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    Alexander the Great: Conqueror, Commander, King
    Alexander the Great: Conqueror, Commander, King
    Alexander the Great: Conqueror, Commander, King
    Ebook197 pages3 hours

    Alexander the Great: Conqueror, Commander, King

    By John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville

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    About this ebook

    An overview of Alexander’s life—from his early military exploits to the creation of his empire and the legacy left after his premature death.
     
    Alexander was perhaps the greatest conquering general in history. In a dozen years, Alexander took the whole of Asia Minor and Egypt, destroyed the once mighty Persian Empire, and pushed his army eastwards as far as the Indus. No one in history has equaled his achievement.
     
    Much of Alexander’s success can be traced to the Macedonian phalanx, a close-ordered battle formation of sarissa-wielding infantry that proved itself a war-winning weapon. The army Alexander inherited from his father was the most powerful in Greece—highly disciplined, trained, and loyal only to the king. United in a single purpose, they fought as one. Cavalry was also of crucial importance in the Macedonian army as the driving force to attack the flanks of the enemy in battle. A talented commander able to anticipate how his opponent would think, Alexander understood how to commit his forces to devastating effect and was never defeated in battle. He also developed a corps of engineers that utilized catapults and siege towers against enemy fortifications.
     
    Alexander led from the front, fighting with his men, eating with them, refusing water when there was not enough, and his men would quite literally follow him to the ends of the (known) world. None of his successors were able to hold together the empire he had forged. Although he died an early death, his fame and glory persist to this day.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCasemate Publishers
    Release dateDec 19, 2018
    ISBN9781612006826
    Alexander the Great: Conqueror, Commander, King
    Author

    John Sadler

    John Sadler is a very experienced miliary historian, a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and the author of more than two dozen books. He is a very experienced and much travelled battlefield tour guide covering most major conflicts in the UK, Europe and North Africa

    Read more from John Sadler

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      Book preview

      Alexander the Great - John Sadler

      CHAPTER 1

      THE PRODIGY

      It is my belief that there was in those days no nation, no city, no single individual beyond the reach of Alexander’s name; never in all the world was there another like him, and therefore I cannot but feel that some power more than human was concerned in his birth …

      Arrian: 7

      On a fine autumn day in October 336 BC, Philip II of Macedon appeared a happy man. Why not, he was attending the important dynastic union of his daughter Cleopatra to King Alexander I of Epirus. It was a good match. The bride was his daughter by his dominant fourth wife Olympias, mother of his son Alexander. Olympias was herself an Epirote princess. The king was only recently reconciled to his formidable spouse and their son. Philip had taken another wife (Macedonian royalty was polygamous). This was another Cleopatra, daughter/niece (we are not sure which) of his general Attalus. Philip, besotted by the younger model had dubbed her Cleopatra Eurydice (Eurydice translates roughly as ‘she whose justice spreads widely’). The young woman’s ambitious braggadocio uncle had visions of a new dynastic succession, making an enemy of Alexander’s mother. Olympias made a very dangerous opponent: she was not about to let any upstart princeling get in the way of her boy’s inheritance.

      Statuette of a dancing woman, 4th century BC. (Hiart, Wikimedia Commons, CC0)

      By and large, Macedonian women’s expectations were domestic, rather than political. It was a behind the scenes role, running the household, demonstrating female skills and looking after their children. Marriage was a social transaction aimed at creating relationships between families and the bride was seen as a valuable commodity. The wife of the king was mistress of his household and responsible for managing his residence and attending to the hospitality of guests. She might sometimes be present at the drinking parties for the men but mostly spent time in the women’s quarters (gynaikonites) spinning and weaving in the company of the other women.

      Intellectual pursuits were exceptional and girls were not generally schooled. Lower-status women enjoyed greater independence, frequenting the marketplace (agora) – some worked as midwives and nursemaids. The only truly independent women were the courtesans (Hetairai). They circulated freely, attended symposia, entertained whomsoever they pleased and managed their own property.

