Alexander the Great Essay

Alexander is known as the greatest military commander of all time. Through his military expeditions he had conquered most of the known world and proclaimed that he himself was the son of God. He had an unusual sense of personality and he is known for his lack of care for life. His expeditions gave him a vast numbers of treasure and fortunes but they come with a price; that if things were ever to go awry they face the consequence of never returning to their homeland, to their loved ones and families. Despite losing the company of his friend and family in Greece, Alexander still had a lot to be proud of, I think that Alexander the Great had gain more than he had lost because of his expeditions, he was known as the son of God and no one want to be in his way.

To fully understand the reward of Alexander’s expedition to the ends of the world, you need to look at his greatest achievements, and the most important one was creating his own myth. His first step of taking of proclaiming that he was indeed the son of God was to untie the Gordion knot. The legend behind the ancient knot was that the man who could untie it was destined to rule the entire world. Alexander simply slashed the knot with his sword and unraveled it. (http://faq.macedonia.org/history). The next big step for Alexander was his military expedition to Egypt. The Egyptians, unlike the Persians, welcomed Alexander to their kingdom and even made him the pharaoh.  In the spring of 331 Alexander made a pilgrimage to the great temple and oracle of Amon-Ra, Egyptian god of the sun, whom the Greeks identified with Zeus. The earlier Egyptian pharaohs were believed to be sons of Amon-Ra and Alexander, the new ruler of Egypt, wanted the god to acknowledge him as his son. The pilgrimage apparently was successful, and it may have confirmed in him a belief in his own divine origin. (www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/AlexandertheGreat.html). While in Egypt, Alexander spontaneously decided to make the dangerous trip across the desert to visit the oracle at the temple of Zeus Ammon (Alexander is known for his courageous yet impulsive actions).  At the temple what Alexander did was unclear but most historians agree that he had spoken with a priest who had told him he was destined to rule the world.  (www.notablebiographies.com/A-An/Alexander-the-Great.html).

Alexander had a great success of creating his own myth. If that was not enough he had vast monetary resource to supply him with whatever he need. How he had gotten the wealth was through his military expeditions. His most famous one was the conquest of Persia.  The greatest of his battles was of Persepolis (also known as the battle of the Persian Gate), the capital of the Persian Empire. The battle strategy used by Alexander is still studied and used by military generals today. He had split his army in two to circle the city and ambush them from behind were they were less defended. The Persians were getting from all sides and had to rely on their inner defenses which did not last very long against the might of the Macedonians. (www.Gaugamela.com). With the victory of Persepolis, Alexandra had gained an abundance of wealth and now he could pay all of his military expenses.  Alexander was ruthless to the civilians of Persepolis, he had given the order to plunder the city and to kill all the men. After he had done that he burned Persopolis to the ground as if it had never existed. (www.gaugamela.com). Darius escaped but when Alexander had caught up with him it had turned out that he had been assassinated by Besus. Alexander made it his immediate goal to kill him and he did, brutally. With the death of Besus Alexander was now the king of all of Persia.

Alexander had acquired so much wealth from the conquest of Persia but yet that was still not enough. However the most unusual thing had happen to him that no one ever expected; he had fallen in love. The girl that he had not even met agreed to marry him when he proposed to her out of random at a Persian hall.  His last conquests were to what is modern day Central Asia and India. This was the hardest of all his conquests and he had suffered many casualties but in the end he was victorious. Alexander described India as place of wonders and also said their customs were bizarre to say the least. The greatest of Alexander's battles in India was against Porus, one of the most powerful Indian leaders, at the river Hydaspes (http://faq.macedonia.org/history/alexander.the.great.html).  They had won the fierce battle and Alexander allowed to still rule in the local area. When they had reached the mouth Indus River Valley they had decided to go back.

Alexander had gained more than he had ever lost. He conquered to known world at the time and was considered the son of god by many. In his adventures he had gained many new allies and an abundance of wealth. The whole was at his disposal and he was not going to stop there. He had plans to go to places no man had ever seen, but unfortunately had died of sickness at the mere age of 33. His name still lives on and many respect and study the way he led his army to war and how he manage to fulfill his family’s legacy.