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Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to the throne in 336 BC at the age of 20, and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy military campaign throughout Western Asia and Egypt. By the age of 30, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to northwestern India. He was undefeated in battle and is widely considered to be one of history's greatest and most successful military commanders.
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Antigonus I Monophthalmus was a Macedonian Greek general and successor of Alexander the Great. A prominent military leader in Alexander's army, he went on to control large parts of Alexander's former empire. He assumed the title of basileus (king) in 306 BC and reigned until his death. He was the founder of the Antigonid dynasty, which ruled over Macedonia until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 168 BC.
Callisthenes of Olynthus was a Greek historian in Macedon with connections to both Aristotle and Alexander the Great. He accompanied Alexander the Great during his Asiatic expedition and served as his historian and publicist. He later opposed Alexander’s adoption of Persian culture and was arrested after being implicated in a plot on the king's life; he died in prison. During his life he authored several works on Greek history and a biography of Alexander the Great.
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The Battle of the Granicus in May 334 BC was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great of Macedon and the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The battle took place on the road from Abydus to Dascylium, at the crossing of the Granicus in the Troad region, which is now called the Biga River in Turkey. In the battle Alexander defeated the field army of the Persian satraps of Asia Minor, which defended the river crossing. After this battle, the Persians were forced on the defensive in the cities that remained under their control in the region.
Archelaus I was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon from 413 to 399 BC. He was a capable and beneficent ruler, known for the sweeping changes he made in state administration, the military, and commerce. By the time that he died, Archelaus had succeeded in converting Macedon into a significantly stronger power. The Ancient Greek Thucydides credited Archelaus with doing more for his kingdom's military infrastructure than all of his predecessors together.
Hieronymus of Cardia was a Greek general and historian from Cardia in Thrace, and a contemporary of Alexander the Great.
Cleomenes II was king of Sparta from 370 to 309 BC. He was the second son of Cleombrotus I, and grandfather of Areus I, who succeeded him. Although he reigned for more than 60 years, his life is completely unknown, apart from a victory at the Pythian Games in 336 BC. Several theories have been suggested by modern historians to explain such inactivity, but none has gained consensus.
Cleopatra of Macedonia, or Cleopatra of Epirus was an ancient Macedonian princess and later queen regent of Epirus. The daughter of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias of Epirus, she was the only full sibling of Alexander the Great. Her other siblings include half sisters Thessalonike and Cynane, and half-brother Philip III of Macedon.
The Argyraspides were elite Macedonian soldiers who carried silver-plated shields, hence their name. The original unit were hypaspists serving in the army of Alexander the Great. During the Wars of the Diadochi, they initially served Eumenes, but betrayed him to Antigonus I Monophthalmus at the Battle of Gabiene in 316. After their dispersal under Antigonus, later units of the Seleucid Empire and Roman Empire would be modeled after them.
Somatophylakes were the bodyguards of high-ranking people in ancient Greece.
Aeropus II, son of Perdiccas II, was king of Macedonia from 398/7 until his death from illness in July or August of 394/3 BC. He first governed as guardian (epitropos) for his young nephew Orestes when Archelaus died in 400/399 BC. However, Diodorus reports that Aeropus murdered Orestes three years later, but it is also possible that he had simply won the support of the Macedonian nobility. Aeropus had a son named Pausanias, but was succeeded instead by Amyntas II, son of his great-uncle Menelaus.
The historical and literary tradition describes several of Alexander's relations, some of which are the subject of question among modern historians.
Pharnabazus III was a Persian satrap who fought against Alexander the Great. His father was Artabazus II, and his mother a Greek from Rhodes.
There are numerous surviving ancient Greek and Latin sources on Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, as well as some Asian texts. The five main surviving accounts are by Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, and Justin. In addition to these five main sources, there is the Metz Epitome, an anonymous late Latin work that narrates Alexander's campaigns from Hyrcania to India. Much is also recounted incidentally by other authors, including Strabo, Athenaeus, Polyaenus, Aelian, and others. Strabo, who gives a summary of Callisthenes, is an important source for Alexander's journey to Siwah.
The Histories of Alexander the Great is the only surviving extant Latin biography of Alexander the Great. It was written by the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus in the 1st-century AD, but the earliest surviving manuscript comes from the 9th century.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Lionel I. C. Pearson (1955), "The Diary and the Letters of Alexander the Great", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte3(4): 429–455, at 443–450. JSTOR 4434421
- ↑ J. R. Hamilton (1961), "The Letters in Plutarch's Alexander", Proceedings of the African Classical Associations4: 9–20.
- 1 2 Elizabeth Carney (2006), Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great (Routledge), pp. 3, 131.
- ↑ Krzysztof Nawotka (2017), The Alexander Romance by Ps.-Callisthenes: A Historical Commentary (Brill), pp. 7–9.
- ↑ Faustina Doufikar-Aerts (2010), "A Letter in Bits and Pieces: The Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem Arabica. A First Edition with Translation Based on Four 16th–18th-century Manuscripts", in R. Kerr and T. Milo (eds.), Writings and Writing from Another World and Another Era in Honour of J. J. Witkam (Archetype), p. 91.