Attalus also had severely insulted Alexander, and following Cleopatra's murder, Alexander may have considered him too dangerous to leave alive. News of Philip's death roused many states into revolt, including Thebes, Athens, Thessaly, and the Thracian tribes north of Macedon. When news of the revolts reached Alexander, he responded quickly. Though advised to use diplomacy, Alexander mustered 3, Macedonian cavalry and rode south towards Thessaly. When the Thessalians awoke the next day, they found Alexander in their rear and promptly surrendered, adding their cavalry to Alexander's force.

He then continued south towards the Peloponnese. Alexander stopped at Thermopylae, where he was recognized as the leader of the Amphictyonic League before heading south to Corinth. Athens sued for peace and Alexander pardoned the rebels. The famous encounter between Alexander and Diogenes the Cynic occurred during Alexander's stay in Corinth. When Alexander asked Diogenes what he could do for him, the philosopher disdainfully asked Alexander to stand a little to the side, as he was blocking the sunlight.

Alexander Arrian's Sources - Livius

He also received news of a Thracian uprising. Before crossing to Asia, Alexander wanted to safeguard his northern borders. Starting from Amphipolis , he travelled east into the country of the "Independent Thracians"; and at Mount Haemus , the Macedonian army attacked and defeated the Thracian forces manning the heights. Alexander then marched for three days to the Danube , encountering the Getae tribe on the opposite shore. Crossing the river at night, he surprised them and forced their army to retreat after the first cavalry skirmish. News then reached Alexander that Cleitus , King of Illyria, and King Glaukias of the Taulantii were in open revolt against his authority.

Marching west into Illyria, Alexander defeated each in turn, forcing the two rulers to flee with their troops. With these victories, he secured his northern frontier. While Alexander campaigned north, the Thebans and Athenians rebelled once again. Alexander immediately headed south. The Theban resistance was ineffective, and Alexander razed the city and divided its territory between the other Boeotian cities. The end of Thebes cowed Athens, leaving all of Greece temporarily at peace. This also showed Alexander's eagerness to fight, in contrast to his father's preference for diplomacy.

After an initial victory against Persian forces at the Battle of the Granicus , Alexander accepted the surrender of the Persian provincial capital and treasury of Sardis ; he then proceeded along the Ionian coast, granting autonomy and democracy to the cities. Miletus, held by Achaemenid forces, required a delicate siege operation, with Persian naval forces nearby. Further south, at Halicarnassus , in Caria , Alexander successfully waged his first large-scale siege , eventually forcing his opponents, the mercenary captain Memnon of Rhodes and the Persian satrap of Caria, Orontobates , to withdraw by sea.

From Halicarnassus, Alexander proceeded into mountainous Lycia and the Pamphylian plain, asserting control over all coastal cities to deny the Persians naval bases. From Pamphylia onwards the coast held no major ports and Alexander moved inland. At Termessos , Alexander humbled but did not storm the Pisidian city. After a long pause due to an illness, he marched on towards Syria. Though outmanoeuvered by Darius' significantly larger army, he marched back to Cilicia, where he defeated Darius at Issus.

Darius fled the battle, causing his army to collapse, and left behind his wife, his two daughters, his mother Sisygambis , and a fabulous treasure. Alexander replied that since he was now king of Asia, it was he alone who decided territorial divisions. When Alexander destroyed Tyre, most of the towns on the route to Egypt quickly capitulated.

However, Alexander met with resistance at Gaza. The stronghold was heavily fortified and built on a hill, requiring a siege. When "his engineers pointed out to him that because of the height of the mound it would be impossible As in Tyre, men of military age were put to the sword and the women and children were sold into slavery.

Gaugamela would be the final and decisive encounter between the two. Darius fled over the mountains to Ecbatana modern Hamedan , while Alexander captured Babylon. From Babylon, Alexander went to Susa , one of the Achaemenid capitals, and captured its treasury. Alexander himself took selected troops on the direct route to the city. He then stormed the pass of the Persian Gates in the modern Zagros Mountains which had been blocked by a Persian army under Ariobarzanes and then hurried to Persepolis before its garrison could loot the treasury.

