356-323 B.C.E.
King Of Macedon

Man and Legend. As the supremacy of the Greek polis gave way to that of Macedon, the center of political power shifted from the agora (marketplace) to the royal court of a single man. The accomplishment of Alexander the Great was to transform his father's dominance over Greece into an empire over the entire oikoumene, or "inhabited world." The breathtaking speed with which he used his own courage and tactical brilliance to conquer the Persian Empire have made his life almost a legend. Later philosophers and essayists like to ascribe to him a visionary ideal of a world united in language and culture. Of these things no one will ever know with great certainty.

A Promising Youth. Alexander III was born in 356 B.C.E., the son of Philip II and Olympias, who was the daughter of King...