The life story of Alexander the Great Part III
After the death of Dara, and the elimination of all competitors to the throne of Persia, Alexander took the title of «Shahanshah», meaning «King of Kings», and quoted many of the customs and traditions of the Persian, whether relating to clothing, food or protocol, and ordered to apply in his court, perhaps the most prominent was Kissing the hands of the highest standing and prostrating to him, a custom the Persians followed with the Shah in particular, and since he became the holder of this title, he ordered his men to follow this habit with him. The Greeks considered that this salutation was only permissible for the gods, and that Alexander exalted himself to the point of worship when he demanded its application, and many rejected it, renouncing their leader and boycotting him, forcing him to abandon it eventually. Alexander discovered a plot to assassinate him, one of his commanders, Philot Ben Parmenion, who did not hesitate to execute him, due to the arrival of several reports about him in the past talking about his intention to kill Alexander, was the discovery of the latter plan was the straw that broke the camel's back. Philot was tried by a committee of senior officers, tortured to reveal the names of his assistants, then stoned to death, and some sources state that he was stabbed with a spear. Philot's execution led to the necessity of the execution of his father Parmenion, who was commissioned by Alexander the Order of Hamedan, in order not to revolt and revenge, and sent him to kill him quickly. One of the most notable events during this period, which shed the eye of Alexander, was the murder of the man who saved his life during the Battle of the Granicus River in Asia Minor, the Black Clitus, during a quarrel between them in Samarkand, when both of them were drunk. Alexander from his drunkenness, halo his hands and felt great remorse. Later, as he traveled and conquered new cities in Central Asia, Alexander discovered a new plot to assassinate him, this time put him by his servants, and his own historian, Calisthenis of Oleanthosi, was found to have been involved in the plot, but modern historians have not been unanimous. It comes after. It is noteworthy that this Callistence had lost his favor with Alexander, when he became the head of the opposition aimed at preventing the practice of kissing the hands and prostration of the king.
Alexander had entrusted Antipater, one of his experienced commanders and seasoned politicians, to Macedonia, before leaving for Asia. All the cities of Greece remained calm throughout Alexander's absence, and there was no revolt, for fear of being devastated. Only Sparta was an exception. In 331 BC, its king Agis III called on his men and his people to rise up against Macedonia and liberate it from its colonization.The consequence of his revolution was that he defeated Antipater and killed him during a battle in Megaloupoli the following year. The latter sent Alexander to Asia to tell him about the Spartan revolution and whether he wanted to punish them. There was also some sensitivity between Antipater and Olimpias, Alexander's mother. All in all, it was argued that the Greeks, including Greece and Macedonia, enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity during the absence of Alexander, especially since he was sent large sums of money collected in his conquests, which stimulated its economy to grow, and increased the proportion of commercial activity throughout the empire . Nevertheless, the country was running out of men, because of Alexander's constant need for soldiers, and he ordered him to send more of them, whether to enlist them in the army or to settle in the cities he founded and aim to make them typical Hellenistic cities of mixed races. The increasing emigration of men weakened the military capability of Macedonia in the years following Alexander's death, causing a grab in the hands of the Romans.
After the death of Spantamensh, Alexander married a Bakhtiyar princess named Rukhsana to strengthen relations with his new provincial rulers, then turned his sights to the Indian subcontinent to open them. He sent tribal leaders in the province of Kandahar (Kandahar), presently in northern Pakistan, ordering him to confess before him. On their country. The owner of Tksila, Umfis, whose kingdom stretched from the Indus to the Jhelum, responded to Alexander's order, but the elders of some hill tribes, from the Kampuja clan in particular, categorically refused. What was from Alexander, but to carry on those tribes in the winter of 327/326 BC, and went to fight each of them in the backyard of her home: the valley of Canar, the valley of Bengkra, and the valley of Swat and Bonaire. The battles of Alexander with these tribes were very fiercely.When the Aspasias fell, he was defeated only after he had a dart in his shoulder.When he went to confront the Asakinis, he found that they had barricaded themselves in a few locations, in Massaba, Ora and Ornos, and he was forced to break the siege. After a few days of fierce fighting, during which Alexander was severely wounded in his ankle, the Macedonians were able to break into Masaba's fortress and destroy it. The Roman historian Quentes Cortius Rufus says: "Alexander not only slaughtered the entire mass of Massaba, but destroyed all her buildings and made them scattered dust." Warriors holed up in Aura were subjected to a massacre similar to that of their brothers in Masaba, and when the news reached the remaining Asakina, many fled to the fortress of Ornos, but it did not help them. Its importance in protecting transport routes, and after four bloody days, this site fell into his hand.