On entering Persepolis, Alexander allowed his troops to loot the city for several days. Possible causes include a drunken accident or deliberate revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Persian War by Xerxes. Shall I pass by and leave you lying there because of the expeditions you led against Greece, or shall I set you up again because of your magnanimity and your virtues in other respects? Alexander then chased Darius, first into Media, and then Parthia. Alexander viewed Bessus as a usurper and set out to defeat him. This campaign, initially against Bessus, turned into a grand tour of central Asia.

Alexander founded a series of new cities, all called Alexandria, including modern Kandahar in Afghanistan, and Alexandria Eschate "The Furthest" in modern Tajikistan. Spitamenes , who held an undefined position in the satrapy of Sogdiana, in BC betrayed Bessus to Ptolemy , one of Alexander's trusted companions, and Bessus was executed. Alexander personally defeated the Scythians at the Battle of Jaxartes and immediately launched a campaign against Spitamenes, defeating him in the Battle of Gabai.

After the defeat, Spitamenes was killed by his own men, who then sued for peace. During this time, Alexander adopted some elements of Persian dress and customs at his court, notably the custom of proskynesis , either a symbolic kissing of the hand, or prostration on the ground, that Persians showed to their social superiors. This cost him the sympathies of many of his countrymen, and he eventually abandoned it. A plot against his life was revealed, and one of his officers, Philotas , was executed for failing to alert Alexander. The death of the son necessitated the death of the father, and thus Parmenion , who had been charged with guarding the treasury at Ecbatana , was assassinated at Alexander's command, to prevent attempts at vengeance.

Most infamously, Alexander personally killed the man who had saved his life at Granicus, Cleitus the Black , during a violent drunken altercation at Maracanda modern day Samarkand in Uzbekistan , in which Cleitus accused Alexander of several judgmental mistakes and most especially, of having forgotten the Macedonian ways in favour of a corrupt oriental lifestyle.

Later, in the Central Asian campaign, a second plot against his life was revealed, this one instigated by his own royal pages. His official historian, Callisthenes of Olynthus , was implicated in the plot, and in the Anabasis of Alexander , Arrian states that Callisthenes and the pages were then tortured on the rack as punishment, and likely died soon after. When Alexander set out for Asia, he left his general Antipater , an experienced military and political leader and part of Philip II's "Old Guard", in charge of Macedon.

In general, Greece enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity during Alexander's campaign in Asia. After the death of Spitamenes and his marriage to Roxana Raoxshna in Old Iranian to cement relations with his new satrapies, Alexander turned to the Indian subcontinent.

He invited the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara a region presently straddling eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan , to come to him and submit to his authority. Omphis Indian name Ambhi , the ruler of Taxila , whose kingdom extended from the Indus to the Hydaspes Jhelum , complied, but the chieftains of some hill clans, including the Aspasioi and Assakenoi sections of the Kambojas known in Indian texts also as Ashvayanas and Ashvakayanas , refused to submit. Alexander not only returned Ambhi his title and the gifts but he also presented him with a wardrobe of "Persian robes, gold and silver ornaments, 30 horses and 1, talents in gold".

Alexander was emboldened to divide his forces, and Ambhi assisted Hephaestion and Perdiccas in constructing a bridge over the Indus where it bends at Hund Fox , supplied their troops with provisions, and received Alexander himself, and his whole army, in his capital city of Taxila, with every demonstration of friendship and the most liberal hospitality. On the subsequent advance of the Macedonian king, Taxiles accompanied him with a force of 5, men and took part in the battle of the Hydaspes River.

After that victory he was sent by Alexander in pursuit of Porus, to whom he was charged to offer favourable terms, but narrowly escaped losing his life at the hands of his old enemy. Subsequently, however, the two rivals were reconciled by the personal mediation of Alexander; and Taxiles, after having contributed zealously to the equipment of the fleet on the Hydaspes, was entrusted by the king with the government of the whole territory between that river and the Indus.

