Alexander the Great was born in 356 B.C. in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. The son of Philip II, King of Macedonia, and of Olympias a princess of Epirus. The Greek philosopher Aristotle was Alexander’s tutor, and gave him a thorough training in rhetoric and literature. In the summer of 336 B.C. Philip was assassinated, and Alexander ascended the Macedonian throne. He found himself surrounded by enemies, but disposed of all conspirators by ordering their execution. Before the end of the summer of 336 B.C. he had reestablished his position in Greece and was elected by a congress of states at Corinth.
Alexander began his war against Persia in the spring of 334 B.C. by crossing the Hellespont (modern Dardanelles) with an army of 35,000 along with his chief officers Antigonus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. At the river Granicus, near Troy, he attacked an army of Persian and Greek mercenaries totaling 40,000 men. He defeated the enemy and, according to tradition lost only 110 men. After this battle, all the states of Asia Minor submitted to him. In passing through Phrygia he is said to have cut with his sword the Gordian knot.
Continuing to advance southward. Alexander encountered the main Persian army, commanded by King Darius III at Issus, in northeastern Syria. The Battle of Issus, in 333 B.C., was a great victory for Alexander. He took Tyre (in modern Lebanon) by storm in 332 B.C. after a siege of seven months. Alexander captured Gaza next and then passed on into Egypt, where he was greeted as a deliverer. By these successes he secured control of the entire eastern Mediterranean coastline. Later in 332 B.C. he founded, at the mouth of the Nile, the city of Alexandria, which later became the literary, scientific, and commercial center of the Greek world.
In 331 B.C. Alexander headed to Babylon. Crossing the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, he met Darius and completely defeated his army in the Battle of Arbela on the plain of Guagamela, on Oct. 1, 331 B.C. Babylon surrendered after Gaugamela, and the city of Susa with its enormous treasures was soon conquered. Then, in mid-winter, he forced his way to Persepolis, the Persian capital. After plundering the royal treasuries and taking other rich booty he burned the city and thus completed the destruction of the ancient Persian Empire.
In 323 B.C. Alexander arrived in Babylon, and the following June he contracted a fever and died. He left his empire, in his own words, “to the strongest.” Alexander was one of the greatest generals of all time. As a statesman and ruler his plans were grandiose. He cherished a scheme for uniting the East and the West in a world empire, a new and enlightened “world brotherhood of all men.” He adopted Persian manners and married Eastern wives, namely Roxana, and encouraged his officers to take Persian wives. To bind his conquests together, Alexander founded a number of cities. Greek veterans from his army settled in them, Greek culture was introduced, and the Greek language became widely known. Thus Alexander paved the way for the kingdoms of the Hellenistic Period and the conquests of the Roman Empire.