After the victory in Ornos, Alexander marched his army and crossed the Indus to face Raja Pur, the master of the kingdom of Gorapha, now in the Punjab province, in an epic battle - called the Battle of the Haidasps - during which the land was bloodied in 326 BC. This battle was the most cruel battles of Alexander at all, he lost a lot of soldiers, and resisted the Indian Raja with his strength, and defended his country defense of the heroes against the progress of the Macedonian conqueror, but Alexander's military experience had the final say in determining the victor, and his commanders and soldiers The veterans could not easily be defeated, and they were able to defeat the Indian army. Alexander was impressed by the courage and bravery of Raja Poor, and his valor in defending his land, took him an ally, and kept him as ruler over the territory that formed his kingdom, and added to it other sections that were not belonging to him, and thus within his control of this region far more distant from Greece, if he had established it As a foreign ruler, he could not have easily returned it to his possession if it had revolutionized it. Alexander established two opposite cities on the banks of the Jhelum River, one named Boussevla after his horse, who died nearly this time, and the other, Nicea, or Victory, which is now near the town of Mong in Pakistan.
The Mandaean Empire of Nanda was located east of the Raja Poor, near the Geng River, and the Bengali Empire fell east of the latter. Long war and nomads, they proclaimed disobedience near the Bias River in northern India, and refused to advance eastward. This river became the most eastern extension in the language conquered by Alexander.
In his writings, Plutarch says:
“As for the Macedonians, the confrontation with Poor weakened them, reduced their courage, their resolve and their desire to advance eastward into India. After giving their breath and preciousness in response to an enemy crowd of twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horsemen, they opposed Alexander and stubbornly stood up to him when he decided to cross the River Peng, which was allegedly up to 32 furlongs, deep to a hundred tall, and having learned what awaited them on the West Bank The interview was from hordes of heavily armed men, with horses and elephants, who were told that Indian kings had assembled eighty thousand cavalry, two hundred thousand infantry, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand elephants, in preparation for their slaughter.
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Alexander tried to persuade his soldiers to advance eastward for a short time yet, but he did not succeed.One of his commanders, Quinus, intervened and begged him to change his mind and go back.``The men yearned to see their fathers and mothers, their wives and children, their land and their homelands, '' he said. Alexander was convinced by his words, and told his soldiers to prepare to return to their country. The army marched along the Indus River, and on their way conquered the lands of the Mull tribe, now in the city of Multan, and other lands of some other Indian tribes. Alexander sent the bulk of his army to the Kerman region of southern Persia, led by his friend Kraters, and commissioned Nierjhos to lead a fleet to explore and survey the shores of the Persian Gulf.He continued his march with the rest of the soldiers to Babylon, choosing the shortest, though most difficult, route, the Medea desert stretching across Baluchistan and Mekran, southern Pakistan and Iran today. Alexander arrived in the city of Sousse in 324 BC, and had lost many of the men by the desert heat.
After arriving in Sousse, Alexander discovered that many of the provincial governors he appointed had misbehaved in his absence, and he executed most of them to serve as a lesson to others. He also paid the salaries owed to his soldiers, as a gesture of thanks and gratitude for their sacrifices, and announced that he would send veterans and physically disabled people to Macedonia, led by Kraters. The soldiers, however, misunderstood their leader's intent, declaring disobedience in the town of Avis, and refusing to return to their homeland in the belief that Alexander intended to replace them with Persian troops, or merge Persian units with Macedonian units. After three days during which Alexander was unable to persuade his men to reverse their decision, he appointed several Persian officers in his army, and granted Macedonian military titles to a number of Persian units, and the Macedonians died at his feet hoping that he would reverse his decision and ask him to allow. Alexander forgave all his soldiers who rebelled against him, and hosted a sumptuous banquet in which thousands attended. In an attempt to heal the rift between the Macedonians and the Persians, and unite their ranks and hearts, his senior officers ordered that they marry Persian princesses and held a mass wedding in Sousse, but it appears that few of these marriages lasted more than a year. Alexander left Sousse after he had arranged for him and went to Hamadan, and as soon as he found out that the guards assigned to protect the tomb of Shah Cyrus the Great had desecrated him, and quickly executed them.
