Alexander The Great Biography: Early Life, Personality, Achievements and Demise

Alexander the Great who was otherwise known as Alexander (lll) of Macedon was born in Pella (an ancient Greece city) in 356 BC. He was the successor of his father named King Philip ll and became the king of the ancient greek kingdom, Macedon, at the age of 20 after his father was assassinated at his sister’s wedding. But until 16 years of age, he was tutored and guided by Aristotle. According to Alexander the great biography, he is still known for carrying out the lengthiest military campaign stretching from entire Western Asia and Northeast Africa. 

At the young age of 30, he built the vast empires in history that started from Greece to Northwest India. Alexander the great biography says that he was undefeated in most of his battles that made him the most successful military commander in history. After he sacked the entire city of Thebes, he was recognised as the Generalship of Greece which he then used to imply his father’s Pan-Hellenic Project that involved taking over the   leadership position of all the Greeks in the conquest of Persia. Alexander’s legacy was an amalgamation of many cultures that included the combination of different beliefs such as Geco-Buddhism and Hellenistic Judaism.

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Image: Illustration of Alexander the Great

Early Life and Childhood

According to Alexander the Great biography books, Alexander was born on 20th July 356 BC that is considered as the sixth month of the ancient Greek Hekatombaion in Pella which was the capital of the Kingdom of Macedon. He was the son of King Phillip ll and his wife Olympias who was the fourth spouse of the king. Alexander was nursed in his early days by Lakine who was the sister of his future general Cleitus The Black. When he was 10, he was tutored very strictly by Leonidas who was one of the relatives of his mother and by Lysimachus of Acarnania. 

He was raised in the manner every possible noble heir of Macedon was raised that included learning to read, ride, learning to play the lyre, fight as well as techniques of hunting. Later when Alexander was 13, his father wanted academics such as Isocrates and Speusippius to tutor Alexander academically. The latter though resigned from the Academy and chose to tutor Alexander, his father meanwhile chose Aristotle for his son and converted the temple of Nymphs that was located in Mieza as his classroom. In return to tutor Alexander, King Phillip ll have agreed to rebuild Aristotle’s hometown and repopulate it by buying and freeing the people who were slaves and releasing the people of the town who were in exile. 

Alexander and his other companions in the classroom who were denoted as companions later were taught  Medicine, morals, philosophy, art, religion and logic by Aristotle. Under his guidance, Alexander developed a very keen interest in the works of Homer and the Iliad in particular. Looking at his passion, Aristotle gifted him an annotated copy that he carried to all his campaigns in his later life.  He was intelligent enough to recall the quotes of Euripides from his memory. 

In his youth, he was familiarized with the Persian exiles in the court of Macedon, who was protected by his father, King Phillip ll for several years as they opposed another emperor named Artaxerxes lll. Among all the exiles were Artbazos ll and his daughter named Barasine who later became the mistress of Alexander the Great in future. They resided in the court of  Macedon from 352 to 342 BC. Among the other exiles who became the governors of the Alexander empire were Amminapes and Persian noblemen were known as Sisines. Suda mentioned in his books that Anaximenes of Lampsacus was one among all his other teachers who accompanied him to all his campaigns. 

The Personality of Alexander The Great

The life of Alexander the great is still remembered for his unparalleled success as a military commander and his agility and manoeuvring techniques against the larger and desperate Persian force that led him to win over Persia. He also had a great sense to recognize the high chances of disagreement among his diverse army of soldiers as they belonged to different languages and used different weapons. He is still respected for overcoming the potential difficulty by self-involving on the battlefield in a definite method of a Macedonian King. 

Due to alexander approach to matching the length of the cavalry line of Persian soldiers with a mere 13000 infantry and 5000 cavalry against 40,000 Persian forces, he still had many advantages over javelins and scimitars of Persia that ensured Alexander’s win over Persian soldiers with minimum loss to Alexander’s forces as compared to that of the Persians.  

When he fought with his forces against the forces of Central Asia and India who used different modes and techniques of attacking, he quickly made his soldiers familiar with the techniques that were unknown and unfamiliar to them.

Alexander has personality traits that were the reflection of his parents. His mother Olympus was an ambitious lady and encouraged him to win over Persia. However, his father was his direct influence for his personality traits as he accompanied him to most of his campaigns every year with massive winning without giving much attention to the wounds. But his competitive nature to outdo his father on the battlefield led to his reckless nature on the battlefield that affected his relationship with his father. On one hand, he was tempered, violent, impulsive and rash that had benefited him to win over many battles. But on the other hand, he was also prospective, calculative and logical in his approach in a much calmer way. 