      However, royal women also played an important role in state affairs. Olympias was not alone in becoming actively involved in affairs of state. When Alexander was away in Asia, she represented the Macedonian state. After Alexander’s death she issued decrees on behalf of the joint-kings and herself as well as ‘in the name of the house of Philip and his son Alexander’.

      Alexander’s half sister, Thessalonike was born about 345 BC, the daughter of king Philip II by his Thessalian wife, Nikesipolis. Her birth fell on the same day that the armies of Macedon and the Thessalian league defeated the Phocians. Philip is said to have proclaimed ‘Let her be called victory (‘nike’) in Thessaly’.

      Thessalonike bore Kassandros three sons – Philip, Antipater and Alexander. After their father’s death, she held a position of some influence: so much so that her son Antipater, angered at the favour shown to the youngest brother, murdered her.

      Adeia Eurydike was married to Philip Arrhidaeus, Alexander’s half brother. She was the granddaughter of two kings, Philip II and his brother, Perdiccas III. Her mother, Kynane, was the offspring of one of Philip II’s war-brides, who was the daughter of Bardylis, an Illyrian warrior-chieftain Philip had defeated. Kynane was married to one of Philip’s brothers, Amyntas, who was later executed on the charge of treason after Philip’s assassination. At the age of eighteen this feisty young warrior woman led a civil war in her attempt to claim the throne. She was often mistaken for a boy and became quite a rabble-rouser among the foot-soldiers who admired her.

      Roxanne was another figure who exercised influence beyond that expected of her gender. Daughter of a warlike people she grew up helping her brothers load arrows on the walls of her father’s mountain outpost on the Soghdian Rock. Legendarily fierce-tempered, it is not hard to surmise that part of her attraction for Alexander might have been the degree to which she reminded him of his mother. She followed Alexander to India where she gave birth to a child who died soon after. She was pregnant again at the time of Alexander’s death as was, it is said, the second wife, Stateira. Sisterly solidarity did not make any appearance there, indeed it may well have been Stateira’s condition that motivated her poisoning by Roxanne.

      Unlike most of the other Persian noblewomen who were quickly swept from sight after the Macedonians repudiated the marriages that had been arranged for them by Alexander, Roxanne managed to survive, but she and her newborn son were never truly accepted. The child, Alexander IV, born a month after Alexander’s death, was of Soghdian blood, not a true-born Macedonian.

      Roxanne’s life after Alexander’s death was not an easy one. Despised by most of the generals and known for her angry outbursts, she was isolated, dependant on Olympias. One can only speculate on the relationship between two such feisty women. Roxanne’s life became a struggle as she tried to survive the maelstrom of Macedonian politics and intrigues of the Macedonian court. She could trace her bloodlines to an Assyrian queen and was used to a rich, indulged lifestyle, known for her temper, selfishness and arrogance. Alexander’s generals considered her a mere campaign wife.

      By contrast Persian women, both royal and non-royal, had a degree of independence which allowed them to exercise economic independence and gave them a place in society. Although it was a prosperous and impressive civilisation, many of its documents and records were destroyed during years of conquests and war, leaving only a few Greek sources to learn from. The Greek view of these women has come down to us – they often referred to Persian women as conniving or manipulative figures who took advantage of weak kings. But there is an alternative source. The Persepolis Fortification Tablets were found in the ruins of Persepolis. They are administrative records that tell us much about the day-to-day running of an empire and they give us a very different take on women’s lives.

      In general, we can say that Persian women enjoyed power, influence, and economic opportunities. They were involved in the military and owned businesses, and held the same jobs as men. Some women never married or had children, but this was not seen as a problem. Of course, Ancient Persian society was still patriarchal, and for the most part, men held higher positions than women. Women’s status may have owed its perception to Zoroastrianism – the dominant religion. Unusually for its time, it held men and women to be equals.

      Of course, not all women enjoyed the same status or power in Ancient Persia. Royal women certainly enjoyed more influence than non-royal women. In art, we can see royal women depicted almost identically to men with similar clothes, hairstyles and

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