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Person356 BC – 323 BC

Alexander the Great

Also called: Alexander III of Macedon

King of Macedon (r. 336–323 BC) whose eastern campaigns overthrew Persia and built an empire reaching the Indus

Son of Philip II, he was taught in his youth by Aristotle. When his father was assassinated in 336 BC he took the throne at twenty, crushed revolts in Greece and set out against Persia. Defeating Darius III at Issus and Gaugamela, he destroyed the Achaemenid Empire and pushed on to the Indus. He founded many cities named Alexandria and pursued a policy of fusing East and West, marrying Persian noblewomen among other measures. He died of a fever in Babylon aged thirty-two.

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1 related event

  1. 1
    323 BC – 30 BCHellenistic Culturerelated figure

    After Alexander’s empire broke apart, a Hellenistic culture blending Greek and Near Eastern traditions flourished, centred on Alexandria in Egypt; the natural sciences advanced especially.

Related works

  • TV episode: Naked World History Episode 9: Alexander the GreatTV episode · 2021 · Kim Heon · tvN

Themes this person appears in

  • Greece and Rome2000 BC – AD 476

    From the Aegean civilisation to the fall of the Western Roman Empire — the classical civilisation built by the democracy of the polis and the Roman republic and empire