Alexander+the+Great

Alexander III of Macedon was born in 356 B.C.E to Philip II and Olympias of Macedon. In 340 B.C.E, he was given command of the Macedon army when his father went to wage war against Byzantium. During that time, he put down a rebellion in the north, and crushed any resistance. Alexander was also tutored by many tutors from a young age, one of the most famous being Aristotle.

After his father, Philip II was assassinated at his daughter's wedding in 336 B.C.E, Alexander took the throne as the legitimate heir. First, Alexander conquered the remaining Greek cities, and put down barbarian revolts in the north, then moved to conquer Asia and Egypt, where he was welcomed with open arms. Alexandria was constructed in his name, and he was made pharaoh of Egypt. The Persians, however, were not as welcoming, but after Darius III fled the battles of Granicus and Issus, Alexander charged to take the cities among the coast, and eventually overturned with Persian empire in his hast to track down Darius III. However, when he found his royal coach, the King had been assassinated by his own men.

Alexander continued on, eventually turning back to Babylon after a harsh war in Bactria, and by the pleas of his men, Alexander got sick and died in Babylon. After his death, the empire he had conquered was split and given to his five generals.

__**Affects in the Arts**__

After Alexander conquered a large expanse of the Middle East, ending in the complicated insurgency in Bactria, Alexander linked people between three previously separate kingdoms, creating the Hellenistic culture. Because the Greeks (and Macedonians), Egyptians, and Persians were linked in trade and under one empire, the cultures each contributed their own techniques, while retaining their own styles. The result was an art period that focused on the emotional, mythological events, and also everyday occurances. A Roman mosaic depicting Alexander's victory at the battle of Issus, and an example of Hellenistic 'painting'. //Laocoön and his sons//, is a common example of Hellenistic culture.