Text 2. Alexander the Great and his Influence

King Philip of Macedonia and many of his subjects looked on one day in 342 B.C as men attempted to tame a horse. The huge horse kept rearing up, kicking its legs wildly and throwing its head back and forth. The king wanted to buy the horse, but the decided it was too mean and wild. Then his 14-year-old son Alexander spoke up. "What a horse they are losing, and all because they don’t know how to handle him, or dare not try!” According to the historian Plutarch:

“Philip kept quiet at first, but when he heard Alexander repeat these words several times and saw that he was upset, he asked him, “Are you finding fault with your elders because you think you know more than they do, or can manage a horse better?” “At least I could manage this one better,” explained Alexander.”

Alexander bet his father that he could ride the horse. Alexander approached the horse and stroked it to calm it down. Then Alexander mounted it and galloped around the field. Plutarch wrote:

“Thereupon the rest of the company broke into loud applause, while his father, we are told, actually wept for joy. And when Alexander had dismounted he kissed him and said, “My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedonia is too small for you.”

Alexander would indeed follow his father’s advice. Riding this horse, he would venture far beyond Macedonia to create the largest kingdom the ancient western world had yet known.

From 399 to 338 B.C., individual Greek city-states fought each other for power. However, no city-state could establish the kind of power Athens had enjoyed during the Golden Age.

Macedonia was a large state just north of Greece. It had little power because it was far less organized than the smaller Greek city-states. However, when King Philip, Alexander’s father, took the throne in 359 B.C., he turned Macedonia into a military power.

Most ancient armies were made up of soldiers who served for a limited time and then returned home. Philip, however, established a professional army of full-time, well-paid, highly skilled soldiers.

A military genius, Philip developed new battle formations and a large number of weapons for his army. These new weapon included catapults, machines that could hurl burning spears or 50-pound rocks over walls, and battering rams on wheels that could smash through locked doors and closed gates.

Philip used his powerful army to build an empire. Soon after coming to rule in 359 B.C., he defeated large tribes to the north and west of Macedonia. Then he turned south to Greece. The Greek armies were no match for the Macedonian military and fell at the Battle of Chaeronea. In 388 B.C., Philip became ruler of Greece.

Philip might have ended Greece’s independence after his victory. Yet he did not. After he had defeated the Greeks, Philip ordered that Athens not be destroyed because he admired its culture. Philip had gained respect for Greek ways during his youth when he spent three years in Thebes as a hostage.

When Philip defeated the Greeks, he reorganized their armies and combined them with Macedonia’s troops. Philip then set out to conquer the great Persian Empire with his powerful army. However, shortly before his first expedition to Persia, Philip was murdered. Philip’s son Alexander would have to fulfill Philip’s dreams of empire.

Alexander was only 20 when his father was murdered in 336 B.C. But he firmly took charge of his father’s kingdom. He put down the revolts that sprang up. Then he turned his ambitions toward winning new lands.

With his troops, Alexander began a 20,000-mile journey of conquest, or victory by force over other peoples.

Alexander the Great was a brilliant general. By outwitting his enemies, he defeated armies much larger than his own. Alexander was only 16 when he joined his father’s army. For the rest of his life, he marched from battle to battle.

At the age of 21 Alexander left the Macedonian capital with an army of 35,000 men. He never returned.

King Darius III of Persia stood between Alexander and the rest of Asia. Their armies fought at the Gulf of Issus in 333 B.C. and at Guagamela two years later. Each time Darius had more soldiers. But Alexander’s clever planning won the battles, forcing Darius to flee for his life.

Before invading Egypt, Alexander had to conquer Tyre, the last base the Persian navy controlled. Alexander’s soldiers took seven months to build a bridge to the walled island, while Tyrian soldiers hurled molten lead at them from catapults.

Spear points have been found wherever Alexander fought. His infantry carried 14-foot spears, while most armies at the time carried much shorter ones.

The Persian rulers of Egypt gave their land and money to Alexander without a fight. In Egypt, Alexander founded Alexandria, the first of many cities he would name after himself.

After marching 400 miles through mountain and fighting battles in sub-zero cold, Alexander’s army looted and destroyed Persepolis.

Alexander’s army began to move more and more slowly. The treasure they had captured made mountain travel difficult. Alexander finally burned his share of the loot and ordered his men to do the same.

In 323 B.C., Alexander suddenly died of a fever. He was 33 years old. During the 13 years of his rule, he had created the largest empire in the western world.

After Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., Greek culture still united the empire. But politically the empire broke apart because no single leader had enough power to take Alexander’s place.

When Alexander the Great died, his generals split his empire among themselves. The giant empire was cut up into as many as 34 kingdoms. In bloody fighting, five generals took control of different part of the empire.