How long was alexanders campaign

He allegedly had affairs with the Persian wife of a dangerous Greek opponent fighting on the Persian side, and a liaison with a Persian eunuch. Philip is said to have fought his wars by marriages, that is by concluding diplomatic marriage alliances as a way to secure a victory, or as an alternative to fighting in order to decide the issue of territorial control. Alexander preferred to settle disputes by fighting, on the whole.

However, even he took three wives, the other two besides Roxane both being Persian princesses. When Alexander was not fighting, there was nothing he loved to do more, for relaxation, than hunt. In Macedon there were two tests of manhood: killing a wild boar and killing a man in battle.

Alexander had passed both of those by the time he was sixteen, besides hunting the wild mountain lions and sharp-eyed lynxes that still abounded in the western Macedonian upland country. Bucephalas served Alexander no less faithfully as his hunting mount than as his number one warhorse.

In one of these hunting sprees near modern Samarkand, no fewer than 4, animals were allegedly slaughtered. One theory takes us back to our starting point, to his self-projection as more than merely mortal. Certainly, he was religious, even superstitious, a trait he seems to have inherited or at any rate could easily have learned from his mother. Aslo, where is Alexander the Great buried, and has his tomb actually been found? Professor Paul Cartledge gives his view…. He relied especially heavily on the guidance of his personal diviner, Aristander, a Greek from Telmissus in what is now southwestern Turkey.

But what that was has to be inferred from his subsequent behaviour. It was something to do with the truth about his origins; the oracle seems to have confirmed Alexander in his belief that he had been born the son of a god, rather than a mortal.

Persians too had not been in the habit of recognising their Great King as a living god but had seen him rather as the vicar on earth of the great god of light Ahura Mazda.

Posterity has generally been more kind to Alexander, variously venerating or indeed worshipping him as a saint as well as a wonder-working holy man and military hero. Within the sphere of recent critical scholarship, however, a distinct note of hostility can be detected, influenced perhaps by contemporary experience of bloodshed in regions such as Afghanistan and Iraq that Alexander himself once traversed.

Author Jennifer Macaire shares six surprising facts about the Macedonian conqueror…. Polo, one of the oldest sports in the world, likely originated somewhere in Central Asia. Mounted nomads played a version of polo that was part sport, part training for war, with as many as men on a side.

Some stories say Alexander the Great spent time with the Persian royal family when he was young, accompanying his father on diplomatic missions. Writing attributed to the Greek philosopher Aristotle references a diving bell, describing a cauldron forced straight down into water, thus keeping the air within it.

There are stories about him visiting the bottom of the ocean in a glass ball during his famous siege of Tyre Lebanon , where it is said Alexander used divers to remove underwater obstacles from the harbour, and that the divers used crude glass diving bells. These may very well be just legends, but it is conceivable that Alexander, who was curious to learn about everything, had a go in a glass diving bell himself. The Azara herm is a Roman copy of a bust of Alexander the Great that was almost certainly made by the Greek sculptor Lysippus.

Thanks to its original inscription, this figure can be definitely identified as Alexander the Great, son of Philip II of Macedon. The bust was unearthed in during an excavation at Tivoli, Italy, organised by Joseph Nicolas Azara — , the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See and, later, to France. Azara presented the sculpture to Napoleon Bonaparteas a diplomatic gift. Today it resides in the Louvre museum in Paris.

For a time, this was the only known portrait of Alexander the Great, and it is generally regarded as the surviving portrait that looks the most like him. The Greek writer Plutarch wrote Parallel Lives, his series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, in pairs: his famous biography of Alexander is paired with Julius Caesar.

He lived years after Alexander the Great and contemporary writings were scarce. He also describes how Alexander the Great spent the night before the battle in his tent with his diviner, Aristander, performing certain mysterious ceremonies and sacrificing to the god Fear. The phalanx — a rectangular mass military formation made up of closely ranked troops — was a formidable fighting machine.

The spears used by soldiers in a phalanx were long — sometimes as long as five metres — and made of sharpened wood or metal-tipped wood.

