alexander the great symbol alexander the great symbol

[305] Firdausi's Shahnameh ("The Book of Kings") includes Alexander in a line of legitimate Persian shahs, a mythical figure who explored the far reaches of the world in search of the Fountain of Youth. Alexander is a male given name.The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Aleksander and Aleksandr.Related names and diminutives include Iskandar, Alec, Alek, Alex, Alexandre, Aleks, Aleksa and Sander; feminine forms include . Why was Alexander the Great called "the Great"? [308] Later Persian writers associate him with philosophy, portraying him at a symposium with figures such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, in search of immortality. [120], After Aornos, Alexander crossed the Indus and fought and won an epic battle against King Porus, who ruled a region lying between the Hydaspes and the Acesines (Chenab), in what is now the Punjab, in the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326BC. Legends say that two boys from Bactria, Tapassu and Bahallika, visited . Justin stated that Alexander was the victim of a poisoning conspiracy, Plutarch dismissed it as a fabrication,[151] while both Diodorus and Arrian noted that they mentioned it only for the sake of completeness. [44], In the following year, the Persian satrap (governor) of Caria, Pixodarus, offered his eldest daughter to Alexander's half-brother, Philip Arrhidaeus. [148] In the second account, Diodorus recounts that Alexander was struck with pain after downing a large bowl of unmixed wine in honour of Heracles followed by 11 days of weakness; he did not develop a fever, instead dying after some agony. For other uses, see. According to Curtius, "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubble. [139], Meanwhile, upon his return to Persia, Alexander learned that guards of the tomb of Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae had desecrated it, and swiftly executed them. . Ancient commentators were divided about whether the ambitious Olympias promulgated the story of Alexander's divine parentage, variously claiming that she had told Alexander, or that she dismissed the suggestion as impious. These only occasionally quote the letters and it is an open question how reliable such quotations are. [264] An inscription from the temple, now housed in the British Museum, declares: "King Alexander dedicated [this temple] to Athena Polias. [13] Plutarch stated that Philip, overjoyed at this display of courage and ambition, kissed his son tearfully, declaring: "My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. According to the legend, after Alexander hunted on the Mount Pagus, he slept under a plane tree at the sanctuary of Nemesis. The Smyrnaeans sent ambassadors to the oracle at Clarus to ask about this, and after the response from the oracle they decided to move to the "new" city. [70], In spring 333 BC, Alexander crossed the Taurus into Cilicia. [65][f] He showed his intent to conquer the entirety of the Persian Empire by throwing a spear into Asian soil and saying he accepted Asia as a gift from the gods. [118] There are both Greek and non-Greek aspects to this design. Tarsos mint. [161], Several natural causes (diseases) have been suggested, including malaria and typhoid fever. After that victory he was sent by Alexander in pursuit of Porus, to whom he was charged to offer favourable terms, but narrowly escaped losing his life at the hands of his old enemy. [251] Two of these pregnancies Stateira's and Barsine's are of dubious legitimacy. [259], Over the course of his conquests, Alexander founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most of them east of the Tigris. [219][222] However, he had little interest in sports or the Olympic Games (unlike his father), seeking only the Homeric ideals of honour (tim) and glory (kudos). [117] The silver coinage had a beardless head of Heracles wearing a lionskin headdress on the obverse and Zeus aetophoros ('eagle bearer') enthroned with a scepter in his left hand, on the reverse. Marble portrait head of Alexander the Great: the head was cut to fit into a separately made body. [198] The ancient historian Aelian (c.175 c.235 AD), in his Varia Historia (12.14), describes Alexander's hair color as "", that could mean yellowish, reddish or brownish. He overcame this by being personally involved in battle,[89] in the manner of a Macedonian king. [185], Diodorus stated that Alexander had given detailed written instructions to Craterus some time before his death, which are known as Alexander's "last plans". Many of these students would become his friends and future generals, and are often known as the "Companions". 14K Yellow Solid Gold. How Rome Fell: death of a superpower. While he was sleeping, the goddess appeared and told him to found a city there and move into it the Smyrnaeans from the "old" city. However, the infantry, under the command of Meleager, rejected this arrangement since they had been excluded from the discussion. The cosmopolitan art and mythology of Gandhara (a region spanning the upper confluence of the Indus, Swat and Kabul rivers in modern Pakistan) of the ~3rd century BC to the ~5th century AD are most evident of the direct contact between Hellenistic civilization and South Asia, as are the Edicts of Ashoka, which directly mention the Greeks within Ashoka's dominion as converting to Buddhism and the reception of Buddhist emissaries by Ashoka's contemporaries in the Hellenistic world. According to Diodorus, Alexander's last plans called for military expansion into