Alexander III of Macedon (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος Aléxandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11

June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great,[a] was a king of the ancient
Greek kingdom of Macedon.[a] A member of the Argead dynasty, he was born in Pella—a
city in Ancient Greece—in 356 BC. He succeeded his father King Philip II to the
throne at the age of 20, and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy
military campaign throughout Western Asia and Northeastern Africa. By the age of
thirty, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from
Greece to northwestern India.[3] He was undefeated in battle and is widely
considered to be one of history's greatest and most successful military commanders.
[4][5]

Alexander on a mosaic from Pompeii, an alleged reproduction of a Philoxenus of

Eretria or Apelles' painting, 4th century BC.
During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. His
father Philip was assassinated in 336 BC at the wedding of Cleopatra of Macedon,
Alexander's sister, and Alexander assumed the throne of the Kingdom of Macedon. In
335 BC he campaigned in the Balkans, reasserting control over Thrace and Illyria
before sacking the Greek city of Thebes. Alexander was then awarded the generalship
of Greece. He used his authority to launch his father's pan-Hellenic project,
assuming leadership over all the Greeks in their conquest of Persia.[6][7]

In 334 BC he invaded the Achaemenid Empire (Persian Empire) and began a series of
campaigns that lasted 10 years. Following his conquest of Asia Minor (modern-day
Turkey), Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles,
including those at Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew King Darius III
and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety.[b] At that point, his empire
stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. Alexander endeavored to reach
the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea" and invaded India in 326 BC,
achieving an important victory over King Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes. He
eventually turned back at the Beas River due to the demand of his homesick troops,
dying in 323 BC in Babylon, the city he planned to establish as his capital. He did
not manage to execute 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.

Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion and syncretism which his
conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism and Hellenistic Judaism. He founded
more than twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt.
Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture
resulted in Hellenistic civilization, which developed through the Roman Empire into
modern Western culture. The Greek language became the lingua franca of the region
and was the predominant language of the Byzantine Empire up until its end in the
mid-15th century AD. Greek-speaking communities in central and far eastern Anatolia
survived until the Greek genocide and the population exchange in the 1920s.
Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mould of Achilles, featuring
prominently in the history and mythic traditions of both Greek and non-Greek
cultures. His military achievements and enduring, unprecedented success in battle
made him the measure against which many later military leaders would compare
themselves.[c] Military academies throughout the world still teach his tactics.[8]

Contents
1 Early life
1.1 Lineage and childhood
1.2 Education
2 Heir of Philip II
2.1 Regency and ascent of Macedon
2.2 Exile and return
3 King of Macedon
3.1 Accession
3.2 Consolidation of power
3.3 Balkan campaign
4 Conquest of the Persian Empire
4.1 Asia Minor
4.2 The Levant and Syria
4.3 Egypt
4.4 Assyria and Babylonia
4.5 Persia
4.6 Fall of the Empire and the East
4.7 Problems and plots
4.8 Macedon in Alexander's absence
5 Indian campaign
5.1 Forays into the Indian subcontinent
5.2 Revolt of the army
6 Last years in Persia
7 Death and succession
7.1 After death
7.2 Division of the empire
7.3 Last plans
8 Character
8.1 Generalship
8.2 Physical appearance
8.3 Personality
8.4 Personal relationships
9 Battle record
10 Legacy
10.1 Hellenistic kingdoms
10.2 Founding of cities
10.3 Funding of temples
10.4 Hellenization
10.5 Influence on Rome
10.6 Unsuccessful plan to cut a canal through the isthmus
10.7 Naming of the Icarus island in the Persian Gulf
10.8 Legend
10.9 In ancient and modern culture
11 Historiography
12 See also
13 Annotations
14 References
15 Sources
15.1 Primary sources
15.2 Secondary sources
16 Further reading
17 External links
Early life
Lineage and childhood

Map of The Kingdom of Macedon in 336 BC, birthplace of Alexander

Alexander was born in Pella, the capital of the Kingdom of Macedon,[9] on the sixth
day of the ancient Gre