Alexander the Great

Who is that? A God? Well, many think so, but no, it is the Greek king Alexander The Great. The God Zeus is his father, that’s what he says anyway. But let’s start from the beginning with his other father: King Philip the second who is the king of Macedonia.

Macedonia is a part of Greece - or Hellas as it is called during Antiquity - though many other Greeks consider the Macedonians to be not real Greeks but barbarians. Why, because they drank wine without first mixing it with water, and that was not considered nice. Philip II conquers most parts of Hellas. He forms a military union - The League of Corinth. Almost all of the Greek city-states participate in this league.

But look there is Alexander. When Alexander is twenty years old, Philip dies. He is murdered by one of his bodyguards. No one knows why. Many think that maybe Alexander’s mother had something do do with this.

Or perhaps Alexander himself. When his father dies Alexander becomes king of a very great empire as well as the commander of the League of Corinth’s army. So he thinks it’s about time to enlarge the empire. And take Persia. The Persians have tried to conquer Hellas before, but failed.

Now Alexander wants revenge. But first he must put down some uprisings in Hellas. So! That was quick. Now it’s time.

To Persia! He passes through the city of Gordion. Here there is a legend that anyone who wants to conquer Asia first must untie a complicated knot. The Gordian Knot. No-one has succeeded in this, so far.

Alexander investigates the knot but can’t figure out the solution to it. He gets so angry that he hits the knot with his sword. A solution no one has tried before but it works. The knot is cut in half and becomes untied. Alexander’s and the whole army’s confidence increases.

Now Asia lies before them to conquer. The Persian king Dareios the third, has been forewarned that the Greeks are on their way, and counter attacks. Even though the Persian’s army is twice the size, Alexander defeats them. Alexander forges ahead. Nothing seems to be able to stop him.

He expands the empire in all directions. He conquers Egypt, and enters India. He also founds cities that are named after him. Such as Alexandria, in Egypt. Along the way he spreads the Greek culture - and the Greek gods.

The people in the conquered areas are allowed to keep their gods as long as they accept the Greek ones. The Greeks themselves in their turn, are influenced by the religions they encounter. For example, Alexander picks up the Persian custom of kings being gods, and is now considered a god. Because when Alexander’s mother was pregnant, she said she dreamt of lightning hitting her stomach. And since lightning is the symbol of Zeus, it’s obvious that Alexander is the son of Zeus.

Everyone worships this young ‘god’, for whom everything seems to go well. But suddenly his good luck changes. Bad omens repeatedly happen around him. And fortune-tellers predict that something bad will happen to him: that he will die young. And he does.

At the age of thirty-three he becomes ill and dies from unknown reasons - probably because of overdosing a medicine. The divine god is dead, but more will follow after him. Among others Ptolemy in Egypt. Now it’s time for a new period, the Hellenistic period.