Surnamed: "The Great"
Parents: Philip II, king of Macedon, and Olympias of Epirus
Date of Birth: 20 July 356 BCE
House: Macedonian
Spouse: (1) Roxana, daughter of Osyartes of Bactria, (2) Stateira II, daughter of Darius III, shahanshah of Persia, and Stateira I, and (3) Parysatis II, daughter of Artaxerxes III, shahanshah of Persia
Predecessor: Philip II
Reign: 336 – 323 BCE
Summary: Alexander was born in Pella, the capital of Macedon located somewhere in northern Greece or Macedonia. Alexander was tutored be Leonidas and Lysimachus in the manner of a Macedonian noble. When he was ten, he received his first horse, which he named Bucephalas. Alexander kept this horse until the end of his days. In 343 BCE, King Philip chose the philosopher Aristotle to tutor his son, and the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza was the appointed classroom. Alexander fell in love with the epics of Homer while also learning every known science. When Philip left for war, Alexander remained in Pella as the regent and heir apparent. He was given his first chance to rule when Thrace rebelled and Alexander leveled it and founded a new settlement there populated by Greeks called Alexandropolis. It would not be the last city Alexander named after himself. Philip continued to give his son powers and increased the size of his army. In 338 BCE, the two marched together to Thermoplyae and then continued marching south to subdue Greek city-states that were rebelling against Macedonian rule. Once in the far south of Greece, Philip established the League of Corinth between almost all the city-states in Greece and declared war against the Persian Empire. Upon his return to Pella, Philip fell in love with a local lady and Alexander was forced to flee to Illyria. Six months later, the two parties were reunited. In 336 BCE, Philip was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguards. Alexander was proclaimed king at the age of 20.
The new king quickly killed his rival family members. Much of Greece rebelled soon after and Alexander spent the first months of his reign consolidating power in the south. Once secured, he moved north and secured his northern borders. The south rebelled again, and Alexander was forced to raze Thebes to the ground and split it between other rival cities. Once all his rebellions were ended, he moved on toward Persia leaving a lieutenant, Antipater, behind as regent. In twelve years, Alexander conquered all of Persia, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Afghanistan. He marched his army directly toward the Tigris River, sacking or conquering everything he passed. One-by-one, he took Syria, the Levant, Tyre, and Egypt. Jerusalem saw Alexander as a savior against the autocratic rule of the later Persian overlords. In Egypt, he founded Alexandria, a city that would soon become the wealthy center of Ptolemaic Egypt. Alexander then moved north to Mesopotamia and conquered it all before continuing into the Persian heartland. Darius III, emperor of Persia, continued to flee, abandoning the old Persian capital at Susa and the new one at Persepolis. Darius was finally stabbed by Bactrian captors and a pretender arose and fled into the mountains. Alexander eventually defeated the usurper and took the title King of Kings (Shahanshah) and adopted some Persian dress. India became the next target of Alexander's desire, but it would overstretch him. He crossed the Indus at the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BCE and subdued the local lord, making him the new satrap of India. His horse, Bucephalas, died during the engagement. Near the Gnages River, Alexander's army finally mutinied. He never passed into the Indian heartland but was forced to turn for home. In Persia, Alexander began to centralize his rule and established well-defined satrapies throughout his realm. He returned to Babylon and died there after a short fever in 323 BCE. His tomb became a pilgrimage site for many centuries to come. Alexander's empire became the stuff of legend but was divided between his posthumous son, Alexander IV, and a half-brother, Philip III. Within months, though, a civil war broke out that saw the rise of four separate kingdoms formed from former satrapies. In Egypt, the Ptolemys took control. In Persia and Mesopotamia, the Seleucids. In Asia Minor, Pergamon briefly took control, and in Macedon, Alexander and Philip were soon murdered and replaced by upstart generals.
Date of Death: 10 June 323 BCE
Successor: Alexander IV and Philip III
Other Monarch Deaths:
Ernest, margrave of Austria (1075)
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (1190)
Ernest, duke of Austria (1424)
Hsinyushin, king of Burma (1776)
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