Alexander the Great: The Rise and Fall of a Great Leader

Alexander of Macedon ruled for nearly thirteen years and died at the relatively young age of thirty-two. Yet few leaders in history inspired the imagination as much as him. Alexander seemed unstoppable at the height of his power. But how did he become a world-conquering hero? And what caused his sudden end? As a child, Alexander received the best education one could possibly have at the time. His mother and father were ruthlessly ambitious, a trait they undoubtedly passed to their son. Alexander had pretty big shoes to fill when his father, Philip of Macedon, was murdered. Philip had not only unified and expanded Macedonia, but had also unified Greece under his rule. He had amassed one of the finest armies the world had ever seen and was also a skilled diplomat. Although history considers the unification of Greece as Philip's crowning glory, his eyes were set further afield, and he planned to invade Asia and overthrow the Persian Empire. Philip's assassination still causes speculation to this day. He had split with Alexander's mother, Olympias, and married a Macedonian noblewoman, Cleopatra Eurydice. While Philip had several marriages, his last one was seen to put the succession, which up to this point would have naturally gone to Alexander, in jeopardy. Olympias and Alexander left the country, although Philip would later reconcile with his son. Philip and Cleopatra had one daughter and a son, and it is theorized that the birth or prospect of a new heir may have caused Philip's downfall. Officially, Philip was assassinated by Pausanias, a Macedonian noble and Philip's bodyguard, who had a grievance against the new queen's uncle. Philip was killed while attending his daughter's wedding in 336 BCE. Some sources speculate that Pausanias could have also been Philip's lover. However, as Pausanias was killed on the spot, he could not tell his side of the story. Naturally, suspicion fell on Alexander and Olympias as they attended the wedding as the mother and brother of the bride. While modern historians still question whether Alexander could have been involved in the plot, his contemporaries did not believe that he had anything to do with it. Of course, as the most suitable heir to the throne due to his excellent education and military prowess, it is possible that any accusations were ignored in favor of a smooth succession. Alexander was 20 at the time of Philip's murder and immediately assumed the throne. He began his reign by executing any challengers to his succession, including the princes of Lincestus, who were allegedly behind the plot to kill Philip. Anyone who opposed him was rounded up and slaughtered. His mother, Olympias, then ordered that Cleopatra and her children be put to death. On hearing of Philip's death, many Greek states, including Thebes and Athens, attempted to rebel against Macedonian rule. Alexander already had the support of the Macedonian army, as he had proven himself to be a strong military leader while still in his teens, and he wasted no time in quashing the uprisings. First, he rode south to Thessaly. Upon finding the Thessalian army blocking his path, he employed the unusual tactic of sneaking his army past the enemy lines while they were asleep. Once morning came and the Thessalians found the Macedonians behind them, they surrendered and joined Alexander's forces. Next, Alexander rode to Thermopylae, where he was accepted as the leader of the Sacred League. Continuing south, Alexander arrived at Corinth, where he negotiated peace by pardoning anyone involved in the rebellion. From there, Alexander strengthened his northern borders. He initially took his army to Thrace to quell another rebellion led by a former Macedonian vassal, the Trebali, alongside the Illyrians. Alexander and his army laid siege to Pelium, as it provided access to Illyria and Macedonia. While Alexander and his men were busy subduing the northern tribes, the Thebans took advantage of his absence and revolted against his rule. They rejected Alexander's emissaries sent to negotiate peace terms, perhaps due to a rumor that Alexander had been killed. Alexander knew he needed to put an end to this rebellion quickly. He marched his army south, reaching Thessaly within a week, and Boeotia seven days later. Due to how fast his army marched the 240 miles from Pelion to Thebes, many Thebans did not believe that it was Alexander's army. Once Alexander reached Boeotia, the other Greek city-states, including Athens and Sparta, left Thebes to her fate, waiting to see how the fight would play out before deciding their next course of action. Realizing he had the undivided attention of the rest of Greece, Alexander decided to use this opportunity to show the other city-states what he was capable of. He raised Thebes to the ground, killing anyone engaged in fighting, and selling all the survivors into slavery. This radical approach afforded him the opportunity to be lenient with the other cities. By the end of 335, Alexander had subdued the Greek states with a mix of warfare and diplomacy. Before his ascension to the throne, Alexander's sights had been set on conquering Persia. He was not only after glory, but wealth to maintain his army. Alexander also seemed to be on a quest for knowledge, as historians, surveyors, and scientists traveled with his army. Alexander was able to replicate the success he had demonstrated in Greece, but he failed to fully subdue the Persian king Darius III despite many victories in battle. In November of 332, he reached as far as Egypt, where he received the traditional double crown of the pharaohs. Alexander reinstated his pursuit of Darius from Egypt and beat the Persian army in Mesopotamia in 331. Again, Darius escaped, but Alexander now had control of Babylon. From here, it seemed that Alexander's mind, broadened by travel, caused him to see the future of his empire in a different light from the other Macedonians. In 330, Alexander sent all his Greek and Thessalian allies home and began working towards a joint rule of both Macedonians and Persians. Alexander continued to pursue Darius but found to his dismay that Darius had been betrayed by usurpers to the Persian throne, stabbing him and leaving him to die. Alexander sent Darius's body to Persepolis for a royal burial out of respect for his elusive foe. Alexander declared himself the Great King, and an inscription from the year 330 names him as Lord of Asia. Three years later, Alexander was immersing himself in Persian culture. He married a Bactrian princess named Roxana and dressed like Persian royalty, which distanced him from his Macedonian roots. Alexander's ego had grown with his empire, and it is thought that he began to see himself as more of a god than a man. After an incident in which he murdered one of his trusted commanders, Cleitus, in a drunken quarrel, Alexander