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History in 20: Alexander the Great

History in 20 Podcast • 2021-10-24 • 20:34 minutes • YouTube

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Alexander the Great: The Conqueror Who Shaped History

Welcome back to the History in 20 podcast! Today, we embark on an extraordinary journey further back in time than ever before, exploring the life and legacy of one of history’s most iconic figures—Alexander the Great. Born in 356 BCE, Alexander’s story is one of ambition, military genius, and cultural transformation that still resonates today.

Early Life and Rise to Power

Alexander III of Macedon was born in July 356 BCE to King Philip II of Macedon and Queen Olympias. Ancient legend claimed that Zeus himself fathered Alexander, but biologically, his father was Philip II. From a young age, Alexander demonstrated remarkable courage and intelligence. At just 12 years old, he tamed a wild stallion named Bucephalus, who would become his lifelong companion through countless battles.

At 13, Alexander was tutored by the great Greek philosopher Aristotle, who nurtured his interests in literature, medicine, philosophy, and science. By 16, Alexander was already proving his military prowess—leading a successful cavalry charge during his father’s absence in battle.

When Philip II was assassinated in 336 BCE, Alexander ascended the throne of Macedon at the age of 20. He wasted no time pursuing his father’s ambition: to conquer the mighty Persian Empire.

The Conquest of Persia

Alexander’s campaign against Persia began in 334 BCE with an army of 50,000 men. His first major victory came at the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, where despite being outnumbered, Alexander’s forces defeated King Darius III’s Persian army. Darius fled the battlefield, leading to his mother disowning him and adopting Alexander as her heir—a testament to Alexander’s rising power.

One of Alexander’s most impressive feats was the Siege of Tyre in 332 BCE. Facing a heavily fortified island city with no navy, Alexander’s troops constructed a massive causeway to breach the walls, eventually taking the city after months of resistance. Following this, he marched into Egypt, founding the famous city of Alexandria, which became a lasting cultural and economic hub.

In 331 BCE, at the Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander once again faced Darius III with a smaller army. Using superior tactics and the exhaustion of Persian troops, he secured a decisive victory that gave him control of the Persian Empire. Darius fled again but was soon murdered by his own generals, ending Persian resistance.

Cultural Integration and Challenges

Recognizing the difficulty of governing such a vast empire, Alexander adopted many Persian customs, including dressing like a Persian and practicing proskynesis—a court ritual of bowing and kissing the hand. This cultural blending, however, alienated many of his Macedonian soldiers who viewed these changes as betrayal. Tensions escalated, leading Alexander to execute close generals suspected of plotting against him.

Alexander also married multiple Persian princesses and encouraged his officers to do the same in an effort to unify Macedonian and Persian cultures. Despite some initial resistance, his firm leadership helped incorporate the diverse peoples of his empire.

Campaigns in India and Later Years

In 327 BCE, Alexander marched into the Indian subcontinent, facing fierce resistance from local tribes and King Porus. Though victorious, the battle was costly, and the death of Bucephalus deeply affected Alexander. His troops, weary from years of campaigning, refused to march further into India, compelling Alexander to turn back.

Upon returning to Persia, Alexander continued his policy of cultural fusion and held a mass wedding ceremony to solidify alliances. However, mutinies and discontent within his ranks persisted. Despite these challenges, Alexander maintained control over his sprawling empire.

The Death of Alexander and His Legacy

In 323 BCE, at the age of 32, Alexander the Great died in Babylon under mysterious circumstances—some historians suggest malaria or poisoning. He left no named successor, which led to power struggles among his generals and the eventual division of his empire.

Two notable dynasties emerged from his generals: the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. The latter lasted nearly 300 years, ending with the death of Cleopatra in 30 BCE.

Alexander’s conquests ushered in the Hellenistic Period, a time when Greek culture spread across the known world, influencing art, science, politics, and philosophy. The Roman Empire, which followed, drew heavily from Greek traditions established during Alexander’s reign.

Why Alexander the Great Remains Great

Alexander the Great’s impact on history is profound. The cities he founded, like Alexandria in Egypt, became centers of learning and culture. His military genius reshaped the ancient world’s geopolitical landscape. Most importantly, his vision of cultural integration set a precedent for future empires.

Though his life was short, Alexander’s ambition and achievements continue to inspire historians and leaders alike, proving that greatness often comes from daring to try the impossible.

Thank you for joining this deep dive into the life of Alexander the Great. To explore more fascinating stories from history in just 20 minutes, subscribe to the History in 20 podcast and visit www.historyin20.com. Don’t forget to like, share, and comment to share your thoughts!

Stay curious, and see you next time!

