He was the son of Philip-II of Macedon (Present Macedonia) and Princess Olympias. Alexander was born at the royal palace in Pella, the Capital of Macedon at the time.
His first teacher was Leonidas a learned relation of his mother. From his childhood his favourite book was the ‘Iliad’ an epic poem composed by Homer. Then Aristotle the famous Greek scholar tutored him.
In 336 B. C. king Philip married another princess named Cleopatra and a son was born. Olympias who lost the care and affection of Philip had him murdered in the palace itself. Cleopatra and her infant son too met the same fate.
Soon after his father’s death, Alexander became the king of Macedon. By the time few Greek city states rose up against him. He invaded Thebes, a powerful Greek city state of the day and subdued it. Thus establishing Mecedonian power in Greece he set out to conquer the Persian Empire.
In 334 B. C. Alexander’s army crossed the Hellespont (Present Strait of Dardenells) and defeated the Persians at Granicus.
In 333 B. C. he won another victory against the Persians at Issus. He then marched on and besieged the city of Tyre on the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
After the conquest of Tyre, Alexander advanced into Egypt, subdued it and founded the city of Alexandria.
In 331 B. C. he left Egypt and again defeated the Persians at Guagamela, before capturing Babylon and the other Persian cities of Susa and Persepolis.
In persuit of king Darius the Persian king Alexander penetrated the heart of Asia overcoming all Iranian States. He entered India next.
At the foot of the Himalaya Mountain his army refused to cross it and he turned South, along the river Indus.
In 327 B. C. Alexander invaded India but the threat of a mutiny in his army and the powerful resistance of the Indian king Nanda, prevented him from advancing beyond the Punjab. (in present Pakistan)
On his return journey Alexander died in Babylon in the year 323 B. C. while planning new conquests in Arabia. It is reported that he died of malaria he contacted in Punjab. At the time of his death he was only 32 years old.
Alexander is considered the greatest conqueror of classical times and he was responsible for the spread of Greek civilization in the Mediterranean and Western Asia. He had two Persian queens named Roxana and Statira but they did not bear children.
