King’s Life: Alexander the Great

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Alexander the Great was born on late July 356BC in the capital city of Macedon kingdom. Alexander’s father was Philip 11, who was the honored king of Macedon and his mother was Olympias. Alexander’s mother was the fourth wife of Philip II the king among his other eight wives. The mother to Alexander the great was the favorite wife of king Philip II. Olympia was also from a royal family as her father was a king.

On the day that Alexander was born, several incidences were said to have happened in his father’s kingdom. His father received good news that his army had won in a two combined army war. Also, he was informed that on the Olympic games that were taking place during that period, the winners were his horses.

On this same day when Alexander was born, it was marked by the 7^th wonder of the world of burning down of the temple of Artemis. The burning down of the temple led to the conclusion that it was because Artemis was absent confirming the birth of Alexander. All these incidences that happened on the day that Alexander was born were later associated with the leadership quality of him in the future.

In his early childhood, there were two people who are greatly recognized by their efforts and contribution in Alexander’s life. These two people are Lanike, the nurse who used to look after him in his early childhood and Leonidas who was a relative to his mother and used to tutor Alexander when he was a young boy. Another person who had agreed to participate in tutoring Alexander was Lysimachus; both of them assisted Alexander to discover more about his social life.

When Alexander was ten years old, he demonstrated courage and ambition characters to his father, which made his father to be overwhelmed by joy.

This incident happened when Philip his father wanted to buy a horse from Thessaly trader. Unfortunately, this horse refused to carry anyone and the king told the owner to take it away. Alexander through his intelligence discovered that the horse feared its shadow and requested his father to be given a chance to tame the horse himself. Alexander managed this successfully, and his father assured him that his intelligence would serve better a bigger kingdom than Macedon.

His father considered Macedonia’s kingdom very small for his son’s ambition. As a sign of joy and assurance of a brighter future for his son, Philip bought that horse for Alexander. The horse was given name Bucephalus same as “ox-head”, and his father wanted it to be his son’s companion in all his journeys. A time came when this horse died of old age, and Alexander named a certain city Bucephala as away of remembering that horse.

When Alexander attained the age of adolescence, his father started making arrangement for his higher education. Philip wanted a tutor who would be of much help to his son, as he had developed high hopes for his son to become a successful leader who would enlighten people’s lives.

He ignored the requests of many tutors even for a tutor Platos who had volunteered to resign from his academy to be Alexander’s tutor. Philip searched far and wide for a tutor, and later decided to take Aristotle, who also accepted to be Alexander’s tutor. Philip the king gave them one of the temples to act as their classroom.

Philip decided to reward the work of Aristotle of teaching Alexander by building again Aristotle’s hometown, releasing all those were in exile, and completely freeing those who were enslaved. The temple in which Alexander and Aristotle were conducting the studies was in Mieza and was like a boarding school. Other children of Macedonian dignitaries were also learning together with Alexander. Most of these children were the future friends and generals of Alexander.

In this temple, Aristotle taught Alexander and the other children variety of fields. Some of the major fields that were covered by Aristotle included medicine, philosophy, and social values among others. This was to equip Alexander and his companion with wide knowledge to enable them face the future challenges of all aspects. Out of Aristotle’s teachings, Alexander developed special interests in specific fields among others. For instance, he did well in lliad.

Alexander the great has been intended to become a leader since the time he was born. Some of the qualities that showed a sense of leadership in him included, he was from a famous lineage, his physical appearance, and mental capabilities acquired through his short but productive schooling.

Alexander was the first son of Philip and had inherited the bloodline of royalty from both the parents. His clear expression and commanding loud voice were considered to be a good attribute of a future leader. When he was a very young boy it was noticeable that he had a good speed and a unique determination.

When it was realized that Alexander is an intelligent person, Aristotle was introduced to him, to give some lessons and acquire more knowledge to better his promising future. In addition, Alexander portrayed an admirable public profile in the whole of his childhood. Everyone liked his character of courageously accepting challenges despite his status by then.