📝 Transcript Chapters (10 chapters):

📝 Transcript (567 entries):

## [00:00] hi everyone welcome back to the history and 20 podcast at long last it's been a long time i know i've been very busy moving house and so on so it's been very busy time so i've had much time to get on with these but we're back at last so here we go we're going even further back than we've ever been before on this podcast and today we are talking about ## Alexander the Great [00:20] alexander the great so a little bit of information as we always do his little personal profile so he was born on either the 20th or 21st of july 356 bce which just means before comedy era same as bc and ace after coming here same as ad so if you use those terms that's what it means she was born in 356 bce impella and macedon which is was part of ancient greece is now part of modern day macedonia he died on the 10th or 11th of june 323 bce in babylon which was part of mesopotamia so one thing to kind of get your head around on this episode is that the day it's kind of it's if they're going backwards because we're going up to the common era so three five six two three two three was when he was around not the other way around as would be after the common era if you get me so what did he reign as who did he reign where did he reign well he reigned as king of macedon from 336 to 323 as pharaoh of egypt from 332 to 323 as king of persia from 330 to 323 and as lord of asia from 331-323 his full name was alexander iii of ## Alexander Iii of Macedon [01:39] macedon his spouse he had three wives well he had a few but his three three of his main wives as you were were roxanna who married in three two seven to three two three ceteria the second who we married from three two four to three two three and also paris satis the second who married from three two four to three two three as well uh children he had a few but man under alexander the fourth of macedon and heracles of macedon and his dynasty is part of the arjun dynasty so a bit about alexander's early life we'll start off with first so he was born like i said in july 356. bce to king philip ii of macedon which was it was part of an ancient greek kingdom and his mother was called olympus of eperus and legend had it that zeus was alexander's father but that was very much a posthumous legend if you will um and obviously biologically impossible for him to be his father as well so yeah uh his early life we don't really know too much about his early years but ## Early Years [02:45] i picked up a few kind of interesting things just uh see what you think of these so aged 12 alexander showed impressive courage when he actually tamed a wild horse called bucephalus who became his battle companion for the majority of his life and this horse was an enormous wild stallion with a furious demeanor and i don't know much about horses but i know stallions are nigh on impossible um to domesticate and train so the fact that he trained a wild horse aged 12 is incredible then aged 13 philip who if you remember was alexander's father called on aristotle who's another greek he was a greek philosopher that you might have heard of so philip called on aristotle to tutor alexander and aristotle was the one responsible for sparking and fostering alexander's interest in literature medicine philosophy and science because he was a polymath which means he was knowledgeable in in anything ## 338 Bc [03:41] in 338 bc he was age 16. phillip when alexander was age 16 that is philip went off to battle and he left alexander in charge of macedonia so alexander saw his military worth and he led a cavalry charge against the sacred band of phoebes who were supposedly unbeatable select army made up entirely of male lovers during the battle of charoneer his cavalry decimated the sacred band of uh of phoebe so again this shows that at such an early age he was clearly an incredible military leader already and then the next major milestone in alexander's life was when he was 20 his father philip was assassinated at his alexander's sister's wedding so his own daughter's wedding he was assassinated and as a result alexander became king of macedon so alexander didn't really waste much time in taking on any conquests as soon as he became king so one of his main sort of objectives was to invade the great persian empire that ruled from anatolia right across to the plains of india um alexander developed these revolutionary ideas of his own and he believed that greek civilization was superior and that everyone else were just simply barbarians so that he had a mission to deliver this greek supremacy to the rest of the world or the known world at the time so why did he decide on persia well at the time the persian army was the simply the largest and most powerful empire of the ancient world at that time in the 300s bce so the persians have been harry in greece since about about 150 years before alexander was born which was during the time of a king called cersei's now upon alexander's father's death he inherited a powerful kingdom and army and a plan to invade the persian empire so in spring 334 he crossed the dardanelles with an army of about 50 000 men which included 7 000 cavalry and he was determined to conquer persia and he was going to come up against the persian king who was darius iii and alexander apparently said heaven cannot support two sons nor can the earth support two masters so in other words there's only room for one of us here was his message really um so he crossed the dardanelles as i mentioned and went to meet uh darius iii ## Battle of Isis [06:06] in what was known as the battle of isis so they arrived alexander's troops that has arrived at isis which is a town in southern turkey in 333 and they encountered a massive persian army which was led by king darius iii so alexander's forces were hugely outnumbered in men but the key to this battle was that they were not outnumbered in experience and obviously the desire to plunder all the persian wealth so the battle ensued and uh darius actually fled the battle scene the persian king and his mother was so disappointed with him that she actually disowned him and adopted alexander as her heir instead of him because he'd shown such cowardice and that simply wasn't wasn't uh acceptable uh to the persians then so it was obviously clear that alexander was a brilliant military leader at this time he's only in his early 20s and he would conquer places towns cities etc under his motto which was there is nothing impossible to him who will try which is a great motto i