After Alexander's arrival in Hamadan, Hephaestion, his closest friend and possibly his lover, was also seriously ill, not long until he died, and one of them is said to have poisoned him. The death of Hephaestion had a devastating effect on Alexander.He was deeply saddened, ordered the preparation of a large crematorium in Babylon until his body was burned, and issued a decree of public mourning. After arriving in Babylon, Alexander embarked on a series of new campaigns at the outset of the conquest of Arabia, but he did not write any of them. He died shortly afterwards.
Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, on the tenth or eleventh of June in 323 BC, and is thirty-two years old. Historians differed slightly in determining the causes of death.Glutarch said that about 14 days before Alexander's death, he had received Nirajos and spent the night staring together and drinking wine with Medius Larissi, until dawn. After that he developed a strong fever, which continued to worsen until he became unable to speak, and feared and worried about his soldiers, they were given the ear to queue in front of him to greet him, has peace be upon them by reference. Diodorus says that Alexander suffered severe pain after drinking a pure wine bowl in honor of Hercules, and then died after being severely tormented by the pain. Other historians have cited this incident as a possible alternative explanation for Alexander's death, and Plutarch has completely denied it. But Plutarch rejected it and said it was an unfounded fabrication, while Diodorus and Arian said they only mentioned it for the sequel of interest. The available evidence suggests that if poisoning was the cause of Alexander's death, the main suspect was Antipater, whom Alexander entrusted to Macedonia during his absence, and then returned, removed and summoned him to Babylon. He instructed his son, Eulas, who had worked as a waterer for Alexander, to poison him in wine or water. Some researchers have suggested Aristotle's own involvement in the case. Some researchers have responded to this poisoning theory that the twelve-day period passed between Alexander's illness and death, a period that is too long for any poison of the species that was then known to take its full effect, slow-acting toxins were probably not yet known. According to a recent theory that came into existence in 2010, the symptoms of Alexander's disease mentioned in the old documents correspond to the symptoms of black water poisoning of the Styx River, which contains the high-risk compound kalekmecin, which is caused by one of the deadly bacteria. Refer to one of the chronic natural diseases that Alexander is likely to develop during his travels, and one that has been nominated to be behind Alexander's premature death: malaria and typhoid fever. According to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine from 1998, Alexander's death was the result of typhoid fever, which caused several complications, culminating in gastrointestinal perforation and then ascending paralysis. Another recent research suggests that meningitis is the killer. Other diseases whose symptoms match those of Alexander are: acute pancreatitis and West Nile virus. Theories of natural causes of death tend to emphasize that Alexander's health was probably in a gradual decline, since he left Macedonia and embarked on his expeditions to the far reaches of the known world. Through severe wounds, and finally his heavy drinking has had a great impact on weakening his body over the years. Also, the anguish and grief Alexander felt after Hephaestion's death may have played a major role in the decline of his health. One of the main reasons is also that Alexander overdoses of drugs made from hellebore, a killer if consumed large quantities.