Although because of his stubborn nature, he often did not respond well to his father’s commands but was always open to reasoned debate. Alexander’s intelligence and perceptive nature was the main key that established him as a great emperor in history. According to Plutarch's understanding of the life of Alexander,  he had a lack of self-control for alcohol but had a great self-resistance towards other pleasures of life. He had a great interest to acquire knowledge especially in philosophy and was an avid reader. He also patronized and appreciated both art and science and had no interest in Olympic games, unlike his father.  

King of Macedon

After King Phillip ll was assassinated in 336 B.C. by one of his bodyguards named Pausanias, Alexander became the successor of the throne at the age of 20 and was declared as the king of Macedon according to the book “Alexander of Macedon by Peter Green”. He eventually killed all his rivals so that no one could challenge his sovereignty. He suppressed the rebellions who voiced for the independence of Northern Greece. Then he leads the footsteps of his father for world domination as described in the book “Alexander of Macedon by Peter Green”. 

After he became the king he appointed Antipater, the general as regent and headed with his army for Persia. They routed through Hellespont and confronted both Persian as well as Greek forces at Granicus river with a victorious and glorified win to Alexander and Macedonians.

Alexander with his army marched towards the city of Sardes but confronted many resistances in cities like Miletus, Mylasa and predominantly in Halicarnassus. Alexander with his army not defeated but was seized and held out for a long time by an army of Halicarnassus city till the new king of Persia, the Darius lll gathered and rebuilt its substantial army force.   

Conquest of Persia

In 334 B.C. Alexander along with his set of army aimed to conquer Persia, who were then diminishing its power but still managed to become a large and powerful organization. Alexander had fewer than 40,000 Macedonian men who were blindly loyal to the king made a huge versatile force that had cavalry, hugely armed soldiers marched on foot who displayed spears and created a phalanx. All the soldiers marched relentlessly behind the huge shields they created. Alexander moved his troops into position to enable effective military action and himself led them on the battlefields and encouraged them. 

Alexander then crossed Bosporus and visited the city of Troy and entered Asia minor with routing the Persian force there. All the Greek cities in minor Asia that were under the control of Persia welcomed and accepted Alexander as their new ruler. In 333 B.C. he defeated the new Persian emperor Darius lll on the battlefield of the Gulf of Issus and then they retreated vigorously where Alexander left behind a few of his family members who were taken as hostages. Alexander then refused to make peace with Darius until he was ready to accept Alexander as their new emperor. So he started moving towards Egypt sweeping the south along the sea. He strategically seized the major ports that include the defeated port of Tyre named Phoenician. 

After several weeks of strategic fights, he finally entered the main city of Egypt and established a new city that still bears his name. Finally, he became the king of Persia after he massively defeated Darius in 331 B.C. where both the troops witnessed heavy loss and Darius fled and was finally assassinated by his troop. To gain the credibility of the Persians, he even adopted many customs and practices of Persian culture. When Alexander reached the city called Susa in early 324 B.C. he convinced many of his governors to marry the princesses of Persia to build a new royal race by uniting Macedonians and Persians.     

Campaign in India

In 327 B.C., he marched into India through Punjab where many troops surrendered peacefully while others revolted. Alexander fought a battle with king Porus of Paurava near the Hyderabad river and king Paurava was badly defeated by Alexander’s troops as the former had less experience and strategies on the battlefield. At one of the incidents in a battle that took place in Hydaspes Alexander was devastated after losing his dearest horse named  Bucephalus and named a city after his name. Though he attempted to take over India, his officers convinced him to go back to rule Persia. Alexander led his troop to the Indus river where he was severely injured and wounded in a battle with Malli.

The Demise of The King

Before his demise to establish his supremacy, he planned to take over Arab but died before the plan could be executed. He died in June 323 B.C. after surviving several wounds from the fierce battles at the age of 32. Some of the historians believed that he died of malaria while some others believe that he died of poisoning and the rest believe that he had a natural death after going through many wounds in his body.

Summary of Alexander The Great Life’s biography

Alexander becomes king at the age of 20 after the assassination of his father king Phillips. He had an amazing skill in manoeuvring and his agility on the battlefield made him the most fierce warrior of all times. He was tempered, harsh and impulsive at a time and was reasonable, calm and strategic on the other. He was a very keen reader and learned a lot quicker with an undivided love for both art and science. He was indulged in reading philosophy and was tutored by Aristotle at the age of 13. 

He won many battles but his biggest win was to win over Persia and conquer Egypt. He had an army that was diverse in language and weapons but he managed to align them by being on the battlefield and deploying the army himself. He quickly adopted and guided the new and unfamiliar battle techniques to win over unfamiliar troops of the army. Alexander the great best life biography was written by many historians but the book that captured Alexander the great biography by By Peter Green is much famous.