think there is nothing impossible to him who will try so after alexandra defeated darius at the battle of isis he then captured him and he married two of his daughters as you do and then the next sort of ## The Battle of Tyre [07:24] major event was called the battle of tyre so alexander took over the phoenician cities of marathas and aradis and but he rejected a plea from darius for peace and then he took the towns of biblos and sidon he then decided to lay siege to the heavily fortified island of tyre in january 332 after the tyrion's refused him entry but alexander had no navy to speak of and tayer was surrounded by water so how did he then go about conquering this well alexander instructed his men to build a causeway to reach tyre but every time they got near the tyrions thwarted their attempts to enter so to throw rocks down destroy the wooden uh structures and so on so then alexander realized the only way to get there was to amass a large fleet which he did and he breached the finally breached the city's walls in july 332 and he executed thousands of tyrions for daring to defy them the the greeks and then many of the others who were spared their lives were then sold into slavery um and alexander from there on he then entered egypt he didn't return home he then entered egypt and established a city which still bears his name some of you might have visited it alexandria and this wasn't the only alexandria he founded actually founded about six or seven um across the uh across the years but this is the one that's still standing today founded the city of alexandria in egypt and then after conquering egypt alexander still didn't decide to return home darius was ready to fight again so he then faced darius and his troops at guagamala guagamela sorry in october 331. so i say that darius was ready to fight again but the reality of it was was that um after obviously these three years since they'd first met alexandria defeated many of darius's satraps which were governors of his provinces and darius by this point was ready to just buy him off and he promised to cede substantial territory and pay 10 000 talents in gold if alexander would return to greece so when he was told of the offer alexander's most senior general who was a man called palminio not palmer advised i would accept it if i were alexander and alexander replied to him and so truly would i if i were palminio so in the end darius was forced to fight and he must have vast earmaster vast army near the town of arbella which was about 200 000 troops that included these uh 15 elephants at least and these vicious sort of chariots that ## Side Chariots [09:57] were called side chariots so they had little like size you know you'd cut corn with or wheat they had those attached to the uh spa spokes of the wheels on the side so if they were running past they just take someone's leg off and so on so they were really really a dangerous dangerous weapon to have and also darius was carefully picked his ground carefully this time so nearby lay the plane of guagamola which was perfect terrain for his cavalry and more importantly for the chariots so to ensure his victory he ordered that trees were to be felled and the ground roughly flattened in order to give his superior force a better chance of surrounding the invading greek force but when alexander arrived on the high ground before darius his generals urged him to fight immediately but instead alexander instructed his men to rest and sleep unlike darius who had to stay awake with his men all night because he was expecting an assault from alexander as soon as he arrived so at this point the persians were already knackered by the morning of the battle they were totally exhausted whereas the greeks were arrested and ready to fight so the day of the battle the persian cavalrymen moved forward to charge but they left a gap in their line into which alexander simply just led his own horsemen and drove them directly at darius again darius fled and alexander wheeled them then to attack the enemy's flank and which started the general disintegration of the persian army so in terms of numbers approximately 40 000 persians were killed and only a few hundred greeks died on the battlefield so that's twice that alexander had defeated an army that he was completely outnumbered by so he pursued darius but darius had already been murdered by one of his own generals at this point and this victory gave alexander control of the greatest empire of the world at that time but alexander was pretty savvy about his kind of relationship that he'd have to develop with this new empire that he'd taken on obviously there was more people in his army if they amassed together there's no way he'd have survived so in order to gain credibility with the persians alexander took on many persian customs so for example began dressing like a persian and he adopted the practice of what was called pyrokinesis or proskinesis which was a persian court custom that involved bowing down and kissing the hand of others depending on their rank now the macedonians who'd fought with alexander all their lives they were less than thrilled with these changes in alexander and his attempt to be viewed as a deity like as a god amongst men so they refused to practice this and some even plotted his death so alexander by this point was increasingly paranoid and he ordered the death of i mentioned his most esteemed general earlier palminio in 3 30 after palminio's son philotas was convicted of plus plotting an assassination attempt against alexander and he was also killed so another couple of years later uh one of alexander's generals and another close friend of his man called cletus he met a violent end in three to eight so he was fed up with alexander's new persian persona and so when he was drunk cletus continually insulted alexander and minimised his achievements and he was pushed too far in the end alexander and he killed cletus with a spear which was a spontaneous act of violence that anguished him so some historians believe that alexander killed his general in a fit of drunkenness which was alcohol was a persistent problem that plagued alexander through much of his life so that's quite a plausible uh way that he could have gone out in the end then after that alexander struggled to capture the kingdom of sogdia which was a region of the persian empire that remained loyal to their general leader who was called bessus and the saudians found a refuge at the pinnacle of iraq and refused alexander's demand to surrender so we obviously