A considerable accession of power was granted him after the death of Philip , son of Machatas; and he was allowed to retain his authority at the death of Alexander himself BC , as well as in the subsequent partition of the provinces at Triparadisus , BC. Alexander then faced the Assakenoi, who fought against him from the strongholds of Massaga, Ora and Aornos.


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The fort of Massaga was reduced only after days of bloody fighting, in which Alexander was wounded seriously in the ankle. According to Curtius , "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubble. In the aftermath of Massaga and Ora, numerous Assakenians fled to the fortress of Aornos.

Alexander followed close behind and captured the strategic hill-fort after four bloody days. He appointed Porus as satrap, and added to Porus' territory land that he did not previously own, towards the south-east, up to the Hyphasis Beas. Fearing the prospect of facing other large armies and exhausted by years of campaigning, Alexander's army mutinied at the Hyphasis River Beas , refusing to march farther east. As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India.

For having had all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at-arms and horsemen and elephants. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand war elephants.

Alexander tried to persuade his soldiers to march farther, but his general Coenus pleaded with him to change his opinion and return; the men, he said, "longed to again see their parents, their wives and children, their homeland". Alexander eventually agreed and turned south, marching along the Indus. Along the way his army conquered the Malhi in modern-day Multan and other Indian tribes and Alexander sustained an injury during the siege. Alexander sent much of his army to Carmania modern southern Iran with general Craterus , and commissioned a fleet to explore the Persian Gulf shore under his admiral Nearchus , while he led the rest back to Persia through the more difficult southern route along the Gedrosian Desert and Makran.

Discovering that many of his satraps and military governors had misbehaved in his absence, Alexander executed several of them as examples on his way to Susa. His troops misunderstood his intention and mutinied at the town of Opis. They refused to be sent away and criticized his adoption of Persian customs and dress and the introduction of Persian officers and soldiers into Macedonian units.

After three days, unable to persuade his men to back down, Alexander gave Persians command posts in the army and conferred Macedonian military titles upon Persian units. The Macedonians quickly begged forgiveness, which Alexander accepted, and held a great banquet for several thousand of his men at which he and they ate together. Afterwards, Alexander travelled to Ecbatana to retrieve the bulk of the Persian treasure. There, his closest friend and possible lover, Hephaestion , died of illness or poisoning.

Plutarch 's account is that roughly 14 days before his death, Alexander entertained admiral Nearchus , and spent the night and next day drinking with Medius of Larissa. The common soldiers, anxious about his health, were granted the right to file past him as he silently waved at them. Given the propensity of the Macedonian aristocracy to assassination, [] foul play featured in multiple accounts of his death. Diodorus, Plutarch, Arrian and Justin all mentioned the theory that Alexander was poisoned. Justin stated that Alexander was the victim of a poisoning conspiracy, Plutarch dismissed it as a fabrication, [] while both Diodorus and Arrian noted that they mentioned it only for the sake of completeness.

Perhaps taking his summons to Babylon as a death sentence, [] and having seen the fate of Parmenion and Philotas, [] Antipater purportedly arranged for Alexander to be poisoned by his son Iollas, who was Alexander's wine-pourer. The strongest argument against the poison theory is the fact that twelve days passed between the start of his illness and his death; such long-acting poisons were probably not available.

Alexander 3.3 Arrian's Sources

Several natural causes diseases have been suggested, including malaria and typhoid fever. A article in the New England Journal of Medicine attributed his death to typhoid fever complicated by bowel perforation and ascending paralysis. The anguish that Alexander felt after Hephaestion 's death may also have contributed to his declining health. Alexander's body was laid in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus that was filled with honey, which was in turn placed in a gold casket.

While Alexander's funeral cortege was on its way to Macedon, Ptolemy seized it and took it temporarily to Memphis. Ptolemy IX Lathyros , one of Ptolemy's final successors, replaced Alexander's sarcophagus with a glass one so he could convert the original to coinage. This would fit with the intended destination of Alexander's funeral cortege.

