Seriously now, why was Alexander the Great considered to be great? Let us chop up a few topics about his greatness that added importance to his life's journey. Alexander was born last July 20 356 BC in Pella, capital of Macedon. He was the bright son of King Philip II. He grew up to be an obedient yet mischievous child who was loved by his father so much.
His father taught almost everything he knew to Alexander for as young as 4 years old, he already saw a potential leader on the child. At the age of 13, Alexander's father chose Aristotle, an intellectual philosopher, to teach his beloved son everything that he could. For that matter, Aristotle was offered a good amount of salary, enough for him to move in the young prince's town in Macedonian countryside. Alexander was greatly induced with knowledge and skills especially about geography, zoology, politics and medicine.
Along with a great influence of Alexander's tutor, he grew up to be a clever and a witty prince that he proved to her father in an instance when their horse, Bucephalus, was out of control for n unknown reason and keeps on banging its head on all corners. Alexander, examining the actions of Bucephalus took notice that the horse was terrified on his own shadow. In his amusement, he had a bet with his father and told him that he could climb the horse.
Alexander then watched out for the sun's direction and turned Bucephalus along with it. He then climbs the saddle and rode on it and galloped victoriously. To the father's amazement, he said to his son, "my boy, you must rule a kingdom large enough for your statute, Macedonia is too small for you." Through these words, Alexander was astounded by his father's words and it posed a great influence on him. He continued to grow up wisely.
Alexander soon heard about an oracle to make king with the first man to ride into a town in Turkey in an oxcart. A poor peasant named Gordius was able to do this and he offered his cart to Zeus and tied it to a pole outside the temple. It was knot-tied which he made use of cornel bark which toughen over days.
Alexander did not let his chances slip away when he heard that whoever unties the complicated knot would surmount all of Asia. He examined the knot and found no ends of it, of which he cannot even begin with. In his disappointment, he took his sword and sliced it in half, shouting, “I untied it!” Since then, Alexander continued on his journey exploring and conquering the world with his great might.
When the time came right, Alexander adopted the Macedonian war contraption, the Phalanx. It was originally assembled by his father, which was distinctively made use of formation with 16 by 16 soldiers carrying shields and spears.
The soldiers on the rear side of the formation held the spears in a manner that it is upright and the front rows secluded the formation by keeping enemies from entering their formation with the use of spiked shields. On a flat field, the Phalanx proved to be unconquerable. Thanks to the ingenuity of Alexander's father.
Alexander the Great proved battles from all over the world and he decided to enter the realms of Egypt after he defeated the Persians. There he saw the unjust treatment of the Persians to the Egyptians. They were charged with large amount of taxes and Persians abused their authority including the religious beliefs of the poor Egyptians.
They proudly appointed Alexander as Pharaoh for which made their land rich with culture. He led a journey across the desert to the shrine of Zeus Amman and upon reaching there; a priest told him that he was the son of Zeus. Completely appalled to what the priest said, Alexander did not take it against him rather, he took it as an advantage on his part for the people's reliance on him.
Not long enough, Alexander, went back to his Persian issue and was faced with Emperor Darius' army composed with 200,000 soldiers with chariots and sharp blades as their weapons. Alexander's troop on the other hand only consists of 47,000 men. Skillfully, Alexander attacked at the center formation of the Persians, which caused them to split up, and routed to different directions.
Darius exited with his horse, which unfortunately, Alexander was not able to run after the Emperor. But, his own men killed him accidentally during his escape. After conquering Persia, Alexander was hailed as the King of Asia. He settled on his triumphant land for a while where he met and married a Persian dancer named, Roxanne.
All of Alexander's successes were credited as if he did not commit any mistakes at all, but upon nearing his untimely death, he wanted to explore Asia, as he believes it to be a small continent. When year had passed and they weren't able to reach the ends of Asia, many of his men died from starvation, dehydration and heat intolerance when they were crossing deserts.
It was estimated that he lost 15,000 of his men, which was his greatest mistake of all time. Not only did he compromise his men, but himself as well. When they were back to their, a grandiose banquet awaited them and Alexander himself was not able to enjoy it because he got ill and had a fever, which was believed to be malaria. For that, he died a few days later and was buried with their rituals and rites respectively.
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