Alexander III of Macedon ,The ancient king of Macedon.
He was a king of
Macedon , a state in the north eastern region of
Greece, and by the age of thirty was the creator of one of the largest empires in ancient history, stretching from the
Ionian sea[ is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea.] to the
Himalaya [ or Himalaya Mountains is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.].
He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of the most successful commanders of all time.He was tutored by the famed philosopher Aristotle.
In 336 BC he succeeded his father Philip II of Macedon to the throne after Philip was assassinated [ killed ]. Philip had brought most of the city-states of mainland Greece under Macedonian hegemony, using both military and diplomatic means. Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army.
His birth and childhood :
Alexander was born July 356 BC,in Pella, the capital of the Ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedon. He was the son of Philip II, the King of Macedon. His mother was Philip's fourth wife Olympias[the principal wife], the daughter of Neoptolemus I, the king of Epirus .
On the day that Alexander was born:
Philip ( his father) had won the war against the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and that his horses had won at the Olympic Games. It was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus—one of the Seven Wonders of the World—burnt down, leading Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it burnt down because Artemis was attending the birth of Alexander.
Alexander the Great's horse [ Bucephalus ]
It mean "ox-head"
It is one of the most famous actual horses of antiquity.Bucephalus died after the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326[ due to old age , he was already thirty] BC, in what is now modern Pakistan, and is buried Pakistan.
The story of the horse started when Alexander was ten years old a horse trader from brought Philip a horse The horse refused to be mounted by anyone, and Philip ordered it to be taken away.Alexander, detected the horse's fear of his own shadow and asked for a turn to tame the horse, which he eventually managed.Philip, overjoyed at this display of courage and ambition, kissed him tearfully, declaring: "My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedon is too small for you", and bought the horse for him.
His Education :
When Alexander was thirteen years old, Philip began to search for a tutor .Many people were passed over,In the end, Philip offered the job to Aristotle, who accepted, and Philip provided the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza as a classroom. In return for teaching Alexander, Philip agreed to rebuild Aristotle's hometown of Stageira .
Alexander in Egypt :
He spent several months in Egypt as part of his on-going campaign against the mighty Persian Empire of Darius III. After conquering Persia's naval bases all along the coastline of Asia Minor and Syria-Palestine, Alexander marched south into Egypt [ in an eccentric diversion]where he remained for some six months. Alexander's Egyptian sojourn was essential to his future plans. He needed a strong coastal base for both strategic and commercial purposes, from which he could not only communicate across the Mediterranean but which could also handle the highly lucrative sea-borne trade network he wanted to divert from Phoenicia
For almost 200 years Egypt had been occupied by Persia who had incorporated it into the growing empire, and assuming the Egyptian crown by right of conquest the Persian king had ruled in absentia through a satrap, exploiting its vast grain reserves and taxing its people.
Alexander advanced on Egypt in later 332 BC, where he was regarded as a liberator[ liberate the Egyptians from Persia' occupation ].He was pronounced the new "master of the Universe" and son of the deity of Amun at the Oracle of Siwa Oasis in the Libyan desert,Alexander often referred to Zeus-Ammon as his true father, and subsequent currency depicted him adorned with ram horns as a symbol of his divinity.
he was offered the double crown of the Two Lands. Anointed as pharaoh in Memphis on 14 November 332 bc, the culmination of his coronation was the climactic moment when the high priest named him 'son of the gods' according to traditions dating back almost 3,000 years. This title deeply affected him, and Olympias' references to him being the son of Zeus must have filled his mind; indeed, there were even scenes of the king of the gods Amun ('Zeus') impregnating selected queens with the heir to the throne! In a world where the gods were perceived as living entities and were considered a part of everyday life, Alexander must now have began to believe in his own divinity as a fact rather than a simple exercise of propaganda.
Alexander left Egypt in the spring (mid-April) of 331 bc a changed man. Although he would never return alive to see the city he had founded, it would eventually be his final resting place when his embalmed body was returned there for burial only 10 years later.
During his stay in Egypt, he founded Alexandria-by-Egypt, which would become the prosperous capital of the Ptolemaic Kingdom after his death.
His Death :
The story of Alexander's death is a bit mysterious .On either 10 or 11 June 323 BC, Alexander died in the in Babylon at the age of 32 .
