Alexander the Great was born in 356 B.C., to King Phillip III and Olympias. Alexander was born in Pella, the capital of Macedon. During his youth, Alexander found a love for horses. He later named one of his horses Bucephalus, meaning ‘Ox- Head’. This horse was his companion during his journey in India. After the horse died, he later named a city, Bucephala, after his horse.
When Alexander was thirteen years of age, his father decided he needed a higher education. So his father, Phillip III, searched for the right philosopher to tutor Alexandria. He finally decided to hire Aristotle of Stageria. Aristotle taught Alexander along with some others like, Ptolemy, Hephaistion and Cassander, to name a few, at the Temple of Mieza. Alexander was educated in medicine, philosophy, morals, religion, logic, and art. He fell in love with Homer’s work. Homer was a legendary ancient Greek epic poet. In return for teaching Alexander, his father agreed to rebuild Aristotle’s hometown, which was Stageria. King Phillip III would repopulate Stageria by buying and freeing the slaves that were slaves at the time, or pardoning those that were in exile. At the age of sixteen, Alexander was left in charge of the kingdom. While in charge, the Thracean Maedi rebelled against his rule. So he drove them from their territory and colonized it with the Greeks.
In 336 B.C., King Phillip III was killed by his bodyguard Pausanias. As a result of his father’s death, Alexander was proclaimed the king of Macedonian army, at the age of twenty. To start off his reign, Alexander had all of his potential rivals to the throne be killed. These were people like his cousin Amyntas IV, Attalus, and a few others. In
334 B.C., Alexander and his army defeated the Persian Empire of Asia Minor, in the Battle of Granicus.
In 333 B.C., Alexander defeated the main Persian army and his leader Darius III at the battle of Issus. Darius and his army were forced to flee after his army broke. Darius...