Chapter Twenty-Five Alexander the Great
Philip and His SonIf the Greek cities had stayed friends and allies, like they were when they fought against the Persians, Greece would have been a strong country. But instead, Sparta and Athens fought. They were like brothers who were too busy arguing with each other to notice that a bully is coming!
In this case, the bully was a king named Philip, who ruled a country called Macedonia. Philip noticed that Athens and Sparta had become weaker and weaker after years of battle. And so he came down into Greece with his army and conquered the Greek cities.· They barely had enough energy to resist.
Now Philip ruled Macedonia and Greece. But he wanted even more cities. He wanted to sail across the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor and take over the Persian empire as well. But before he could attack Persia, Philip died. And his son Alexander took over his throne.
Do you know what the name “Alexander” means? It means “Ruler of men.” Alexander became the most famous “rulers of men” ever. He was known by the whole world as “Alexander the Great.”
Alexander had always been an unusual boy. Even as a child, he was strong and brave. Nothing scared him! When he was still a small boy, he went with his father Philip to look at a warhorse that Philip wanted to buy. The horse, a huge black stallion named Bucephalas, bucked and kicked constantly. No one could ride him.
“He’s too wild,” King Philip said. “I don’t want him. I would never be able to manage him.”
“I can ride him!” Alexander said.
“Nonsense!” Philip said. “You’re too little.”
“But I can!” Alexander insisted.
“If you can ride him, I’ll buy him for you,” Philip promised.
Alexander had been watching Bucephalas carefully. He noticed the horse kicked and reared whenever the sun threw his shadow on the ground in front of him. Alexander thought that the huge stallion was frightened of his shadow. So he walked fearlessly up to the horse, took his bridle, and turned him so that he couldn’t see his shadow. Instantly, Bucephalas stood still. He allowed Alexander to mount him and ride him around.
Philip bought the horse for Alexander. And when Alexander became king after his father’s death, the great black stallion Bucephalas always carried him into battle. He even named a city after his horse – he called it Bucephela!
Alexander had many opportunities to ride his warhorse into battle. His father Philip had conquered Greece, but Alexander had even larger goals in mind. He wanted to rule Persia. The Persians had given up trying to conquer Greece, but their empire was still the largest in the world – it stretched all the way from Asia Minor to India. And Alexander wanted it.
When Alexander met the Persian army in Asia Minor, he used his cavalry – soldiers riding on horseback – to push the Persians back. Asia Minor was now his! But could he conquer the rest of the Persian Empire?
According to one story, Alexander stopped at a city in Asia Minor and saw there, in the city’s center, a chariot tied to its axle with a huge, complicated knot of rope, larger than a man’s head. “What is that?” he asked.
“That is the Gordian Knot,” the people told him. “We have a legend about it. The man who loosens that knot will rule all the rest of Asia. But it is impossible to untie the knot. Hundreds of men have tried, and no one has ever succeeded!”
Alexander studied the knot carefully. Then he took out his sword and sliced the knot in half.
“There,” he said. “I have loosened the knot.”
No one had ever thought of doing that before! But the prophecy of the knot came true. Alexander conquered all the rest of Asia. He went south into Egypt and was crowned the pharaoh of Egypt. And then he came back up into Mesopotamia and took over the rest of the Persian Empire.
Now Alexander was king of more land than anyone else had ever ruled. He was truly “Alexander the Great” – the ruler of the greatest empire the world had ever seen.·
Alexander’s Invasions When Alexander the Great arrived at the edge of the Persian Empire, he wanted to keep going. He wanted to conquer all of India!
Alexander’s army began to invade India. Alexander learned how to use elephants in combat. And his soldiers won most of their battles, because Alexander’s army was the best in the world.
But the Indians who fought against Alexander were fierce fighters! Even though the soldiers from Macedonia won their battles, more and more of them died claiming these victories. Finally, Alexander’s army mutinied. After a particularly difficult battle, in which over a thousand soldiers were killed or badly wounded, the army refused to go any further. “Be content with what you have!” they told Alexander. “We don’t want to go on dying to make your empire bigger.”
Alexander didn’t want to stop! He stayed in his tent, sulking. He refused to see anyone, hoping that his army would change its mind. But the men were firm: They would not fight in India any longer.
Finally Alexander agreed. He gave up trying to take over the rest of India. Instead, he put his energy into running the huge kingdom he already had.
Alexander wanted the people of the future to remember what a great ruler he was. And he knew that cities last for years and years. So he built new cities all over his empire. He named many of these cities after himself: Alexandria. Some of these cities still stand today! Just as Alexander intended, they remind us that Alexander the Great was the greatest king of ancient times.
The most famous city called Alexandria is in Egypt. Alexandria was built near the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea, so that merchants could reach it easily by ship. Alexander himself marked out the city’s walls – but he died before he could see any of the city’s buildings. But after his death, Alexandria became the greatest city in the world. Many famous scholars and writers lived in Alexandria. It became a center for art, music, and learning. Today, Alexandria is still a big and important city.
Just outside Alexandria was the biggest lighthouse in the world. It was called the Pharos, and it was 330 feet tall! Ships could see it from miles away. They used its light to sail safely into the harbor of Alexandria.
Do you remember reading about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? These were seven amazing sights of ancient times. We learned that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Great Pyramid are two of the Seven Wonders. The Pharos is the third! No one had ever seen a lighthouse as large as this one.
The Pharos was destroyed long, long ago. No pictures of the Pharos survive from ancient times. But only a few years ago, divers found huge chunks of stone at the bottom of Alexandria’s harbor. This stone may be all that is left of the Pharos.
The Death of Alexander Alexander the Great became king when he was only twenty. Most people today haven’t even finished college when they are twenty! But at this young age, Alexander inherited a throne and all the responsibilities of a ruler.
It only took Alexander eleven years to spread his empire all across the ancient world. One story tells us that when Alexander was still young, he burst into tears one day because there was no more of the world left to conquer. He had already conquered it all!
What would Alexander the Great have done next? We will never know, because Alexander died suddenly when he was only thirty-two. He was planning on taking an expedition with his army when he began to feel weak. He decided to wait a day or two until he felt better. “Go ahead and make all the preparations,” he told his generals. “We will got as soon as I feel better.”
But that day never came. Alexander got weaker and weaker. Finally, he was too weak to speak. His generals came to see him, but Alexander could only move his eyes. The next day he died.
No one knows exactly why he died. Some people think he might have been poisoned by one of his generals who wanted his power. Others say that he probably died of malaria – a fever caused by mosquitoes who carry certain kinds of germs. We will never know for sure. Alexander’s body was put into a glass coffin and taken back to the city of Alexandria. The coffin was placed into a stone sarcophagus, there in Alexandria.
Alexander’s generals knew that no one else could keep control of Alexander’s large empire. Only Alexander could manage to rule such a huge kingdom! So they divided it up. One of the generals took Macedonia and the northern part of Alexander’s kingdom in Asia Minor. Another general, named Ptolemy I, took over Egypt. His family would rule Egypt for three hundred years. Ptolemy was responsible for finishing the city of Alexandria; he built a huge library in Alexandria and filled it with books. A third general, named Seleucus, took over the southern part of Asia Minor and Alexander’s lands in Asia, almost all the way over to India. The descendents of Seleucus were called the Seleucids, or the Syrians.
Now Alexander’s great empire had become three separate kingdoms, with three kings fighting for power. Alexander had brought a brief time of peace by uniting different cities and nations into one country. But that time of peace was over! Alexander’s three generals and their descendents would spend the next hundred years fighting over control of different parts of Alexander’s old kingdom.
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