Alexander the Great

Alexander III was born at Pella in 356 BC, the son of Philip II of Macedonia and Olympias. His father had transformed Macedonia into the dominant Greek military power, and the young Alexander received an elite education traditionally associated with Aristotle. When Philip was assassinated in 336 BC, Alexander secured the Macedonian throne and suppressed challenges to his authority. He then carried out the planned invasion of the Persian Empire. His victories at the Granicus River, Issus, and Gaugamela broke the power of Darius III and opened the Persian imperial centers to Macedonian control. Alexander moved through Asia Minor and the Levant, took Egypt, where Alexandria was founded, entered Mesopotamia, occupied Babylon and the Persian capitals, and continued eastward through Iran and Central Asia. His campaigns eventually crossed into the Indian subcontinent before his exhausted army refused to advance farther east. Alexander returned toward the imperial heartland while attempting to consolidate an enormous and culturally diverse realm. He adopted some Persian court practices, encouraged integration between Macedonian and Persian elites, founded or refounded numerous cities, and accelerated the spread of Greek language and culture across the eastern Mediterranean and Near East. In 323 BC, while at Babylon and preparing further campaigns, Alexander became ill and died at age thirty-two. He left no adult heir capable of holding the empire together. His generals and successors divided the territories, producing the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms among others.