Macedonian author Polyaenus in Stratagemata, also in the second century AD says that Alexander spitefully made his men who had not fought bravely enough in battle wear the so-called hemithorakion — a half armour system that only covered the front part of the body.

However, in reality the soldiers in a phalanx would actually not require much armour — coordinated, fast movement was what made the phalanx so effective. Polyaenus describes the Macedonian infantrymen of the phalanx as being armed with helmets kranos ; light shields pelte ; greaves knemides and a long pike sarissa — notice that armour is conspicuously missing from this list.

But while Alexander the Great led one of the most successful armies of all time, surprisingly little is understood about the main type of body armour that both he and many of his men wore — the linothorax — as there are no surviving examples. The linothorax was a type of body armour created by laminating together layers of linen.

It wrapped around the torso and tied over the shoulder with two flaps. When he died suddenly in Ecbatana from unknown causes, Alexander wrote to the Oracle at Siwa in Egypt and asked if Hephaestion should be honoured as a god or a hero. The Library of History , compiled by Diodorus Siculus, includes several accounts of the funeral pyre, of which there were seven levels — each level more lavishly decorated than the last.

At their flaming ends perched eagles with outspread wings looking downward, while about their bases were serpents looking up at the eagles, […] a multitude of wild animals being pursued by hunters, […] a centauromachy rendered in gold, while the fifth [level] showed lions and bulls alternating, also in gold.

The next higher level was covered with Macedonian and Persian arms, testifying to the prowess of the one people and to the defeats of the other.

On top of all stood Sirens, hollowed out and able to conceal within them persons who sang a lament in mourning for the dead. The total height of the pyre was more than one hundred and thirty cubits.

A cubit is an ancient measurement of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the longest finger, so it varies. But the pyre, as described here, could have been more than 50 metres high. Alexander the Great plundered the treasuries of all his cities to pay for the monument — it has been estimated to have cost the modern equivalent of two billion dollars.

Alexander the Great had made his seat of government in Babylon, the capital of Babylonia the alluvial plain between the Euphrates and Tigris , and he wanted to hold the funeral ceremony within the walls of the city. Spencer Day examines how Alexander left his mark on the lands he conquered…. According to Plutarch, Alexander the Great founded 70 towns and cities, including at least 16 that he modestly named Alexandria.

But, for all that, perhaps his greatest impact on human history derives not from his brilliance as a commander but as a supreme cultural ambassador. Instead, he left colonies of fellow Macedonians to administer conquered population centres, and they went about disseminating Greek methods of expression and thinking. As a result, peoples from modern-day Turkey through Asia Minor all the way to India played Greek sports, watched Greek theatre, mimicked Greek art and adopted Greek scientific practices.

In many cases, they continued to do so for centuries. The cities of Ai Khanum in what is now Afghanistan and Philoteris in Egypt may have been separated by some 3, miles but they both boasted Greek gymnasiums. It inspired the anthropomorphic representation of the Buddha in Indian sculpture and the appearance of Greek mythological figures, including Herakles, in Buddhist literature. As a result, when the Christian New Testament was first recorded, it was written down in Greek, the very language that Alexander had himself spoken hundreds of years earlier.

Sign in. Back to Main menu Virtual events Masterclasses. Home Period Ancient Greece Alexander the Great: all you need to know about the empire builder and military genius. Who is Alexander the Great? What made Alexander the Great such a brilliant military leader? After quickly dispatching a small regional army near the town of Granicus, Alexander had his first real test against Darius and his Persian Royal Army near the coastal city of Issus.

But Darius botched the location of the battle, which ended up being a narrow strip of land between a ridge and the sea that neutralized his numbers advantage. At Issus, Alexander debuted the battle strategy that would assure him victory after victory during his remarkable reign of conquest. Knowing he would be outmatched in manpower, Alexander relied on speed and distraction.