the southern and western Mediterranean, monumental constructions, and the intermixing of Eastern and Western populations. [303] One well-known fable among Greek seamen involves a solitary mermaid who would grasp a ship's prow during a storm and ask the captain "Is King Alexander alive?" Concerned that other Greek states might intervene, Alexander made it look as though he was preparing to attack Illyria instead. [191] This was due to use of terrain, phalanx and cavalry tactics, bold strategy, and the fierce loyalty of his troops. The campaign took Alexander through Media, Parthia, Aria (West Afghanistan), Drangiana, Arachosia (South and Central Afghanistan), Bactria (North and Central Afghanistan), and Scythia. Suspicion has fallen upon Alexander, Olympias and even the newly crowned Persian Emperor, Darius III. It was originally thought to have been the sarcophagus of Abdalonymus (died 311 BC), the king of Sidon appointed by Alexander immediately following the battle of Issus in 331. [232] However, Alexander also was a pragmatic ruler who understood the difficulties of ruling culturally disparate peoples, many of whom lived in kingdoms where the king was divine. Conquest of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, The first known person to call Alexander "the Great" was a Roman playwright named, Bloom, Jonathan M.; Blair, Sheila S. (2009), A History of Macedonia: Volume III: 336167 B.C. "[263] This inscription is one of the few independent archaeological discoveries confirming an episode from Alexander's life. The elephant had gold rings around its tusks and an inscription was on them written in Greek: "Alexander the son of Zeus dedicates Ajax to the Helios" ( ). Starting from Amphipolis, he travelled east into the country of the "Independent Thracians"; and at Mount Haemus, the Macedonian army attacked and defeated the Thracian forces manning the heights. Earlier portraits of Alexander, in heroic style, look more mature than the portraits made after his death, such as this example. Eventually, the two sides reconciled, and after the birth of Alexander IV, he and Philip III were appointed joint kings, albeit in name only. A few years earlier, in 332 BC, Alexander invaded Bactria and Gandhara when this territory was under ramanic influence (perhaps Buddhist and Jain). The tomb of Alexander the Great is attested in several historical accounts, but its current exact location remains an enduring mystery. [43] However, it appears Philip never intended to disown his politically and militarily trained son. [15] Such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception. Some of the first and most influential figurative portrayals of the Buddha appeared at this time, perhaps modelled on Greek statues of Apollo in the Greco-Buddhist style. The anguish that Alexander felt after Hephaestion's death may also have contributed to his declining health. [132], As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. [107] Following Alexander's death, many Greeks who had settled there tried to return to Greece. Philip was then named Hegemon (often translated as "Supreme Commander") of this league (known by modern scholars as the League of Corinth), and announced his plans to attack the Persian Empire. [116] Alexander minted gold staters, silver tetradrachms and drachims, and various fractional bronze coins. The Macedonians were a Greek tribe. [286] Alexander was used by these writers as an example of ruler values such as amicita (friendship) and clementia (clemency), but also iracundia (anger) and cupiditas gloriae (over-desire for glory). Left to fight alone, they were defeated. He had conquered the Persian Empire, traveled farther east than the god Dionysus, and survived a multitude of war wounds. Alexander endeavored to reach the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea" and invaded India in 326 BC, achieving an important victory over Porus, an ancient Indian king of present-day Punjab, at the Battle of the Hydaspes. When the animal died (because of old age, according to Plutarch, at age thirty), Alexander named a city after him, Bucephala. There was. "[247] Some modern historians (e.g., Robin Lane Fox) believe not only that Alexander's youthful relationship with Hephaestion was sexual, but that their sexual contacts may have continued into adulthood, which went against the social norms of at least some Greek cities, such as Athens,[248][249] though some modern researchers have tentatively proposed that Macedonia (or at least the Macedonian court) may have been more tolerant of homosexuality between adults. Alexander the Great, only twenty years old when he became king of Macedonia in 336 B.C., was perhaps the greatest general of all time. The Theban resistance was ineffective, and Alexander razed the city and divided its territory between the other Boeotian cities. [47][48][49], Alexander began his reign by eliminating potential rivals to the throne. [67] In the following year, 332BC, he was forced to attack Tyre, which he captured after a long and difficult siege. [293], Caracalla's mania for Alexander went so far that Caracalla visited Alexandria while preparing for his Persian invasion and persecuted philosophers of the Aristotelian school based on a legend that Aristotle had poisoned Alexander. Alexander then faced the Assakenoi, who fought against him from the strongholds of Massaga, Ora and Aornos. Nicolle, David (2000). [19], When Alexander was 13, Philip began to search for a tutor, and considered such academics as Isocrates and Speusippus, the latter offering to resign from his