preview

Essay on Alexander The Great: Shaping A World

Better Essays

Alexander The Great was born in Macedonia in the year 356 B.C., several hundred years before Christ and even before the rise of Rome. Despite this fact he is still a topic of discussion and study more than two millennium later for a plethora of reasons. His insight and ability on the field of battle has made him a shining example of how to conduct the art of war. He has been studied for centuries by both military journals and colleges. He has also kept the scholars of this world as busy as well. His choices to build cities and centers for learning and the preservation of knowledge such as the library at Alexandria have been able to provide work for generations of archaeologists and other scholars. His image over the years has been one …show more content…

Deeply troubled, and no doubt in a great deal of danger, he fled with his mother to her homeland in Epirus. It was this turmoil filled childhood that has made some observers suggest that he may have suffered from possible Oedipus complex (Thomas, P. 860).
By 336 Alexander and his father had publicly reconciled their differences. Alexander stood with his father once again. Philip II was assassinated at his daughter's wedding feast. The assassin was an aggrieved Macedonian nobleman. Pausanias assassinated Alexander’s father in the doorway to a theater. The official verdict on Philip's assassination claimed the assassin had been bribed by Darius, the king of the Persian Empire. However, many suspected Alexander and his mother because they had recently fallen from royal favor. No one knows quite why Phillip was murdered, but it was finally declared that Alexander had taken no part in the deed. Pausanias was cut down immediately and legends say his body was crucified although there is no definitive evidence one way or another. At this time Alexander took possession of his father’s throne. At first he was faced with rebellions on every side. He then began to surround himself with loyal friends and completely overhauled the upper echelons of power in Macedonia.
Before the end of the summer of 336 BC he had reestablished his position in Greece and was elected by a congress of states at Corinth. In 335 BC as general

Get Access