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Contemporary bust of Alexander the GreatAlexander III (late July, 356 BC– June 10, 323 BC), King of Macedon ( 336 BC-323 BC), known as Alexander the Great, was one of the most successful military commanders of the ancient world. Following the unification of the multiple city states of Greece under the rule of his father, Philip II of Macedon, Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, Egypt and many other smaller kingdoms in just 12 years. By the time of his death in 323 BC, his empire stretched from Greece to present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan and northern India. Alexander's conquests and the fusion of Greek culture with eastern cultures ushered in the age of Hellenistic GreeceThe Hellenistic period of Greek history refers to the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the Greek peninsula and islands by Rome in 146 BC. Although the establishment of Roman rule did not break the continuity across much of EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se, AsiaThe continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The boundaries are vague, especially between Asia and Europe: Asia and Africa meet somewhere near the Suez Canal. The boundary between Asia and E and northern AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. 30,244,050 km2 (11,677,240 mi2) including the islands, it covers 20. 3% of the total land area on Earth, and with over 800 million human inhabitants it accounts for ar. Already during his lifetime, and especially after his death, Alexander's exploits inspired a literary tradition in which he appears as a towering legendary heroThis article is about the type of character. For other meanings, see Hero (disambiguation . Sir Galahad, a prototypical hero In many myths and folk tales, a hero is a man or woman (then often called a heroine , traditionally the protagonist of a story, le in the tradition of AchillesFor other uses, see Achilles (disambiguation). In Greek mythology, Achilles grandson of Aeacus (Αχιλλευς Αιακιδης, Akhilleus Aiakides, also transliterated as.
1 Early life
" AlexanderAlexander is a common male first name. Its origin is Greek and it literally means "defender of men" (from ἀλέξειν #x61;léxein "to defend", and ἀνδρ" is the LatinAlternative meanings: See Latin (disambiguation Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages are descended from Latin, and maization of the common Greek name "Alexandros," which literally means "defender of men" and is more properly understood as "the one who comes to the aid of warriors." Born in Pella, Macedon, Alexander was the son of King Philip II of Macedon and of Epirote princess Olympias. According to Plutarch (Alexander 3.1,3), Olympias was impregnated not by Philip, who was afraid of her and her affinity for sleeping in the company of snakes, but by Zeus. Plutarch (Alexander 2.2-3) relates that both Philip and Olympias dreamt of their son's future birth. Olympias dreamed of a loud burst of thunder and of lightning striking her womb. In Philip's dream, he sealed her womb with the seal of the lion. Alarmed by this, he consulted the seer Aristander of Telmessus, who determined that his wife was pregnant and that the child would have the character of a lion.
After his visit to the Oracle of Ammon at Siwah, according to all five of the extant historians ( Arrian, Curtius, Diodorus, Justin, and Plutarch), rumors spread that the Oracle had revealed Alexander's father was Zeus, rather than Philip. According to Plutarch (Alexander 2.1), his father descended from Heracles through Caranus and his mother descended from Aeacus through Neoptolemus and Achilles.
