The boy who conquered the known world- and then kept going
On 13 June 323 BC, Alexander the Great died in Babylon at just 32. In a single decade, he carved out one of the largest empires in history- from Greece to India- and never once lost a battle.
When the island nation of Tyre closed their doors to him, he built a bridge and laid siege to the city. Cyprus threw off the chains of Persian oppression, declared independence, and sent 120 war galleys to support him. The king of Salamis even fought at his side.
When he arrived in Egypt, he was greeted with celebration, declared pharaoh and a god. lready believed to be the son of Zeus, Alexander stepped easily into his divine persona. It’s said he slept with a copy of the Iliad under his pillow, modelling himself after Achilles- arguably the greatest Greek hero ever to live- even sulking in his tent when his men refused to follow. But follow him they did, ever onward, into the unknown, on a campaign that lasted ten whole years.
In Alexander’s time, the limits of the world were finite and defined- one land mass, encircled by ocean. Aristotle, one of history’s greatest minds, had told him so. Why would he doubt it? But when he had conquered all of Persia, there was no ocean to be seen. When he climbed the Himalayas, with the world at his feet, there was still no end in sight. And so, he pressed on, and his army with him. Over the mountains. In to India, where they fought the monsoon, and warlike chieftains, and elephants- animals hitherto unknown to them.
Alexander sent one of these new elephants back to Macedonia for Aristotle. Most students just bring an apple.
But then, at the height of his power, Alexander collapsed during one of his legendary, days-long parties. He died without naming an heir. His empire shattered, sparking decades of civil war- but his legend only grew.
Tyre is an island no more.
The Ptolemies- the descendants of his most trusted general- ruled Egypt until the days of Cleopatra.
And more than two thousand years later, we’re still telling his story.
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