Alexander the Great the Movie

Alexander is a 2004 epic historical drama film based on the life of the Macedonian general and king Alexander the Great. He attracted critical scrutiny from historians with regard to historical accuracy.

Most academic criticism was concerned with the insufficient adherence to historical details. The film performed well in Europe, but, in North America, received mostly negative reviews from film critics, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 16% rating based on 203 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10.

Alexander the Great Quotes

True love never has a happy ending, because there is no ending to true love.
Bury my body and don’t build any monument. Keep my hands out so the people know the one who won the world had nothing in hand when he died.
I wish that the Indians believed me a god, for upon the report of an enemy’s valor oftentimes depends the success of a battle, and false reports have many times done as great things as true courage and resolution.
True love never has a happy ending, because there is no ending to true love.

Alexander the Great Death

In 323 BC, he developed a fever, which worsened until he was unable to speak. The common soldiers, anxious about his health, were granted the right to file past him as he silently waved at them.

In the second account, Diodorus recounts that Alexander was struck with pain after downing a large bowl of unmixed wine in honour of Heracles. This was followed by 11 days of weakness. Later he develop a fever and died after some agony.

On either 10 or 11 June 323 BC, Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon, at age 32.

Alexander the Great Wife

His first wife was Roxana of Bactria. She was born in c. 340 BC though the precise date remains uncertain and died in c. 310 BC
His second wife was Stateira II of Persia. she became Alexander’s second wife at the Susa weddings in 324 BC.

At the same ceremony Alexander also married her cousin, Parysatis, daughter of Darius’ predecessor. After Alexander’s death in 323 BC,  Roxana killed Stateira, his first wife.

His third wife Parysatis, the youngest daughter of Artaxerxes III of Persia, married Alexander the Great in 324 BC at the Susa weddings. She may have been murdered by Alexander’s first wife, Roxana, in 323 BC.

Alexander the Great Biography

He was born in Pella in 356 BC and succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of 20.

He spent most of his ruling years on an unprecedented military campaign through Asia and northeast Africa, and by the age of thirty he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from Greece to northwestern India.

During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until age 16. After Philip’s assassination in 336 BC, he succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army.

Alexander was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father’s pan-Hellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia.

In 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire (Persian Empire) and began a series of campaigns that lasted 10 years.

Following the conquest of Anatolia, Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela.

He subsequently overthrew Persian King Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.

He endeavored to reach the “ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea” and invaded India in 326 BC, winning an important victory over the Pauravas at the Battle of the Hydaspes.

He eventually turned back at the demand of his homesick troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, the city that he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia.

Alexander the Great Empire

Alexander’s legacy extended beyond his military conquests. His campaigns greatly increased contacts and trade between East and West, and vast areas to the east were significantly exposed to Greek civilization and influence.

Some of the cities he founded became major cultural centers, many surviving into the 21st century. Alexander’s most immediate legacy was the introduction of Macedonian rule to huge new swathes of Asia.

At the time of his death, Alexander’s empire covered some 5,200,000 km2 (2,000,000 sq mi), and was the largest state of its time. Many of these areas remained in Macedonian hands or under Greek influence for the next 200–300 years.

The successor states that emerged were, at least initially, dominant forces, and these 300 years are often referred to as the Hellenistic period.

Alexander the Great Facts

His father Philip was Alexander’s most immediate and influential role model, as the young Alexander watched him campaign practically every year, winning victory after victory while ignoring severe wounds.

Alexander’s relationship with his father forged the competitive side of his personality; he had a need to outdo his father, illustrated by his reckless behaviour in battle.

Although Alexander was stubborn and did not respond well to orders from his father, he was open to reasoned debate.

He had a great desire for knowledge, a love for philosophy, and was an avid reader. This was no doubt in part due to Aristotle’s tutelage; Alexander was intelligent and quick to learn.

Alexander was erudite and patronized both arts and sciences. However, he had little interest in sports or the Olympic games (unlike his father), seeking only the Homeric ideals of honour (timê) and glory (kudos).

