ALEXANDER THE GREAT

(Oct. 6-10, 356 – June 10, 323 BC)

Alexander III, the Great. Gk. Alexandros -– ‘valiant helper, defender’. Alexander was of medium height and big-boned. His skin was very white, especially the face and chest. Had brown wavy hair parted in the middle and usually dressed in the anastole style (swept back and falling like a mane from the middle of the forehead).. Called Lofty Gateway, Son of Amon (Zeus), King Alexander, Invincible God, etc. In Asia he was known as Iskander Zul-Karnain (‘the two-horned’). King of Macedonia, leader, strategist and autocrat of the Hellenic League, King of Asia and Tyre, Pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of Asia, King of Kings and from October 21st 331 BC, King of the Universe. United peoples, cultures, civilisations; a brilliant military commander. Worship of Alexander was widespread among followers of Christianity and Islam. Macedonian, born in Aegae, Macedonia. His mother was Olympias, daughter of King Neoptolemus of Molossia and the Queen of Epirus; his father Philip II, son of Eurydice and Amyntas III, King of Macedonia, Argead dynasty. Among his closest relatives: his sister Cleopatra (wife of the Molossian King Alexander); five other wives of Philip II and their children, half-brothers and half-sisters. The latter include Caran (whose mother was Phila), Cinna or Cinnana (mother Audata), Philip III Arrhidaeus (mother Philinna), Thessalonika (mother Nikesipolida) and Europa (mother Cleopatra). Alexander was of medium height and big-boned. His skin was very white, especially the face and chest. Had brown wavy hair parted in the middle and usually dressed in the anatole style (swept back and falling like a mane from the middle of the forehead). Deep-set, shining, lively eyes gazing ever upwards yet languishing. Long straight hooked nose, flared nostrils, thin lips, sharply defined chin. In several pictures side-whiskers can be seen. The most ancient image is a carved ivory head (on the tomb of King Philip II at Palatitsa, dated before August 336 BC). More reliable representations are the sculptures by Lysippos. General impression of his appearance: masculine features combined with an elusive femininity. At the end of his life he had bags under his eyes. The first of the Hellenes to shave off his beard. Wounded 7 or 8 times in battle, once seriously. Alexander’s first wife was Roxana (Raokshna), wife of the Persian satrap Oxiart; the second was Parisatida, daughter of Alexander III; the third wife was Barsine (also called Stateira), daughter of Darius III. Alexander is known to have fathered Heracles (with Barsine). His first son with Roxana died in infancy; the second became Alexander IV. He received a comprehensive education, the best available at the time. From the age of 7 Alexander had lessons in gymnastics, music, poetics, grammar and arithmetic, and from 10 to 14 he learned to ride a horse. From 14 to 19, he studied at Aristotle’s school in Mieza. Practised the traditional Hellenic religion. Well versed in the primordial unity between different religions, he venerated the One God in the belief systems of different peoples. Sailed the River Danube on expeditions to conquer land in Illyria, Boeotia, Misia, Lydia, Caria, Lycia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Egypt (as far as Amon’s tomb in the Siwa Oasis), Mesopotamia, Babylon, Susiana, Persida, Carmania, Media, Parthia, Hyrcania, Ariana, Drangiana, Arachosia, Hindu Kush, Bactria, Sogdiana, parts of India and Gedrosia. Egyptian Alexandria, Alexandria Bucephala and Nicaea, Opien, Sogdian and Orit Alexandria, Patala and other towns were built according to Alexandrian concepts, also a line of square fortresses in Hyrcania from Gyumush-Tepe to Kara-Kuz (‘Alexander’s Wall’). Some of his letters to his mother and Aristotle, decrees and official correspondence have been preserved. Alexander died in Babylon at the age of 32 years, 8 months. His mortal remains were mummified and entombed in the hypogeum at Alexandria, Egypt. They were accessible to venerators until the late 4th century, then probably buried in the ruins of the mausoleum.