The Invisible Mentor

Name: Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon)

Birth Date:  356 BC – 323 BC

Job Functions: King, Conqueror

Known For: Conquered most of the Old World

Alexander the Great was the son of King Philip II, King of Macedon (Macedon is a kingdom in northern Greece) and Olympias, a Molossian princess who was the fourth of the several women married to his father. King Philip II created the kingdom that Alexander the Great went on to expand into an empire in Asia and North Africa. Alexander rarely saw his father while growing up because he was often away on military campaigns so his mother played a prominent role in his life.

One of Alexander’s first tutors was Leonidas, a relative of Olympias who trained him in math, archery and horsemanship. Another tutor Lysimachus devised games that impersonated Achilles, the heroic Greek warrior, from The Iliad, the epic poem of the Trojan War. When Alexander was only 12 he tamed a wild horse no one else could ride and named it Bucephalus. The two became companions for many years and Alexander would ride his horse into battle.

At age 13, King Philip II hired Aristotle, the Greek Philosopher to tutor Alexander for three years in the rural Macedonian village of Mieza. Aristotle prepared an abridged version of Homer’s Iliad for Alexander. “Alexander’s mother had impressed upon her son that through her he was descended from Achilles, Greek hero of that war. This deeply impressed the passionate Alexander, who carried Aristotle’s “Casket Iliad” wherever he went.” Aristotle also taught the teenager philosophy, government, politics, poetry, drama and the sciences.

At age 16, Alexander left the tutelage of Aristotle, and served as regent while his father attacked the coastal cities of Byzantium and Perinthus. From a young age, Alexander was very brave and showed military prowess, so while his father was away, Alexander staged a revolt by Maedi in northern Macedon, renamed their chief city “Alexandroupolis,” and settled Greeks in the territory.

Alexander joined his father’s campaign against Athens and Thebes in 338 BC, leading a key cavalry charge in the Battle of Chaeronea. This victory allowed Philip to forge the Greek city-states into an alliance known as the Corinthian League. Under Philip’s leadership, the league then prepared for war against the Persian Empire.

Things didn’t always go well between father and son. After Philip took control of the Corinthian League, he married another woman, which forced Alexander and Olympias to flee Macedon. Eventually Philip and Alexander were united.

When Alexander ascended to the throne after his father’s assassination in 336 BC he was ready to conquer the world. Alexander led the invasion of the Persian Empire where he dethroned despot, King Darius III and freed the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. Alexander became King of Persia. He then subdued Egypt, founded the city of Alexandria, and by 332 BC had full control of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Alexander marched on to Syria, India, farther east and north until he became ruler of the known world of his day. When Alexander conquered the known world he transported Greek ideas and culture everywhere he went – Greek art, science, philosophy, literature, and language. He also worked to improve living standards by introducing water and sewage systems and erected public buildings, parks, market places, gymnasia and theatres.

But the City of Alexandria was Alexander’s pride and joy, and there he made civic improvements as well as created institutions for learning. He founded a great library, and great strides in mathematics and science were made in Alexandria, and medicine and astronomy became important there as well.

Alexander died (sources vary on cause of death – food poisoning, malaria, overdose of medication) in 323 BC at age 32. Dissension arose, which divided the known world into three areas, which were controlled and ruled by his generals until the Romans conquered the areas. Ptolemy declared himself King of Egypt, Seleucus gained control over Persia, Mesopotamia and Syria and Pergamon controlled Asia Minor and Macedon.

The impact of Alexander’s conquest was still felt after his death and was the beginning of the Hellenistic Age. According to Gale Encyclopedia of World History, “New trade routes, notably the sea route to India, were opened during the period of rule by Alexander’s successors. The use of coinage and a monetary economy became standard. Visual, literary, and dramatic arts flourished in the multicultural hotbed of Hellenistic cities. From the dialogue of comedy to the drapery portrayed on statuary, the idealistic forms of Classical Greece were replaced by more realistic and individualistic models. The quests for realism and understanding were undertaken by philosophers and scientists of the age, including Alexander’s tutor Aristotle. Great advances in astronomy and mathematics were achieved, in part by such brilliant men as Euclid and Archimedes, but also through Babylonian scholarship. The science of medicine made important advances as well.”

Stories of Alexander the Great abounded in Hebrew literature throughout the Middle Ages. The stories spoke of Alexander’s wisdom and high moral standards, reflecting the belief that as a pupil of Aristotle he had to be a philosopher. These stories include: Gests of Alexander, Historia de proeliis Alexandri Magni, and Sefer Toledot Alexander.

And some of the stories Alexander enjoyed are still enjoyed today.

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Works Cited/Referenced

Encyclopedia of India

UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography

Gale Encyclopedia of World History: War

Encyclopedia of Judaica

Science and its Times

Encyclopedia of World Biography

Arts and Humanity Through the Eras: Ancient Greece and Rome (1200 BCE – 476 CE)

A Short History of the World, J. Milnor Dorey

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