know by this point alexander was not one to take no for an answer so he sent some of his men to scale this rock and take the saudians by surprise and supposedly on that rock was a girl named roxanne who alexander fell in love with on-site and he married her despite her sodding heritage and then she joined him on his journey so the following year in 3-2-7 alexander decided to march on to india because that was where if you remember earlier i mentioned the limits of the persian empire had stretched over to so alexander marched on punjab in india and some tribes surrendered peacefully others didn't and in 326 alexander met king porus of porava at the hidasbis river now porus's army was less experienced than alexander's but they had a secret weapon that alexandre had encountered briefly before elephants so even so after a fierce battle in a rage in thunderstorm and with his elephants porus was defeated so one event did take place at hadasspees which is why i've mentioned it and it devastated alexander and it was the death of his beloved horse which you remember earlier i said the stallion he turned when he was 12 bucephalus he he died so it's unclear if he died from battle wounds or of old age but alexander then founded a city and he named it after but after bercephalus he called it bucephala so at this point alexander was already in the on the fringes of india and the punjab and he wanted to press on an attempt to conquer all of india but his soldiers have been fighting with him for nearly eight years at this point and they refused they just flat out refused and his officers convinced him to return to persia so alexander led his troops down the indus river and he was severely wounded during the battle with a tribe called the mali and after recovering he then divided his troops sending half them back to persia and half to jedrossia which was a desolate area west of the indus river so a couple years later he gets back to persia this is early 3-2-4 he reached the city of susa in persia now he wanted to unite the persians and macedonians and create a new race which was loyal only to him so he ordered a lot of his officers to marry persian princesses at mass wedding he also took two more wives for himself because well because he could so the macedonian army resented alexander's attempt to change their culture and many of them just mutined in the end but alexander took a firm stand and he replaced macedonian officers and troops with persians so at that point his army backed down and then to further defuse the situation alexander returned their titles and he hosted a huge reconciliation banquet so he managed to incorporate persians and macedons into his empire which is something that a lot of other military leaders have since uh struggled to do so the last section we move on to is the ## The Death of Alexander the Great [16:47] death of alexander the great now by three two three alexander was head of an enormous empire and he'd recovered from the devastating loss with his friend hefastian who was also reputed to be one of his homosexual male lovers now thanks to his insatiable urge for world supremacy he started plans then to conquer arabia in 323 but unfortunately never lived to see it happen so after surviving numerous battles over the years alexander the great died in june 323 and he was only aged 32. so some historians say that alexander died of malaria or other natural causes whereas others believe he was poisoned either way he never named a successor so his death and obviously the bloody in fighting for control that happened afterwards had completely unraveled the empire fought so hard to create so i said that alexander didn't leave any heirs behind he didn't name her have a named successor but he left behind two dynasties from his generals not from his own sons so the first was from celusus who was also about 32 at the time of alexander's death and he went on to fight found the celestial empire which lasted for 240 years and the other was ptolemy who became king of egypt and this is arguably the most successful uh dynasty or more famous dynasty that was left behind because he became king of egypt and his family ruled for 293 years until his descendants cleopatra's death in 30 bc and this period was known as the hellenistic period especially in greece not so much in egypt but in greece this sort of 300 to 300 bc to cleopatra's death in 30 bc was known as a hellenistic period so his legacy left behind why was alexander the great great so many of the conquered lands that alexander conquered retained the greek influence that he'd introduced and several of the cities he founded still remain important to cultural centers even today like alexandria for example in egypt you might have heard of the library of alexandria before that was famously burned down years ago that was part of his legacy as well so the period from his his of history from his death to 30 odd bc like i mentioned ## The Hellenistic Period [19:05] was known as the hellenistic period which comes from the word hellesin which means to speak greek or identify with the greeks and this speaks highly along the sort of the ancient roman empire i remember if you remember the last podcast some of those ancient romans really tried to replicate the greeks like augustus even like nero to an extent caligula as well um they tried to replicate what the the greeks had done and achieved and if you compare ancient greece and ancient rome there's so many similarities because the romans realized how successful the greeks were and their most successful period was under alexander the great so you could argue that in fact alexander the great single-handedly just about inspired the roman empire and for them to go on as long as they did and obviously as well as alexander the great is revered as one of the most powerful and influential leaders the ancient world has ever produced so i hope you enjoyed this episode it's a bit different for me doing ancient history because it's not something i'm that knowledgeable about but it's certainly something i'm looking uh to find a bit more information about and study a little more so yeah i hope you enjoyed this episode remember to subscribe like comment share the video you can visit my website now which i've got set up which is at www.historyin20.com i'll post the links below to all my socials and the website as well they'll be in the description so if you want to check those out feel free and share the video to your friends or anyone who might want to use it cheers and i'll see you next time