Alexander The Great's Influence On Asian And Greek Culture

Randy Mejia
Mr. Saleeba
English IV
12 March 2018
Alexander the Great
One of history’s greatest military minds was a ruler from ancient Macedonia, Alexander the Great. Sometimes charismatic and ruthless, while other times diplomatic and bloodthirsty, his men were so loyal to him that they would die for him if necessary. Alexander influenced Asian and Greek culture so profoundly that a new historical epoch was inspired, the Hellenistic Period.
Born to King Philip II, an impressive military leader who turned Macedonia into a force to be feared, who also wished to conquer the Persian Empire. Even at the age of twelve years old he was respected for taming the wild horse Bucephalus, a massive horse no one else was able to tame. At age 16 he ruled Macedonia while his father went to war, two years later to prove his
military might he went and defeated the Sacred Band of Thebes. “The Sacred Band of Thebes was an unbeatable army made entirely of male lovers, during the Battle of Chaeronea alexander put his vigor and bravery on display by decimating the Secret Band of Thebes.” (history.com/topics/ancient-history/alexander-the-great). He became king after his father was assassinated, he claimed the title of king after killing all his enemies before they could challenge his right to the throne. Alexander wanted to follow his father’s footsteps and conquer the world, but first he had to take care of the rebellions taking place in northern Greece, after appointing General Antipater to regent, he left for Persia with his army.
They arrived at the Granicus River and faced off against the Persian and Greek forces. Victory was awarded to Alexander and his men, who then went south for the city of Sardes. Alexander then took Miletus, Mylasa, and Halicarnassus, however Halicarnassus lasted long enough for the Persian king to amass an army. In 333 B.C. alexander fought the Persian army in South Turkey, when defeat was apparent King Darius III fled with the few soldiers he had left and even left his family behind. Alexander has been rejecting peace offers from Darius, since he didn’t want piece, he wanted control, which was his father’s dream. Alexander invaded Egypt after his lengthy siege of Gaza, he then went on to taking it after a several weeks. On 331 B.C. alexander faced off against Darius for the last time in Gaugamela after Darius fled his own men assassinated him, it is said that when Alexander found his body, he was sad and gave him a royal
burial. Alexander claimed the throne but he wasn’t the only one, Bessus, one of the Persian leaders, also claimed the throne but alexander wouldn’t let that stand and gave chase to Bessus. Bessus was handed over by his men to Ptolemy, one of alexanders allies, and now Alexander had no contender for the throne and finally became the King of Persia. Alexander had achieved his father’s dream of conquering Persia, he then went on to conquer parts of India, some surrendered peacefully and some fought back, in the end his war ridden soldiers didn’t want to keep fighting, and his advisors convinced him to turn back to Persia. Alexander was criticized for adopting Persian culture, he wanted to gain credibility with the Persians. The empire he created was completely destroyed after his death, as he did not named a successor the territories fought for control and the great empire was noomore.

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/alexander-the-great