Alexander's body was placed in a golden sarcophagus made in human form, which in turn was placed in a gold naos. According to some texts, a fortune-teller named Aristander foretold that the country where Alexander would be buried "would know happiness throughout its days and no one would be able to conquer it." It is possible that each successor of Alexander's successors considered the acquisition of the body of their late king an act that would legitimize his own succession, especially since the burial of the current king of the former king was a definite proof of his right to the throne. During the funeral procession of Alexander from Babylon to Macedonia, Ptolemy was subjected to them and cut off the road, and turned the march to Memphis, the capital of Egypt, where the body was mummified and buried, and then his successor Ptolemy II moved the coffin to Alexandria, where he remained until before the beginning of the Middle Ages. Ptolemy IX, one of the late successors of Ptolemy I, moved the mummy of Alexander from the golden sarcophagus to another coffin made of glass, so that he could dissolve the first and mint the coins of his liquid. Roman leaders Pompey, Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar visited the tomb of Alexander, and the latter is said to have accidentally uprooted the nose. This age. It was also said that the Roman Emperor Calipula pulled out the pectoral plate from the mummy and kept it for himself. Emperor Septimius Severus closed the tomb of Alexander to the public in 200 AD, and his son Caracla, a great fan of Alexander, visited his tomb during his reign. After the reign of this era, the signs and texts that speak of the shrine are gradually diminishing until it is over until scarcity, so that its location and destiny are among the historical things that are currently shrouded in fog.
In 1887, the Ottoman scholar and scholar Osman Hamdi Bey discovered a coffin near the city of Sidon in Lebanon showing the inscriptions of Alexander fighting the Persians in some of them and hunting animals in others. It contained the remains of the Macedonian leader. The sarcophagus was originally believed to have contained the remains of Abdounimus, king of Sidon, who was appointed by Alexander after the battle of Issus.
Alexander's death was so surprising that when the news arrived in Greece with the news, many people did not believe it and claimed it was an unfounded rumor. At the time of his death Alexander had not yet succeeded an heir to the throne of the empire, but his son from Rakhsana, Alexander IV, was born months after his death. Diodorus says that the companions of Alexander asked him on his deathbed to which men left his vast empire, and he answered them briefly "to the strongest." Arian and Glutarch consider this story to be fabricated, as Alexander had lost all the ability to speak at this stage. Other historians have presented a more credible story, albeit ostensibly, saying that Alexander gave his ring to Perdicas, one of his bodyguards and his cavalry commander, in the presence of a witness, thus nominating him to succeed him.
Perdicas proposed that Alexander's son, when naturally male, take office, and that he, Caraters, Leonatus, and Antipater play the role of guardians until then. However, infantry soldiers, led by an officer, Miliapros, rejected the arrangement on the grounds that they had not been consulted in the first place, and nominated Felipe Arredaeus, Alexander's half brother, to the throne of the empire. Eventually the two sides reached a satisfactory compromise after the birth of Alexander IV, and they made him and Philip reigns, albeit only nominally, soon after the Macedonian rift broke out, and there was a rift and rivalry among the senior officers, whose greed leaked and wished. All of them are judged. Virdikas divided the territory of the empire and distributed blood to them, and each of these territories became a base used by each leader to expand and proceed towards the territory of his opponent. After the assassination of Perdicas in 321 BC, Macedonian unity collapsed completely, and the brothers of yesterday fought among them for 40 years, and the war did not end until the division of the Hellenistic world founded by Alexander into four sections: the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt and its neighbors, the Seleucid Empire in the East, and the Kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor and the Kingdom of Macedonia. Alexander IV and Philip Arredaeus were assassinated.
Deodorus says that Alexander had given Kraters detailed written instructions and recommended certain things before his death. Kraters proceeded with the full will of Alexander, but the successors of the latter stopped him alone and chose not to do more than he had done until then, arguing that what remained of the demands was impractical, reckless and extravagant. However, Kraters read Alexander's will to the soldiers,
To discover that it invites them to expand in the territory of the south and west of the Mediterranean basin, and to build great monuments, and mingling with the peoples of the East, as detailed in detail:
Construction of a memorial shrine for his father and former king Philip II, “comparable to the greatness of the pyramids of Egypt”.
Construction of large structures in Delos Island, Madain Delphi, Dodona, Dion, Amphipolis, and a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena in Troy. From Asia to Europe and vice versa, in order to unite the two continents, and the composition of the hearts of peoples through intermarriage and the establishment of family ties ».