started to shift towards Eastern absolutism. Alexander displayed such remorse regarding the killing that his army posthumously convicted Cleitus of treason. Alexander's alienation from the Macedonians and Greeks continued when he attempted to introduce a Persian court ceremony involving prostration. To his native people, the act of prostration implied worship, and it was seen as a ridiculous thing to do before a human. Even one of Alexander's previous supporters, the nephew of Aristotle, Calisthenes, refused to prostrate himself in front of Alexander. Alexander soon gave up on this experiment, but Calisthenes was found to be privy to conspiracy shortly after and was put to death. Alexander wasn't content with his empire, so he set his sights on India. There, he would fight his last battle in 326 on the bank of the Hydaspes. Although Alexander was victorious and made an ally of his former adversary, King Porus, his loyal troops had no more fight left in them. After the battle, Alexander's men expressed their longing to return home, and Alexander agreed to turn back. Between 326 and 324, Alexander consolidated his empire by replacing any distrusted governors. He had many provincial Persian governors tried and executed for extortion and maladministration, but in spring 324, Alexander began to celebrate his victories. Determined to fuse the Macedonians and Persians, he and 80 of his generals married Persian women during a feast at Susa. Alexander and his closest friend Hephaestion married Darius' daughters, and 10,000 of his soldiers who had taken native brides were given large dowries. This fusion with the Persians increased the Macedonian friction, and Alexander's attempt to incorporate the Persians on equal terms was met with bitter resentment. This divide came to a head when Alexander sent home Macedonian veterans, as it was viewed as the start of a transferal of power to Asia. A mutiny led Alexander to dismiss his entire army and replace them with Persians, but they soon reconciled and partied the night away at a banquet with 9,000 guests. Alexander was, by modern standards, hedonistic, like his father before him. However, when viewing his private life through the contemporary lens, we tend to ascribe modern, or more accurately, Victorian sensibilities. In ancient Greece, mistresses and male lovers were perfectly acceptable, but only if they were in a subordinate social role. Older men often had sexual relationships with younger or enslaved men, and labels such as gay or bisexual were unknown. In the ancient world, sex was often synonymous with power, and the Greek archetype of homosexual relationships involved an older masculine role and a younger passive partner. Due to this, it is impossible to ascertain whether ancient people engaged in loving same-sex relationships. You might be wondering, what is this to do with Alexander? Well, many speculate that Alexander did have a loving relationship with one of his peers. Some historians refute this by focusing on the stories about Alexander's mistresses and wives. Alexander did father at least one child, and his marriage to Roxanna is recorded as a love match. That being said, information about Alexander's heterosexual relationships is rather scant, and there is a lot more detail about his close friend Hephaestion. Hephaestion was one of Alexander's most trusted generals. They looked alike, were of similar age, and had been friends since childhood, which causes some historians to suggest that while the two may have been intimate in their youth, it did not continue into adulthood. Although both men had wives, they undoubtedly spent more time in each other's company. There are many recorded clues that the two men had a loving relationship that went beyond friendship. Alexander himself compared them to Achilles and Patroclus. Many suggest that those two were acknowledged as a same-sex couple in Alexander's time. Both Hephaestion and Alexander visited the tomb of Achilles and Patroclus in Troy to make offerings. Theogenes quip that Alexander was held fast by Hephaestion's thighs. Another tale goes that when the mother of a defeated Persian king mistook the taller and more handsome Hephaestion for Alexander, Alexander merely stated, he too is Alexander. But Hephaestion's death truly shows the depth of feeling between these two men. After a lad's night out in Ecbatana in 324 BCE, Hephaestion developed a fever. He died before Alexander could say goodbye. Hephaestion's death devastated Alexander. He spent his days in tears, cut off his hair, and ordered the manes and tails to be cut off all the horses. Alexander declared a state of mourning, lit sacrificial fires, and executed Hephaestion's doctor, who had failed to keep him alive. He sent Hephaestion's body to Babylon and then sent an envoy to Siwa to request Hephaestion be declared a god. Although Alexander's request was denied, Hephaestion was honored as a divine hero. While the exact nature of their relationship is still debated today, it is clear that the two men loved each other deeply. About eight months after Hephaestion's death, Alexander died. After the death of his childhood companion, Alexander's mind focused on his godlike status. Alexander had long compared himself to deities like Hercules and Dionysus, and by this time, he was convinced of his divinity. Perhaps seeing his own mortality and his friend's death, he became increasingly insistent that others view him as a god. Although many cities complied, they did so with more than a hint of irony, with the decree in Sparta reading, Since Alexander wishes to be a god, let him be a god. Many modern historians see this as Alexander's growing emotional instability and megalomania. Alexander never stopped making plans for further explorations. He wanted to develop sea communications with India and dispatched officers to investigate the Harkonian Sea. He made plans to settle the Persian Gulf Coast and improve the Euphrates irrigation. But all this planning didn't stop him from drinking, and on 323, he was taken ill after a lengthy party and afterparty. The exact cause of death is a mystery that is still debated today. Alexander died leaving no appointed heir, although his wife Roxana was pregnant with his child. His appointed generals fell to infighting, his son would be murdered, and Alexander's hard-won empire was soon dissolved. We hope you enjoyed this video on the rise and fall of Alexander. Do you have a theory on the cause of Alexander's death? Let us know in the comments below. To learn more about Alexander the Great, check out our book, Alexander the Great, A Captivating Guide to the King Who Conquered the Persian Empire and Babylon, including his impact on ancient Greece and Rome. It's available as an e-book, paperback, and audiobook. Also, grab your free mythology bundle e-book while it's still available. All links are in the description.