He would draw enemy troops toward one flank, then wait for a momentary gap to open up in the center of the enemy lines for a head-first cavalry charge. Just as he did with his father at Chaeronea, Alexander personally led the Macedonian cavalry charge at Issus, which cut right to the heart of the Persian defenses, just as planned.

A stunned Darius reportedly hopped on his horse and fled, with the rest of his army close behind. In the interim, Darius regrouped and called in reinforcements from the East, while Alexander marched his army South into Egypt. Darius and his generals chose a battle site near the town of Gaugamela.

But Alexander will not be outplayed. He camped the Macedonian army in the hills above the battle site to fuel up and rest while he drew up a game plan. The Persians, fearing a night attack, remained in ready formation all night, anxiously awaiting a charge that never came. At dawn, the Macedonians took the battlefield. Then he ordered the entire Macedonian line to march quickly to the right. Darius, fearing he was about to be overlapped on his left side, sent in 5, of his best cavalry.

Alexander counter-struck with a regiment of 1, mercenaries tasked with holding the right-hand position. Darius grew frustrated with the lack of progress, so he sent in another 10, cavalry, almost his entire left flank. At this point, Darius ordered a full-frontal charge on the rest of the Macedonian army, but it took time for his orders to reach his left flank.

He also quashed rebellions for independence in northern Greece. Alexander appointed the general Antipater as regent and headed for Persia with his army. Victory went to Alexander and the Macedonians. Alexander then headed south and easily took the city of Sardes.

But his army encountered resistance in the cities of Miletus, Mylasa and Halicarnassus. Under siege yet not beaten, Halicarnassus held out long enough for King Darius III, the newest Persian king, to amass a substantial army. From Halicarnassus, Alexander headed north to Gordium, home of the fabled Gordian knot , a group of tightly-entwined knots yoked to an ancient wagon.

Legend had it whoever unwound the knot would conquer all of Asia. As the story goes, Alexander took on the challenge but was unable to unravel the knot by hand. He took another approach and sliced through the knot with his sword, claiming triumph. As it became clear Alexander would win the Battle of Issus, Darius fled with what remained of his troops, leaving his wife and family behind.

His mother, Sisygambis, was so upset she disowned him and adopted Alexander as her son. By now it was clear that Alexander was a shrewd, ruthless and brilliant military leader—in fact, he never lost a battle in his life. Next, Alexander took over the Phoenician cities of Marathus and Aradus.

He rejected a plea from Darius for peace and took the towns of Byblos and Sidon. He then laid siege to the heavily fortified island of Tyre in January B. But Alexander had no navy to speak of and Tyre was surrounded by water. Alexander instructed his men to build a causeway to reach Tyre. All went well until they came within striking distance of the Tyrians. After rejecting another peace offer from Darius, Alexander set out for Egypt.

He was sidelined at Gaza, however, and forced to endure another lengthy siege. After several weeks, he took the town and entered Egypt where he established the city that still bears his name: Alexandria. Alexander traveled to the desert to consult the oracle of Ammon, a god of supposed good counsel. Legends abound about what transpired at the oracle, but Alexander kept mum about the experience.

Still, the visit furthered speculation Alexander was a deity. Following fierce fighting and heavy losses on both sides, Darius fled and was assassinated by his own troops.

Finally rid of Darius, Alexander proclaimed himself King of Persia. With Bessus out of the way, Alexander had full control of Persia.

To gain credibility with the Persians, Alexander took on many Persian customs. He began dressing like a Persian and adopted the practice of proskynesis, a Persian court custom that involved bowing down and kissing the hand of others, depending on their rank. The Macedonians were less than thrilled with the changes in Alexander and his attempt to be viewed as a deity. They refused to practice proskynesis and some plotted his death. Increasingly paranoid, Alexander ordered the death of one of his most esteemed generals, Parmenio, in B.

Pushed too far, Alexander killed Cleitus with a spear, a spontaneous act of violence that anguished him. Some historians believe Alexander killed his general in a fit of drunkenness—a persistent problem that plagued him through much of his life. Alexander struggled to capture Sogdia, a region of the Persian Empire that remained loyal to Bessus.