Pompey , Julius Caesar and Augustus all visited the tomb in Alexandria, where Augustus, allegedly, accidentally knocked the nose off. Caligula was said to have taken Alexander's breastplate from the tomb for his own use. His son and successor, Caracalla , a great admirer, visited the tomb during his own reign. After this, details on the fate of the tomb are hazy. The so-called " Alexander Sarcophagus ", discovered near Sidon and now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum , is so named not because it was thought to have contained Alexander's remains, but because its bas-reliefs depict Alexander and his companions fighting the Persians and hunting.

Alexander's death was so sudden that when reports of his death reached Greece, they were not immediately believed. Arrian and Plutarch claimed that Alexander was speechless by this point, implying that this was an apocryphal story. Perdiccas initially did not claim power, instead suggesting that Roxane's baby would be king, if male; with himself, Craterus , Leonnatus, and Antipater as guardians. However, the infantry, under the command of Meleager , rejected this arrangement since they had been excluded from the discussion. Instead, they supported Alexander's half-brother Philip Arrhidaeus.

Eventually, the two sides reconciled, and after the birth of Alexander IV, he and Philip III were appointed joint kings, albeit in name only. Dissension and rivalry soon afflicted the Macedonians, however. The satrapies handed out by Perdiccas at the Partition of Babylon became power bases each general used to bid for power. Diodorus stated that Alexander had given detailed written instructions to Craterus some time before his death. Alexander's will called for military expansion into the southern and western Mediterranean, monumental constructions, and the intermixing of Eastern and Western populations.

Alexander earned the epithet "the Great" due to his unparalleled success as a military commander. He never lost a battle, despite typically being outnumbered. He overcame this by being personally involved in battle, [74] in the manner of a Macedonian king. In his first battle in Asia, at Granicus, Alexander used only a small part of his forces, [ citation needed ] perhaps 13, infantry with 5, cavalry, against a much larger Persian force of 40, By contrast, the Persian infantry was stationed behind its cavalry. This ensured that Alexander would not be outflanked, while his phalanx, armed with long pikes, had a considerable advantage over the Persians' scimitars and javelins.

Macedonian losses were negligible compared to those of the Persians. Alexander arranged a double phalanx, with the center advancing at an angle, parting when the chariots bore down and then reforming. The advance was successful and broke Darius' center, causing the latter to flee once again. When faced with opponents who used unfamiliar fighting techniques, such as in Central Asia and India, Alexander adapted his forces to his opponents' style.

Thus, in Bactria and Sogdiana , Alexander successfully used his javelin throwers and archers to prevent outflanking movements, while massing his cavalry at the center. Greek biographer Plutarch c. The outward appearance of Alexander is best represented by the statues of him which Lysippus made, and it was by this artist alone that Alexander himself thought it fit that he should be modelled. For those peculiarities which many of his successors and friends afterwards tried to imitate, namely, the poise of the neck, which was bent slightly to the left, and the melting glance of his eyes, this artist has accurately observed.

Apelles, however, in painting him as wielder of the thunder-bolt, did not reproduce his complexion, but made it too dark and swarthy. Whereas he was of a fair colour, as they say, and his fairness passed into ruddiness on his breast particularly, and in his face. Moreover, that a very pleasant odour exhaled from his skin and that there was a fragrance about his mouth and all his flesh, so that his garments were filled with it, this we have read in the Memoirs of Aristoxenus.

The semi-legendary Alexander Romance also suggests that Alexander exhibited heterochromia iridum: British historian Peter Green provided a description of Alexander's appearance, based on his review of statues and some ancient documents:. Physically, Alexander was not prepossessing. Even by Macedonian standards he was very short, though stocky and tough. His beard was scanty, and he stood out against his hirsute Macedonian barons by going clean-shaven. His neck was in some way twisted, so that he appeared to be gazing upward at an angle.

His eyes one blue, one brown revealed a dewy, feminine quality. He had a high complexion and a harsh voice. Ancient authors recorded that Alexander was so pleased with portraits of himself created by Lysippos that he forbade other sculptors from crafting his image. Some of Alexander's strongest personality traits formed in response to his parents.