Alexander the Great India

The Indian campaign of Alexander the Great began in 326 BC.

After gaining control of the former Achaemenid satrapy of Gandhara, including the city of Taxila, Alexander advanced into Punjab.

Here he engaged in battle against the regional king Porus, whom Alexander defeated in the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC.

Porus demeanor impressed Alexander so much that he allowed him to continue governing his own kingdom as a satrap.

Although victorious, the Battle of the Hydaspes was possibly also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians.

His army, exhausted, homesick, and anxious by the prospects of having to further face large Indian armies throughout the Indo-Gangetic Plain, mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas River) and refused to march further east.

Alexander, after a meeting with his officer, Coenus, and after hearing about the lament of his soldiers, eventually relented. He convinced Alexander that it was better to return.

This caused Alexander to turn south, advancing through southern Punjab and Sindh. Along the way conquering more tribes along the lower Indus River, before finally turning westward.

Alexander the Great Images

Painting of Alexander the Great on his death Bed

Alexander the Great Birthday

He was born on 20 or 21 July 356 BC.

Alexander the Great Horse

When Alexander was ten years old, a trader from Thessaly brought Philip a horse, which he offered to sell for thirteen talents.

The horse refused to be mounted, and Philip ordered it away. Alexander however, detecting the horse’s fear of its own shadow, asked to tame the horse, which he eventually managed.

Plutarch stated that Philip, overjoyed at this display of courage and ambition, kissed his son tearfully. Later he declared: “My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedon is too small for you”, and bought the horse for him.

Alexander named it Bucephalas, meaning “ox-head”. Bucephalas carried Alexander as far as India. When the animal died (because of old age, according to Plutarch, at age thirty), Alexander named a city after him, Bucephala

Alexander the Great Tomb

His followers laid Alexander’s body in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus filled with honey. They placed his body in a gold casket.

While Alexander’s funeral cortege was on its way to Macedon, Ptolemy seized it and took it temporarily to Memphis. His successor, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, transferred the sarcophagus to Alexandria, where it remained until at least late Antiquity.

Alexander the Great Tutor

When Alexander was 13, Philip began to search for a his tutor. He considered such academics as Isocrates and Speusippus, the latter offering to resign from his stewardship of the Academy to take up the post.

In the end, Philip chose Aristotle and provided the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza as a classroom.

In return for teaching Alexander, Philip agreed to rebuild Aristotle’s hometown of Stageira, which Philip had razed. Later he repopulate it by buying and freeing the ex-citizens who were slaves.

Mieza was like a boarding school for Alexander and the children of Macedonian nobles, such as Ptolemy, Hephaistion, and Cassander. Many of these students would become his friends and future generals. He would often call them ‘Companions’.

Aristotle taught Alexander and his companions about medicine, philosophy, morals, religion, logic, and art.

Under Aristotle’s tutelage, Alexander developed a passion for the works of Homer, and in particular the Iliad; Aristotle gave him an annotated copy, which Alexander later carried on his campaigns.

Alexander the Great Son

Alexander IV was the son of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian ) and Alexander’s wife Roxana (a Sogdian). He was the grandson of Philip II of Macedon. Alexander IV was born in August, 323 BC. two months after his father’s death.

Later defenders of the Argead dynasty began to declare that Alexander IV should now exercise full power. Since he had almost reached the significant age of 14, the age at which a Macedonian noble could become a court page.

His regent Cassander to secure his rule, in 309 BC he commanded Glaucias to secretly assassinate the 14-year-old Alexander IV and his mother. Soldier carried out orders and poisoned them both.

Alexander the Great Mother

Olympias was a daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus. She was a fourth wife of Philip II, the king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia, and mother of Alexander the Great.

According to the 1st century AD biographer, Plutarch, she was a devout member of the orgiastic snake-worshiping cult of Dionysus. He suggests that she slept with snakes in her bed.