(
http://livebyquotes.com/2013/i-am-not-afraid-of-an-army-of-lions-led-by-sheep-alexander-the-great/)
Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as
Alexander the Great (
Greek:
Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας,
Aléxandros ho Mégasiii[›] from the Greek
ἀλέξω alexo "to defend, help" +
ἀνήρ aner "man"), was a king of the Greek kingdom of
Macedon. Born in
Pella in 356 BC, Alexander succeeded his father,
Philip II
to the throne at the age of twenty. He spent most of his ruling years
on an unprecedented military campaign through Asia and northeast Africa,
until by the age of thirty he had created one of the
largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from Greece to Egypt and into present-day Pakistan.
[1] He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders.
During his youth, Alexander was tutored by the philosopher
Aristotle
until the age of 16. When he succeeded his father to the throne in
336 BC, after Philip was assassinated, Alexander inherited a strong
kingdom and an experienced army. He had been awarded the generalship of
Greece and used this authority to launch his father's military expansion
plans. In 334 BC, he invaded the
Achaemenid empire, ruled
Asia Minor, and began a
series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of
Issus and
Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew the Persian King
Darius III and conquered the entirety of the
Persian Empire.
i[›] At that point, his empire stretched from the
Adriatic Sea to the
Indus River.
Seeking to reach the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea", he
invaded India in 326 BC, but was eventually forced to turn back at the demand of his troops. Alexander died in
Babylon in 323 BC, the city he planned to establish as his capital,
[3] without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of
Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in several states ruled by the
Diadochi, Alexander's surviving generals and heirs.
Alexander's legacy includes the
cultural diffusion his conquests engendered. He founded some
twenty cities that bore his name, most notably
Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture in the east resulted in a new
Hellenistic civilization, aspects of which were still evident in the traditions of the
Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century. Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of
Achilles,
and he features prominently in the history and myth of Greek and
non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders
compared themselves, and
military academies throughout the world still teach his tactics.
ii[›]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great)