His mother had huge ambitions, and encouraged him to believe it was his destiny to conquer the Persian Empire. According to Plutarch, among Alexander's traits were a violent temper and rash, impulsive nature, [] which undoubtedly contributed to some of his decisions. He had a great desire for knowledge, a love for philosophy, and was an avid reader.

Alexander was erudite and patronized both arts and sciences. During his final years, and especially after the death of Hephaestion, Alexander began to exhibit signs of megalomania and paranoia. He appears to have believed himself a deity, or at least sought to deify himself. Alexander married three times: He lost another child when Roxana miscarried at Babylon.

Alexander also had a close relationship with his friend, general, and bodyguard Hephaestion , the son of a Macedonian noble. Alexander's sexuality has been the subject of speculation and controversy. Aelian, however, writes of Alexander's visit to Troy where "Alexander garlanded the tomb of Achilles, and Hephaestion that of Patroclus , the latter hinting that he was a beloved of Alexander, in just the same way as Patroclus was of Achilles.

Green argues that there is little evidence in ancient sources that Alexander had much carnal interest in women; he did not produce an heir until the very end of his life. Alexander accumulated a harem in the style of Persian kings, but he used it rather sparingly, [] showing great self-control in "pleasures of the body". Alexander's legacy extended beyond his military conquests. His campaigns greatly increased contacts and trade between East and West, and vast areas to the east were significantly exposed to Greek civilization and influence.

His chroniclers recorded valuable information about the areas through which he marched, while the Greeks themselves got a sense of belonging to a world beyond the Mediterranean. Alexander's most immediate legacy was the introduction of Macedonian rule to huge new swathes of Asia. The eastern borders of Alexander's empire began to collapse even during his lifetime. Taking advantage of this power vacuum, Chandragupta Maurya referred to in Greek sources as "Sandrokottos" , of relatively humble origin, took control of the Punjab , and with that power base proceeded to conquer the Nanda Empire.

Over the course of his conquests, Alexander founded some twenty cities that bore his name , most of them east of the Tigris. At first, the cities must have been inhospitable, little more than defensive garrisons.

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Hellenization was coined by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen to denote the spread of Greek language, culture, and population into the former Persian empire after Alexander's conquest. This culminated in his aspiration to homogenize the populations of Asia and Europe. However, his successors explicitly rejected such policies. Nevertheless, Hellenization occurred throughout the region, accompanied by a distinct and opposite 'Orientalization' of the successor states. The core of the Hellenistic culture promulgated by the conquests was essentially Athenian. The resulting syncretism known as Greco-Buddhism heavily influenced the development of Buddhism [ citation needed ] and created a culture of Greco-Buddhist art.

Some of the first and most influential figurative portrayals of the Buddha appeared at this time, perhaps modeled on Greek statues of Apollo in the Greco-Buddhist style. Greek astronomical treatise and Paulisa Siddhanta texts depict the influence of Greek astronomical ideas on Indian astronomy.

Following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the east, Hellenistic influence on Indian art was far-ranging. In the area of architecture , a few examples of the Ionic order can be found as far as Pakistan with the Jandial temple near Taxila. Several examples of capitals displaying Ionic influences can be seen as far as Patna , especially with the Pataliputra capital , dated to the 3rd century BC. Alexander and his exploits were admired by many Romans, especially generals, who wanted to associate themselves with his achievements.

Pompey the Great adopted the epithet "Magnus" and even Alexander's anastole-type haircut, and searched the conquered lands of the east for Alexander's year-old cloak, which he then wore as a sign of greatness. On the other hand, some Roman writers, particularly Republican figures, used Alexander as a cautionary tale of how autocratic tendencies can be kept in check by republican values.

Legendary accounts surround the life of Alexander the Great, many deriving from his own lifetime, probably encouraged by Alexander himself. Writing shortly after Alexander's death, another participant, Onesicritus , invented a tryst between Alexander and Thalestris , queen of the mythical Amazons.