Alexander’s schooling with Aristotle ended when he was 16 years old. When his father was greatly involved in the war he became Lieutenancy of the Realm. At this age, Alexander showed some interests in the field of medicine by recommending the best medicines to his relatives and friends.

His first great victory was recognized at the age of 17 years, when his father gave him the authority of being the leader during the attack of allied Thebes, and Megara. Moreover, the Maedi showed some signs of rebelling the Macedonian rule, and Alexander was very quick to respond to this rebellion.

Alexander reacted furiously by crushing the Maedi revolution, chasing them from their territory, and colonising them through the efforts of Greeks. That is how he became the founder of Alexandropolis city. Soon after, Alexander was confirmed to have saved his father’s life in a certain campaign concerning the Perinthus city.

During this time, Philip the king had already started entrusting his young son to some complicated activities. For instance, he told Alexander to initiate an army to lead the campaigns in Greece. Alexander took this responsibility very keenly, as he considered the likelihood of other Greek states involving themselves with that matter.

Alexander made great preparations that made Illyrians to think he was about to attack them. In return, Illyrians also started to prepare to attack Macedonia, but they received a strong resistance from Alexander.

Theban garrison rebelled against the ruling of Philip the king, and the king decided to unite with his son Alexander and their army to make a journey and occupy the city of Elatea. On their journey to Elatea, they received great resistance from Athens and Thebes. During the fight, Philip the king led the right side, and Alexander the son led the left side together with the kings trusted armies.

The fight took place for a very long time, and finally they defeated the Thebans and crushed them. As a celebration of their victory Philip the king and his son Alexander were welcomed by all the cities but received a showdown in Sparta.

Alexander and his father Philip the king had a conflict when the king decided to marry Cleopatra Eurydice who was a relative to one of kings general. Alexander discovered that his place in kingship would be taken away from him in case Cleopatra bore the king a son.

Alexander reacted furiously to his father’s action, and fled away together with his mother and his brother. He left them in Dodona, the capital city of Epirus. Alexander extended his journey to Illyrian, and was welcomed by the Illyrian king despite that they had fought few years before.

After six months, their family friend made some efforts to reconcile the king with his son, and Alexander returned to Macedon. After one year, the Caria governor was ready to offer his daughter to Alexander’s half brother. Alexander’s friends together with his mother advised him to oppose that idea, as it would be an indication that his half-brother would be the king’s heir.

Alexander was determined enough to fight against this act by sending a certain actor to stop the governor from giving out his daughter to an illegitimate son. That actor was to advise the governor that his daughter was supposed to be offered to Alexander.

At the age of twenty, his father Philip passed away as a result of assassination by Pausanias the captain. After that deadly act, Pausanius tried to escape with no success, he was also killed by people some of them Alexander’s companions. This incident made Alexander to be proclaimed as the new king at his tender age of twenty.

After taking over the thrown, Alexander ordered all his potential rival opponents to be killed. Some of the people that Alexander wanted to be eradicated from his kingdom were close relatives. Alexander did not mind whether his rivals were relatives or not but he wanted all of them killed. His mother Olympias also took this opportunity to get rid of her co-wife. Mercilessly, olympias ordered Cleopatra and her daughter to be burned alive.

Alexander did not take the actions of Olympias of killing her co-wife and her daughter kindly. He was very furious by those actions of his mother. In addition, to ensure that his new kingdom was free from all enemies, Alexander ordered the murder of Attalus, his daughter, and grandchildren as he considered them to be dangerous in his kingdom.

The death of Philip the king made several states to be rebellious for instance, Thebes and Athens, but Alexander was quick and ready to respond to their rebellious status. Alexander’s advisors wanted him to apply diplomacy but he quickly formed an army of more than 3000 men to attack the rivals.

Work Cited

Gunther, John. Alexander the Great. SanFrancisco: Paw Prints, 2008.

Kishlansky, Mark, Geary Patrick, and O’Brien, Patricia. Civilization In The West. (4^th ed),

New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.

Stoneman, Richard. Alexander the Great. (2^nd ed), New York: Routledge, 2004.

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King’s Life: Alexander the Great

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