stewardship of the Academy to take up the post. [77], Egypt was only one of a large number of territories taken by Alexander from the Persians. The trilogy "Alexander the Great" by Valerio Massimo Manfredi consisting of "The son of the dream", "The sand of Amon", and "The ends of the world". He had a great desire for knowledge, a love for philosophy, and was an avid reader. ISBN 1-84176-091-9. Alexander had a close emotional attachment to his companion, cavalry commander ( hipparchus) and childhood friend, Hephaestion. [290], After Caracalla concluded his campaign against the Alamanni, it became evident that he was inordinately preoccupied with Alexander the Great. [138][139] As a gesture of thanks, he paid off the debts of his soldiers, and announced that he would send over-aged and disabled veterans back to Macedon, led by Craterus. [122] A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi in which Alexander was wounded in the shoulder by a dart, but eventually the Aspasioi lost. [citation needed], On either 10 or 11 June 323BC, Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon, at age 32. [40] During the wedding banquet, a drunken Attalus publicly prayed to the gods that the union would produce a legitimate heir. This cost him the sympathies of many of his countrymen, and he eventually abandoned it. He was the king of his native Macedonia, ruler of the Greeks, the king of Persia and even an Egyptian pharaoh. Alexander was born in 356 B.C.E. Alexander then marched for three days to the Danube, encountering the Getae tribe on the opposite shore. Following Alexander's death in Babylon, his body was initially buried in Memphis by one of his generals, Ptolemy I Soter, before being transferred to Alexandria, where it was reburied. The first refers merely to the Roman battle line and does not specifically mean that the men were armed with pikes, and the second bears similarity to the 'Marian Mules' of the late Roman Republic who carried their equipment suspended from a long pole, which were in use until at least the 2nd century AD. Omphis (Indian name Ambhi), the ruler of Taxila, whose kingdom extended from the Indus to the Hydaspes (Jhelum), complied, but the chieftains of some hill clans, including the Aspasioi and Assakenoi sections of the Kambojas (known in Indian texts also as Ashvayanas and Ashvakayanas), refused to submit. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand war elephants. Campaigning against the Greek city of Perinthus, Alexander reportedly saved his father's life. [71] He offered a peace treaty that included the lands he had already lost, and a ransom of 10,000 talents for his family. Curtius Rufus, a Roman historian from the first century AD, who wrote the Histories of Alexander the Great, gives this account of Alexander sitting on the throne of Darius III: Then Alexander seating himself on the royal throne, which was far too high for his bodily stature. Macedonian silver tetradrachm with Alexander the Great wearing Lion's Scalp On August 2, 338 BC, the Macedonians defeated the Greeks at Chaeronea in central Greece and conquered their country. The territory was colonized, and a city, named Alexandropolis, was founded. [272] The close association of men from across Greece in Alexander's army directly led to the emergence of the largely Attic-based "koine", or "common" Greek dialect. [309] He then travelled the known world in search of the Water of Life and Immortality, eventually becoming a prophet. [78] He was pronounced son of the deity Amun at the Oracle of Siwa Oasis in the Libyan desert. [61], After an initial victory against Persian forces at the Battle of the Granicus, Alexander accepted the surrender of the Persian provincial capital and treasury of Sardis; he then proceeded along the Ionian coast, granting autonomy and democracy to the cities. [299] His court historian Callisthenes portrayed the sea in Cilicia as drawing back from him in proskynesis. In return for teaching Alexander, Philip agreed to rebuild Aristotle's hometown of Stageira, which Philip had razed, and to repopulate it by buying and freeing the ex-citizens who were slaves, or pardoning those who were in exile. [11] Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his principal wife for some time, likely because she gave birth to Alexander. Darius fled the battle, causing his army to collapse, and left behind his wife, his two daughters, his mother Sisygambis, and a fabulous treasure. [17] [190], Alexander perhaps earned the epithet "the Great" due to his unparalleled success as a military commander; he never lost a battle, despite typically being outnumbered. [149] Another theory is that his successors wilfully or erroneously misheard "ti Krateri""to Craterus", the general leading his Macedonian troops home and newly entrusted with the regency of Macedonia. [143] During his visit to Pasargadae, Alexander ordered his architect Aristobulus to decorate the interior of the sepulchral chamber of Cyrus's tomb. [102] The latter were in many cases additionally connected through marriage alliances with the royal Achaemenid family. A ten-year journey to the edge of the known world, fighting barbarians and pursue eternal glory, and through all of this, Alexander was just 20 years old. Plutarch's account is that roughly 14 days before his death, Alexander entertained admiral Nearchus and spent the night and next day drinking with Medius of Larissa. [83] Darius once more fled the field, and Alexander chased him as far as Arbela. KINGS of MACEDON. [115], Alexander appears to have introduced a new coinage in Cilicia in Tarsus, after the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, which went on to become the main coinage of the empire. Alexander was the first to break the Theban lines, followed by Philip's generals. As a young boy, Alexander was taught to read, write, and play the lyre. