Before he could capitalize on his victory over Greece, Philip was assassinated in 336 b. c.e. Like his father, Alexander III became king at a young age but proved that youth was no obstacle to success. Alexander ruthlessly eliminated (by murder, if necessary) all rivals for leadership over the now expanded army of Macedonians and Greeks as he prepared to conquer the Persian Empire. When Thebes tried to withdraw from the League of Corinth in 335 B. C.E., Alexander’s army arrived at Thebes and leveled it, except for its temples and the home of the poet Pindar (c. 520-443 B. C.E.)-whom he spared to demonstrated that he was, after all, a civilized Greek. Six thousand Thebans were murdered, and thousands more were sold into slavery. Alexander let it be known there was no turning back from the alliance for the Greek city-states.
Alexander was cruel and ruthless, and was also a brilliant military tactician. Historians tend to either admire his enormous capabilities or regard him as a megalomaniac. Always conscious of the image he projected, Alexander rode into battle at the head of his cavalry (sometimes requiring rescue by his men), his cape flowing behind him and his crested helmet polished to gleam under the sun’s rays. He carried a copy of The Iliad on all of his campaigns. Having survived close calls with death, Alexander eventually declared himself to be a son of Zeus, the king of the Greek gods.
As Alexander fought his way through Anatolia, he claimed that his aim was to free the Greek people from Persian rule. But he actually came up against-and slaughtered-thousands of Greek mercenary soldiers. Beginning at the Granicus River in 334 B. C.E., Alexander’s Macedonian-Greek army smashed all Persian opposition in Asia Minor before making his way to cities such as Tyre (in modern-day Lebanon).
By 331 B. C.E. he had conquered Egypt and founded one of the many cities named Alexandria that would dot the map of the post-Alexander world. When Alexander inflicted a huge defeat on the Persian army of Darius III (380-330 B. C.E.) at Gaugamela (in modern-day northern Iraq, near Mosul) in 331 B. C.E., he declared himself king of the Persian Empire. He needed thousands of mules and camels to haul away the huge Persian treasury of gold and other valuables.
World History
