexander was the heir apparent and regent.
• Maedi, a Thracian tribe, revolted against Macedon.
• Alexander the Great quickly responded to this attack and drove the tribe away from his territory.

Alexander The Great's Reign

Alexender ruled for 13 years as Macedonian King, and Alexander's empire was one of the largest in ancient history, extending from Greece through north-western India. He also founded numerous cities on lands he conquered.

• The Greek cities he founded spread Greek culture, and Hellenistic civilization developed across the Roman Empire.
• At the wedding of Alexander's sister, Cleopatra of Macedonia, Alexander's father got assassinated by Pausanius, captain of King's bodyguard.
• Amy and Nobles declared Alexander as the King on the spot when he was 20.
• He started his rule by getting rid of any potential rival to his seat.
• Many tribes like Thrace, Thebes, Thessaly, and Athens started to revolt after hearing the news of Philip's assassination.
• Alexander responded quickly after he heard about these revolts.
• He gathered his Macedonian cavalry and recovered Thessaly. Alexander pardoned rebels when Athens sued for peace.
• Alexander wanted to secure northern borders before heading to Asia. He advanced to restain revolts in 335 BCE.
• He started at Amphipolis and headed to Independent Thracians. Alexander's army defeated the Thracian forces.
• He then marched into Illyria and defeated King Glaukias and King Cleitus. He secured the northern boundary with these victories.
• Alexander started his campaign in the north when Athenians and Thebans rebelled again. He headed south and took necessary measures to get control.
• After this, he began his Asian campaigns, and he appointed Antipater as the regent.
• Alexander took over the invasion project of his father, and in 334 BC, his troops crossed Hellespont with his army.
• He drew many soldiers, cavalries, and ships from several Greek mercenaries, city-states, and Illyria, Paionia, and Thrace soldiers.
• Alexander moved to Cilicia in 333 BC and later moved towards Syria. Although the troops of Darius III outnumbered his army, Alexander was able to defeat King Darius at Issus.
• Most towns in the route to Egypt surrendered after Alexander ruined Tyre. However, he faced resistance at Gaza, and Alexander defeated them with a shoulder wound.
• He was considered a liberator in Egypt. Alexander left Egypt in 331 BC, marched into Upper Mesopotamia's Achaemenid Assyria, and defeated King Darius again at the battle of Gaugamela.
• He captured Babylon. From here, he proceeded to Susa and seized its treasury.
• He later entered Persepolis and allowed his army to loot it, and he stayed there for five months.
• He chased Darius into Media and later into Parthia. Darius was killed by Bessus, who declared himself to be the successor. Alexander was set out to fight against Bessus. Bessus was later executed.
• When Alexander was away conducting his Asian campaigns, Greece enjoyed a phase of prosperity and peace.
• He launched a campaign towards the Indian subcontinent in 327 BC.
• He conquered the Achaemenid Empire, consisting of modern-day's Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• When he approached the Nanda Empire that had five times the army of Macedonian's, he heard about how his army was exhausted and decided to return.
• Alexander finally returned after several tribes along the Indus River, throughout the southern Sindh and Punjab.

Alexander The Great's Timeline

Sometime before Alexander died, Diodorus stated that Alexander gave out precise written instructions to Craterus, which were called Alexander's 'last plans.' Although Craterus began carrying out these commands, Aleander's successors did not want to continue implementing them as they considered them to be extravagant and impractical.

• Alexander the Great was born on July 20 or 21, 356 BCE.
• Around 346 BCE, Alexander the Great tamed his warhorse, which was named Bucephalus.
• Aristotle was summoned by his father, Macedonian King Philip II, to tutor Alexander the Great.
• On August 2, in 338 BCE, Macedonia conquered Athens after the Battle of Chaeronea.
• Alexander became the ruler of the Kingdom of Macedonia between 336-323 BCE.
• In 334 BCE, Alexander liberated Ephesus from the Persian king.
• Alexander the Great conducted campaigns between 334-323 BCE.
• Sardis surrendered to Alexander in 334 BCE, and Alexander stormed into the Persian empire in the same year.
• When Alexander set out for Asia, Antipater, his general, was in charge of Macedon between 334-324 BCE.
• In 333 BCE, Alexander conquered Aleppo after he reached Cilicia.
• The Battle of Issus occurred on November 5, 333 BCE, where Alexander the Great won against King Darius III of the First Persian Empire.
• In 332 BCE, he conquered Phoenicia and headed towards Egypt.
• In 332 BCE, he looted Sidon. Alexander the Great also looted Baalbek in the same year, renaming it Heliopolis.
• He destroyed Tyre during his conquest of the Levant between January-July of 332 BCE,
• In the December of 332 BCE, Alexander reaches the Oracle of Ammon, and he is declared as the son of Ammon and 'master of the universe'.
• In 331 BCE, he conquers Egypt with no resistance and finds the city Alexandria.
• In the same year, Susa surrenders to Alexander, and he sacks it.
• Alexander defeated the Scythians at the Jaxartes River. He conquers Sogdiana and Bactria.
• Between 327-326 BCE, Alexander starts his campaign in India. He marries Roxanne, a Bactrian girl, in 327 BCE.
• In May 326 BCE, Alexander defeats Paurava Kingdom's King Porus at the Battle of Hydaspes.
• In 326 BCE, he stopped his march towards east India and returned from Punjab's river Beas.
• He orders the restoration of Pasargadae in 324 BCE. Sometime after Alexander's death, Greek rule ends in Gandhara between 325-320 BCE.
• Alexander died at the age of 32 on June 10 or 11, 323 BCE.