When Onesicritus read this passage to his patron, Alexander's general and later King Lysimachus reportedly quipped, "I wonder where I was at the time.


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In the first centuries after Alexander's death, probably in Alexandria, a quantity of the legendary material coalesced into a text known as the Alexander Romance , later falsely ascribed to Callisthenes and therefore known as Pseudo-Callisthenes. This text underwent numerous expansions and revisions throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages , [] containing many dubious stories, [] and was translated into numerous languages.

Alexander the Great's accomplishments and legacy have been depicted in many cultures. Alexander has figured in both high and popular culture beginning in his own era to the present day. The Alexander Romance , in particular, has had a significant impact on portrayals of Alexander in later cultures, from Persian to medieval European to modern Greek. Alexander features prominently in modern Greek folklore, more so than any other ancient figure. Any other answer would cause the mermaid to turn into a raging Gorgon who would drag the ship to the bottom of the sea, all hands aboard.

In pre-Islamic Middle Persian Zoroastrian literature, Alexander is referred to by the epithet gujastak , meaning "accursed", and is accused of destroying temples and burning the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. The Syriac version of the Alexander Romance portrays him as an ideal Christian world conqueror who prayed to "the one true God". According to Josephus , Alexander was shown the Book of Daniel when he entered Jerusalem, which described a mighty Greek king who would conquer the Persian Empire. This is cited as a reason for sparing Jerusalem.

In Hindi and Urdu , the name "Sikandar", derived from Persian, denotes a rising young talent. Apart from a few inscriptions and fragments, texts written by people who actually knew Alexander or who gathered information from men who served with Alexander were all lost. Their works are lost, but later works based on these original sources have survived. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the ancient king of Macedonia. For other uses, see Alexander the Great disambiguation. History of Macedonia ancient kingdom. Government of Macedonia ancient kingdom.

Battle of the Persian Gate. Indian campaign of Alexander the Great. Death of Alexander the Great. Tomb of Alexander the Great. Partition of Babylon and Diadochi. Personal relationships of Alexander the Great. List of cities founded by Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great in legend. Alexander the Great in historiography. Ancestors of Alexander the Great 8. Amyntas III of Macedon 2. Philip II of Macedon Eurydice I of Macedon 1. Alexander the Great This remarkable text probably tells less about India than about the literary tastes of Arrian's age.

This was done because the classical text on geography, the Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus , were written in that dialect and contained no reliable information on India. Another book by Arrian is the Events after Alexander. It is known from a summary by the Byzantine patriarch Photius , and breaks off rather abruptly. Maybe this work remained unfinished more It is a tribute to the quality of these works and their author, that modern scholarship usually follows Arrian, who personifies the "good" tradition, and adds details from the authors of the "vulgate" tradition.

Ptolemy was born in and was a youth friend of Alexander. He took part in the battle of Issus , joined the journey to the oracl e of Ammon , was present during the burning of Persepolis his mistress Thais played an important role; text , and had his first independent commands during the wars in Sogdia. He was never one of Alexander's main commanders, but remained one of his closest friends and bodyguards , a title that means something like adjutant. Ptolemy rose to prominence immediately after the death of Alexander: Alexander's mentally deficient brother Arridaeus was unable to prevent it, and his regent, general Perdiccas , came with an army to Egypt to discipline Ptolemy, but he was defeated.

A few months later, Ptolemy managed to obtain Alexander's dead body , which was interred in Mamphis and, later, in Alexandria. After this, he was recognized as an independent ruler, and had himself proclaimed king in Ptolemy wrote memoirs on Alexander's campaigns. They are almost entirely known from Arrian's Anabasis , but this is sufficient to come to some conclusions about their nature. In the first place, he uses Callisthenes ' Deeds of Alexander and a sequel, because he has the correct chronology of the events and knows the names of the appointees.

In the second place, Ptolemy sometimes exaggerates his own role. For example, he gave himself an important role in the battle near Issus. In the third place, the work was biased against Antigonus Monophthalmus , one of Ptolemy's rivals in the wars after the death of Alexander; Antigonus' successful campaigns in what is now Turkey, are completely ignored. In the fourth place, Ptolemy concentrated on the war; there are no indications that his memoirs contained digressions.