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the east, Hellenistic influence on Indian art was far-ranging. [141] In an attempt to craft a lasting harmony between his Macedonian and Persian subjects, Alexander held a mass marriage of his senior officers to Persian and other noblewomen at Susa, but few of those marriages seem to have lasted much beyond a year. That is the stuff that emotional leaders are made of. [140], After three days, unable to persuade his men to back down, Alexander gave Persians command posts in the army and conferred Macedonian military titles upon Persian units. Alexander eventually agreed and turned south, marching along the Indus. [263] The temple was designed by Pytheos, one of the architects of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. [72] Alexander proceeded to take possession of Syria, and most of the coast of the Levant. [315], In the Greek Anthology, there are poems referring to Alexander.[316][317]. After the assassination of Perdiccas in 321BC, Macedonian unity collapsed, and 40years of war between "The Successors" (Diadochi) ensued before the Hellenistic world settled into three stable power blocs: Ptolemaic Egypt, Seleucid Syria and East, and Antigonid Macedonia. Therefore, since his feet did not reach its lowest step, one of the royal pages placed a table under his feet. The horse refused to be mounted, and Philip ordered it away. Greek astronomical treatise) and Paulisa Siddhanta texts depict the influence of Greek astronomical ideas on Indian astronomy. However, Alexander was met with resistance at Gaza. He was taken to his bedchamber where, after days of agony, he fell into a coma and died. [107], The foundation of the "new" Smyrna was also associated with Alexander. [7], Alexander III was born in Pella, the capital of the Kingdom of Macedon,[8] on the sixth day of the ancient Greek month of Hekatombaion, which probably corresponds to 20 July 356 BC (although the exact date is uncertain). But this mania for Alexander, strange as it was, was overshadowed by subsequent events in Alexandria. Pompey the Great adopted the epithet "Magnus" and even Alexander's anastole-type haircut, and searched the conquered lands of the east for Alexander's 260-year-old cloak, which he then wore as a sign of greatness. [109] It remains unclear if Callisthenes was actually involved in the plot, for prior to his accusation he had fallen out of favour by leading the opposition to the attempt to introduce proskynesis. [292], In 39, Caligula performed a spectacular stunt by ordering a temporary floating bridge to be built using ships as pontoons, stretching for over two miles from the resort of Baiae to the neighbouring port of Puteoli. [130], East of Porus's kingdom, near the Ganges River, was the Nanda Empire of Magadha, and further east, the Gangaridai Empire of Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. [298], Many of the legends about Alexander derive from his own lifetime, probably encouraged by Alexander himself. [216] She instilled a sense of destiny in him,[218] and Plutarch tells how his ambition "kept his spirit serious and lofty in advance of his years". The advance was successful and broke Darius's center, causing the latter to flee once again. [b] After the fall of Persia, the Macedonian Empire held a vast swath of territory between the Adriatic Sea and the Indus River. (a symbol associated with Alexander), which is now in the . From Pamphylia onwards the coast held no major ports and Alexander moved inland. At first, the cities must have been inhospitable, little more than defensive garrisons. In planning his invasion of the Parthian Empire, Caracalla decided to arrange 16,000 of his men in Macedonian-style phalanxes, despite the Roman army having made the phalanx an obsolete tactical formation. For having had all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs [6.4km], its depth one hundred fathoms [180m], while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at-arms and horsemen and elephants. ", In 337 BC, Alexander fled Macedon with his mother, dropping her off with her brother, King Alexander I of Epirus in Dodona, capital of the Molossians. He was one of the ancient rulers who gave out his best or worse to the world. [14], On the day Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. This included commissioning sculptures by Lysippos, paintings by Apelles and gem engravings by Pyrgoteles. Born in 356 BC, Alexander was a successor to his father Philip II of Macedon. [91][92][93] Plutarch claims that he ordered his men to put out the fires,[91] but that the flames had already spread to most of the city. [310], The Syriac version of the Alexander Romance portrays him as an ideal Christian world conqueror who prayed to "the one true God". When Alexander reached age 13, Philip summoned Aristotle to the Macedonian court. [62] Antipater referred the Spartans' punishment to the League of Corinth, which then deferred to Alexander, who chose to pardon them. Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture led to the overwhelming dominance of Hellenistic civilization and influence as far east as the Indian subcontinent. Some films that have been shot with the theme of Alexander are: There are also many references to other movies and TV series.