14 days before his death, Alexander entertained his admiral Nearchus[ was one of the officers, in the army of Alexander] and spent the night and next day drinking with Medius of Larissa[ a friend of Alexander ].He developed a fever, which grew steadily worse, until he was unable to speak .
Another story hat Alexander was struck down with pain after downing a large bowl of unmixed wine in honor of Hercules, and died after some agony.
Another possible cause of Alexander's death is an overdose of medication containing hellebore, which is deadly in large doses
Fate after death :
Alexander's body was placed in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus, which was in turn placed in a second gold casket. Some said that the land where Alexander was laid to rest "would be happy and unvanquishable forever".
At any rate, Ptolemy stole the funeral cortege, and took it to Memphis.His successor, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, transferred the sarcophagus to Alexandria, where it remained until at least Late Antiquity.Ptolemy IX Lathyros, one of the last successors of Ptolemy I, replaced Alexander's sarcophagus with a glass one so he could melt the original down for issues of his coinage. Pompey, Julius Caesar and Augustus all visited the tomb in Alexandria .
Alexander wished to be remembered as a god by burial at Siwah, but this wish was not fulfilled. He may have been remembered as a great king of Macedon by burial at Aegae, but this possibility too was not realized. Though he was indeed buried at Alexandria, he did not become the legitimizing symbol the Ptolemies had hoped. Not truly god, not merely king, refusal in death to become another’s icon, it seems the memory of Alexander as traced through his physical remains is as ancient and distant to us as the body itself.
I had tried to make the story as short as possible so you will not got tired of reading it .
Sorry also for not including Photoshop lesson today cause the post will be so long .
Thanks
الإسكندر الأكبر أو الإسكندر المقدونى
كان ملك مقدونيا وهى مقاطعه تقع فى شمال شرق اليونان
قبل سن الثلاثين استطاع تكوين أكبر الامبراطوريات في التاريخ القديم و التى تمتد من البحر الأيوني(فرع من البحر المتوسط ) حتى جبال الهيمالايا
كان القائد الذى لا يقهر ويعتبر واحدا من القادة الأكثر نجاحا على الإطلاق
وقد درس على يد أرسطو الفيلسوف الشهير
في 336 قبل الميلاد خلف والده فيليب الثاني المقدوني الى العرش بعد اغتياله
وحد فيليب قبل موته معظم دول المدينة اليونانية والبر الرئيسى تحت الهيمنة المقدونيةباستخدام كل الوسائل العسكرية والدبلوماسية
ورث الاسكندر مملكة قوية وجيشا ذو خبرة
تلقى والده يوم مولده العديد من البشارات فقد انتصرت جيوشه فى احدى الموقع الهامه بينما فازت خيله في دورة الالعاب الاولمبية
حصان الإسكندر
وهو واحد من الخيول الفعلية الأكثر شهرة في العصور القديمة مات الحصان و دفن فى باكستان بسبب كبر سنه فقد بلغ ثلاثون عاما من العمر
لهذا الحصان قصه شهيره عندما اراد فيليب والد الإسكندر ان يشتريه ولم يستطيع احد ان يركبه ولكن الإسكندر عرف كيف يتعامل معه و كان عمره آنذاك عشره أعوام فداعبه أبوه قائلاً" يا بنى يجب أن تجد مملكة كبيرة بما يكفي لطموحاتك. مقدونيا صغير جدا بالنسبة لك " و قبله حانياً عليه و الدموع فى عينيه
الإسكندر فى مصر
كانت رحلة الإسكندر ضروريه له لتأمين فتوحاته و كانت مصر تقع تحت اللإحتلال الفارسى
فلما هزم الإسكندر الفرس و دخل مصر شعر المصريون انه المحرر لهم من الإحتلال الفارسى و الذى دام 200 عاما
و نصبوه ابن الآلهه و البسوه التاج المزدوج مما زاد من حب الاسكندر لمصر
و لكن اقامته بها لم تستمر الا ما يقرب من ستة اشهر و اكمل رحلته بعدها الى فارس
توفى الإسكندر فى بابل عن عمر يناهز 32 عاما ولم يثبت حتى الآن السبب الحقيقى لوفاته فقيل انه مات بالسم او الحمى
اختلف على مكان دفنه فسرقه احد ملوك البطالمه بعده و دفنه فى الاسكندريه التى اسسها
هذا ملخص بسيط لحياة هذا العملاق العظيم
شكرا لمتابعتكم
