Alexander the Great, was born in June, 356 BC, in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. His parents were Philip II and Olympia. Some say that Zeus was his father but it is probably just a myth. Aristotle taught Alexander in his early teen years. He stimulated his interest in science, medicine, and philosophy. In the summer of 336 BC, Alexander's father was assassinated, and Alexander ascended to the Macedonian throne. He found himself surrounded by enemies at home and threatened by civilizations all over. But Alexander disposed of quickly of all his enemies by ordering their execution. Then he took off to Thessaly, where partisans of independence had gained ascendancy, and restored Macedonian rule. Before the end …show more content.
At the river Granicus, near the ancient city of Troy, he attacked an army of Persians and Greek soldiers which totaled 40,000 men. His forces slatured the enemy and according to tradition, only lost 110 men! After this battle all the stated of Asia Minor submitted to Alexander. Continuing south,
Alexander encountered the main Persian army, commanded by King Darius III, at Issus. The size of Darius's army was unknown; but ancient tradition said it contained about 500,000 men but now is considered a very big exag¬ geration.
TheBattle of Issus, in 333 BC, ended in a great victory for Alexander, who treated them with the respect due to royalty. Tyre, a strongly guarded seaport, offered obstinate resistance, but Alexander took it to by storm in 332 after a siege of seven months. Alexander captured Gaza next and then passed on into Egypt, where he was greeted as a deliverer. By these successes the Nile River, the city of Alexandria, which later became the literacy, scientific, and commercial center of the Greek world. Cyrene, the capital of the ancient North African kingdom of Cyrenaica, gave up to Alexander soon afterward, extending his dominance to Carthaginian territory.