Historians agree that Alexander deserved the title of "elder" or "great" well-deserved, because of his unparalleled military success, he has never lost a battle, although most of the armies that fought outnumbered his army and many, due to the good exploitation of the land of expectations, For his training of infantry and cavalry corps to use brilliant tactics, for his bold strategies ahead, and for the blind loyalty of his soldiers. Alexander armed his legions with long spears up to 6 meters (20 feet), and these legions had been trained to fight rigorously from the days of Philip II, until it reached the highest degree of military perfection of its era, was fast movement and maneuverability on the battlefield is large, has been exploited Alexander these things to surpass the larger and more varied Persian forces of his homogeneous battalions. Alexander also realized the possibility of a rift in his army because of his ethnic and linguistic diversity and his different weapons, and he humiliated this problem by personally engaging in battles, as a Macedonian king.
When Alexander fought his first battles in Asia, the Battle of the Granikos, he used a small section of his army, consisting of 13,000 infantry and probably 5,000 horsemen, with 40,000 Persian troops. Alexander made the legion of spears stationed in the middle, placing archers and cavalry on the wings, so that the length of his army line was equal to that of the Persians, about 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) long. The Persians had their infantry stationed behind the horses, which ensured that Alexander could not circumvent him. Of stabbing them with their swords and short spears. The Macedonian casualties in this battle were insignificant compared to the Persians' losses, all thanks to Alexander's military genius.
Alexander resorted to the same method of deployment of soldiers when he fought the first battle with Dara III in 333 BC, the battle of Asus, and put the Legion of spears in the middle, and were able to breach the ranks of the Persians again. Alexander himself took command of the attack in the middle and directed the enemy army in his favor. In the decisive position with the Persians at Gopmela, Dara equipped his chariots with machetes on her wheels so that he could break through the spears and provided his pedestrians with long spears similar to the Macedonians' spears. When the vehicles are heading towards them, then they line up again at the end of the attack and continue their progress. This tactic was very successful, breaking the center of the Persian army, and forcing the Shah and his soldiers to withdraw. Bakhtia and Sogdia, he used his throwers from crossbows and a light spear campaign to prevent enemies from wrapping around them, while rallying his imagination at the center. When he confronted the elephant corps in India during his battle with Raja Poor, he made his soldiers open gaps in their ranks until the elephants entered, and then closed them and stabbed the villagers with their long spears and dropped them from the back of their animals.
The Greek historian Plutarch (c. 45–120 AD) described the external body of Alexander as follows:
«1 The best person who took out Alexander 's body was Lesbos in his statues, and this was the only sculptor that Alexander entrusted to make statues of his incarnation, due to the accuracy of his work. 2 As for the detailed specifications that many of his successors and companions after him tried to imitate, namely: the shape of his neck, which was slightly inclined to the left, and the brightness of his eyes, this artist has perfected the most elaborate. 3 As for Avilis, whom he painted with a Zeus lightning bolt, he erred in the color of his skin, making it very dark, while they say he was white, and that his whiteness gradually turned red on his chest and face. 4 In addition, the smell of his body and mouth smelled so bright that his clothing was filled with, and this is what we read in the memories of Aristotelian.
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The historian Arian (Lucius Flavius Arianus «Zenfon», between 86 and 160 AD) described Alexander:
«That strong leader, handsome and strong, with bright eyes, one black as the night and the other blue as the day sky.
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Alexander's Romantic Myths suggest that the latter suffered from iris variation, a situation in which one was born with a different color for each eye, and in the case of Alexander, one of his eyes was dark black and the other blue.
The British historian Peter Green described Alexander the Great's external body based on the sculptures that he represented and what was said in ancient manuscripts.
“Alexander was not an attractive man in terms of appearance. He was extremely short, even for the Macedonian standard, and stocky. He had a beard with a beard, and made himself distinct from his commanders through her entire shaving. His neck was so twisted that he seemed to look up a little. His eyes (one blue, the other brown) revealed female dewy traits. He was also characterized by his sharp temper and loud voice.
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According to ancient historians and writers, Alexander was so impressed with the sculptures and drawings he had made for him that he prevented the other sculptors and painters from depicting him.
The latter often used the position of incompatibility when portraying Alexander and other characters, such as the skimmer, Hermes, and Eros. One of the reasons why this man's sculptures are described as the most accurate is that they do not appear to be rigid and lifeless.
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