A unifying psychological concept, like Cleitarchus' idea that Alexander's success corrupted him or Aristobulus ' pothos -motif below , seems to have been absent: However, we can perhaps be a little bit more precise. There are indications that Ptolemy's memoirs were published before , because in that year, Antigonus was killed, which made Ptolemy's bias against his rival rather pointless. This argument, however, is not conclusive.

It is possible that Ptolemy started to write his memoirs in order to prove that he was worthy of the royal title he had assumed: Aristobulus was probably one of the friends of Alexander's father Philip and accompanied Alexander on his war in the East. Since he is never mentioned as a participant to the fights, it has been assumed that he was either a military engineer or a non-military official.

It is certain that Alexander ordered him to repair the tomb of Cyrus the Great , which had been neglected or intentionally desecrated text. Aristobulus may have lived in Alexandria, published his memoirs of the Persian campaign at the age of eighty-four, and died at Cassandria in Macedonia after Aristobulus' account of Alexander's conquests - a primary source - is best known from Arrian. It is also quoted by other authors, but there are indications that not all quotations are authentic. He may have been Alexander's greatest admirer, because when there are more than one versions of the same event, Aristobulus usually gives the kinder version.

And when a drunken Alexander killed Clitus, Aristobulus says that it was Clitus' own mistake. Ptolemy writes that Alexander ordered Callisthenes, who had criticized him in public, to be crucified, and Aristobulus says that the man died in prison. Pothos means "longing", and this was believed to be a good way to describe Alexander's inner drive. So, our sources mention that Alexander was longing to cross the Danube , untie the legendary knot at Gordium , found an Egyptian city, go to the oracle of Ammon, visit Nysa, capture Aornus , sail the Ocean, or see the Persian Gulf.

The word - or its Latin translation ingens cupido - became a standard description of Alexander, and perhaps one of the attractions of the idea was that pothos could also signify a desire to die: An author who had used this word, could leave Alexander's behavior during battles and sieges and his drinking habits unexplained. Like Achilles, Alexander had chosen to be famous and die young. He was a pupil of the the famous philosopher Diogenes of Sinope , who had had a famous conversation with Alexander in Corinth text. Onesicritus is not heard of during the first half of Alexander's campaign and makes his first appearance in our sources in , when he translated the conversation between Alexander and the Indian sages at Taxila.

During the voyage to the south, Onesicritus was the helmsman of Alexander's royal ship; when a large part of the Macedonian army had to be shipped back to Babylonia , he was also present. After his return, he published How Alexander was educated , a primary source that is now lost. It is certain, however, that in this book, he claimed to have been the commander of the fleet, which was not true and caused admiral Nearchus to write an account of his own.

In , he was recalled and brought reinforcements to Alexander, who was in Bactria. In India, Nearchus initially had some minor commands, but was made admiral of the Macedonian navy ; in this quality, he was responsible for the transport of the army to the Ocean and - later - for the shipping of troops to Babylonia. In , he married to a daughter of Alexander's Persian mistress Barsine. It seems to have consisted of two parts: It also contained some remarks about Onesicritus, who is portrayed as incompetent. An example can be found here. It is not exaggerated to say that, together with Augustine of Hippo and Aristotle of Stagira, Plutarch of Chaeronea c.

He may lack the the profundity of Augustine - the most influential philosopher in the early Middle Ages - and the acumen of Aristotle - considered the master of all intellectuals of the late Middle Ages -, but the sage of Chaeronea is an excellent writer and from the Renaissance to the present day, his moral treatises have found a larger audience than any other ancient philosopher.

In his own age, he was immensely popular because he was able to explain philosophical discussions to non-philosophical readers, Greek and Roman alike. The fact that he was priest in Delphi will no doubt have improved his popularity. His oeuvre consists of biographies and moral treatises, although his biographies are in fact moral treatises too: