Top 20 Alexander the Great Facts
The facts about history's most famous Alexander are great! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down the most important, astonishing, mysterious, and fascinating facts about one of the most important figures in world history.
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00:00 "And Alexander creates his own legend as he goes, that I play by my own rules."
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most important,
00:10 astonishing, mysterious and fascinating facts about one of the most important figures in world history,
00:16 Alexander the Great.
00:17 "The legacy of Alexander the Great is still with us,
00:21 because not only did he conquer the whole of the then known world, he founded a new world."
00:28 Number 20. His origins have sparked competing claims.
00:32 Alexander the Great was famously Macedonian.
00:35 Macedonia was an ancient kingdom located in the northern region of present-day Greece,
00:39 and it was characterized by its Hellenic culture, language and traditions.
00:43 "Macedonia was an isolated backwater situated to the north of Mount Olympus,
00:48 and although they worshipped the same gods as other Greeks and took part in the Olympic Games,
00:53 Macedonians had their own dialect and customs."
00:56 In contrast, today's North Macedonia, which gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991,
01:02 has a distinct Slavic heritage, reflecting a blend of cultural influences due to its location in the Balkans.
01:08 The debate over Alexander's legacy arises from these cultural differences.
01:12 Greece's Macedonia claims continuity with the ancient kingdom's Hellenic culture,
01:16 while North Macedonia seeks to assert its connection to the historical region through geographical,
01:21 and to some extent, historical ties.
01:24 This has led to complex discussions about identity, heritage and the right to claim a shared past.
01:30 "They're trying to inherit all of Macedonia and Alexander the Great."
01:33 Number 19. He had heterochromia iridum.
01:37 Alexander's appearance is best represented by statues and coins,
01:41 but neither of those accurately portrays his most distinguishing feature, his different-colored eyes.
01:46 The condition, known as heterochromia iridum or iridis,
01:50 affects approximately 6 out of 1,000 people.
01:53 "Most of the causes of heterochromia are just genetics.
01:56 It can also be acquired later on in life.
01:58 If you acquire heterochromia, it could be due to trauma to the eye,
02:02 medications that you may have taken, or some disease."
02:05 Alexander had complete heterochromia, where one iris is a completely different color from the other.
02:10 Arrian, a famous Greek historian, wrote,
02:13 "He had one eye dark as the night and one blue as the sky."
02:18 This was echoed by British historian Peter Green,
02:21 who reviewed several ancient documents and determined that one of his eyes was blue and the other was brown.
02:27 Number 18. He was Aristotle's student.
02:30 Whether you study classical history or not, most people are familiar with the name Aristotle.
02:35 One of history's greatest philosophers, Aristotle wrote on many subjects
02:39 and is considered by some to be the first genuine scientist in history.
02:43 "He taught Alexander everything about Greek culture, drama, geography, sciences,
02:50 as well as literature and philosophy."
02:53 He also spent three years tutoring Alexander.
02:56 Aristotle was hired by Alexander's father Philip,
02:59 who agreed to rebuild the teacher's hometown of Stygida as payment.
03:03 It's believed that Alexander developed his passion for the works of Homer while studying under Aristotle.
03:08 The philosopher even gave the great conqueror an annotated copy of the Iliad,
03:12 which Alexander took on his campaigns.
03:15 Number 17. He had numerous important influences.
03:19 In addition to Aristotle, the remarkable achievements of Alexander
03:22 were shaped by various mentors and prominent figures he admired.
03:26 His father, King Philip II of Macedon, didn't just hire a tutor.
03:29 He provided Alexander with a strong foundation in military and political leadership.
03:34 "It was his father who was Alexander's most important tutor,
03:37 giving him the opportunity to experience state business and taking him on campaign."
03:42 Alexander's admiration for the Homeric hero Achilles influenced his desire for glory and immortality,
03:49 driving him to undertake epic conquests.
03:51 "Alexander identified strongly with this warrior adventurer.
03:56 Achilles chose a short glorious life and eternal fame over a long peaceful life and obscurity.
04:05 Throughout his own short glorious life, Alexander would seek to emulate him."
04:10 Importantly, he was also inspired by Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire,
04:15 whose model of leadership and governance Alexander sought to emulate in his own empire.
04:19 These influences combined to create a leader who was not only a military genius,
04:24 but also a patron of the arts and sciences,
04:27 leaving a legacy that would shape cultures and civilizations long after his death.
04:32 Number 16. He may have been involved in a plot to kill his father.
04:37 Philip and Alexander had a strong relationship when he was a child,
04:40 but that slowly deteriorated over time.
04:43 It didn't help when Philip decided to marry Cleopatra Eurydice,
04:46 putting Alexander's right to the throne in jeopardy.
04:49 Mysteriously, however, Philip was assassinated at a wedding banquet in 336 BCE by his own bodyguards.
04:56 With the throne open, Alexander was proclaimed king at just 20 years old
05:01 and immediately had all potential rivals removed, including his own cousin.
05:06 Although there is no proof, many people believe that either Alexander
05:10 and/or his mother Olympias were involved in Philip's murder.
05:13 Number 15. His sexuality reflected his time period.
05:32 Alexander's relationship with Hephaestion, his closest friend and companion,
05:37 is one of the most discussed aspects of his personal life.
05:40 Ancient sources, such as those by Plutarch and Arian,
05:43 depict their relationship as one of unparalleled closeness,
05:47 often comparing them to Achilles and Patroclus, another pair famous for their bond.
05:51 While explicit evidence of bisexuality is limited by the historical context
06:08 and the nature of ancient sources,
06:10 Alexander's life reflects the broader sexual norms of his time,
06:14 where relationships between men were not uncommon
06:16 and could coexist with heterosexual relationships.
06:19 The speculation about Alexander's bisexuality,
06:22 including his relationship with Hephaestion,
06:24 underscores the complexity of historical figures' personal lives
06:27 and the way modern perspectives interpret ancient behaviors and social norms.
06:36 Number 14. His royal steed was also noteworthy.
06:40 No legendary commander is complete without a noble steed upon which to ride into battle.
06:45 According to Plutarch, Alexander won the horse when he was about 12 years old
06:49 by making a wager with his father Philip,
06:51 who agreed to purchase the animal if Alexander could tame it.
06:55 The horse, called Bucephalus, was a mighty steed who possessed a mighty temper.
07:00 Alexander, realizing that the horse simply feared his own shadow,
07:03 lured the horse towards the sun and successfully calmed the animal.
07:07 Bucephalus served Alexander in multiple battles
07:10 before eventually dying during the Battle of Hadaspus in June 326 BCE.
07:32 Number 13. He was a proponent of cultural open-mindedness.
07:36 Cyrus' influence on Alexander was extensive,
07:39 particularly in terms of valuing cultural toleration.
07:43 This was revolutionary for his time.
07:45 Alexander actively encouraged the spread of Greek culture,
07:49 while also adopting or tolerating local customs and practices.
07:59 Acceptance of religions and traditions was a key factor in his successful conquest
08:03 and subsequent governance.
08:05 By showing reverence to local deities and participating in traditional ceremonies,
08:09 he won the hearts and minds of his new subjects.
08:12 His respect for local traditions helped to legitimize his rule
08:15 and integrate the diverse populations of his empire.
08:18 He is doing this for the same reason as other canny conquerors
08:22 have behaved in similar ways in other periods.
08:25 He realized that he could not hope to hold down his conquests by force alone.
08:32 His army was really quite a small one.
08:34 It also demonstrated Alexander's understanding that military conquest alone
08:39 was not enough to maintain control over such a vast and culturally diverse empire.
08:43 Number 12. He was revered as a demigod.
08:47 During his campaign in Egypt,
08:49 Alexander visited the Oracle of Amun at Siwa Oasis,
08:53 where, according to legend,
08:54 the Oracle confirmed him as the son of Zeus Amun,
08:57 a syncretism of the Greek god Zeus and the Egyptian god Amun.
09:01 This divine affiliation not only elevated Alexander's status
09:04 among his followers and subjects,
09:06 but also strategically bolstered his claim to rule over Egypt
09:10 and the vast territories he aimed to conquer.
09:12 "There are no witnesses, only the word of Alexander himself.
09:16 But as Alexander heads back through the desert to rejoin his army,
09:22 his belief in his own invincibility is heightened."
09:26 By adopting the identity of a demigod,
09:28 Alexander leveraged religious and cultural symbols to unify his diverse empire,
09:32 intertwining his military conquests with a narrative of divine destiny
09:36 and supernatural favor,
09:38 further enhancing his legacy as a ruler chosen by the gods.
09:41 "You have, for the first time, a clear concept of a man-god.
09:46 And so at the same time as we have this marvelous romance of Alexander
09:54 filling the mentality of the time,
09:58 we have the Gospels being written about Jesus,
10:00 and the similarities are striking."
10:03 Number 11.
10:03 He was a chip off the old block
10:05 Even though he may have tried to kill his dad,
10:09 Philip II of Macedon, reigning from 359 to 336 BCE,
10:14 was hugely influential in Alexander's success.
10:16 He was a transformative military strategist
10:19 whose innovations laid the groundwork for his son's future conquests.
10:22 Philip reorganized the Macedonian army and introduced the Sarissa Armed Phalanx,
10:27 a formation that utilized long spears
10:29 to create a nearly impenetrable wall of defense and offense.
10:33 "He made sure that they had consistent armor and weapons.
10:37 He made sure they trained regularly.
10:40 He made sure they had loyalty to him and no other."
10:43 This innovation proved instrumental in Philip's victories over various Greek city-states,
10:48 including the significant defeat of the Athenians and Thebans
10:51 at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE,
10:54 effectively bringing Greece under Macedonian hegemony.
10:58 Philip's strategies, infrastructure, and the professional standing army he developed
11:02 made him an architect of the Macedonian Empire's greatness.
11:05 "Alexander owed a great debt to his father,
11:08 for Philip had trained his young recruits to march with speed and fight with skill.
11:13 He created a year-round professional army without equal."
11:17 Number 10. He was a master tactician.
11:21 The Siege of Tyre in 332 BCE showcased Alexander's tactical brilliance
11:25 and innovative military strategy.
11:27 Faced with the challenge of capturing an island city fortified by massive walls,
11:32 Alexander decided to build a causeway to connect the mainland to the island.
11:36 This monumental engineering feat involved moving vast quantities of rubble and debris
11:41 from the old mainland city and nearby areas into the sea.
11:44 Despite facing fierce resistance from the Tyrians,
11:47 who used ships to attack the workers and launched fire ships to burn the wooden structures,
11:52 Alexander's forces countered by constructing two towers
11:55 equipped with artillery to protect the workers and the bridge.
11:58 "Tyre paid a heavy price for their defiance.
12:01 Thousands of its people were killed when the city fell.
12:03 Thirty thousand were sold into slavery and two thousand were crucified."
12:10 His persistence and ingenuity in overcoming the natural and human-made defenses of Tyre
12:16 demonstrated his mastery of siege warfare.
12:19 "His unrelenting, successful siege of Tyre sent a message
12:23 to every other city in the path of his future conquests."
12:30 "What Alexander proves is that if he believes something is strategically necessary,
12:35 he will stay at it and fight for as long as it takes in order to attain that goal."
12:39 Alexander faced the Persian king Darius III in three famous battles
12:48 and boldly refused truce terms in his audacious letters to Darius.
12:52 The last of the three battles resulted in the fall of the Persian Empire.
12:56 In the Battle of Gaugemela, also known as the Battle of Arbella,
13:00 the Macedonian army was outnumbered by the Persians,
13:02 but they succeeded due to their phalanx formation,
13:05 which they perfected under Alexander's leadership.
13:08 This formation involved a tight grouping of soldiers carrying shields and spears,
13:12 making it difficult to penetrate.
13:14 "Because of the length of the pike, the points of the first five rows of spears
13:20 all stuck out of the front of the phalanx.
13:24 And when they charged, the other side had to get beyond 15 feet of points
13:29 before they could actually reach the first person in the phalanx."
13:32 The defeat of the Persians exposed some of Alexander's vices,
13:35 including his alcohol use.
13:37 A heavy drinker, he got so drunk that he burned Persepolis,
13:41 though whether it was by accident or on purpose is not known.
13:45 "But in the cold light of day, as the ashes settled on Persepolis,
13:48 perhaps Alexander started to regret his slightly euphoric decision."
13:53 Number 8. He Never Lost a Battle
13:55 The winning started early.
13:57 Alexander won his first military victory at just 18 years old,
14:01 and the wins just kept on coming.
14:03 He took on the Persian Empire at just 22 years old
14:06 and defeated them in three major battles,
14:08 resulting in their destruction less than three years later.
14:12 Eventually, Alexander moved into India and defeated King Porus
14:15 in an epic battle in 326 BCE.
14:18 "With his army having dissolved into a panic-stricken mob,
14:21 fought on until Alexander persuaded him to surrender.
14:24 Not for the first time, Alexander accepted a defeated enemy as an ally.
14:31 He even added to Porus's territory."
14:34 As mentioned, he even conquered the coastal base of Tyre
14:37 by building a causeway over half a mile long to access the island.
14:41 Although Alexander's armies were usually outnumbered,
14:44 his bold tactics, military speed, and superior leadership
14:47 allowed him to defeat any enemy he faced.
14:50 "Alexander never lost. Alexander set himself incredible goals,
14:55 challenges, competitions to be heroic,
15:00 and he surmounted these, he achieved them."
15:05 Number 7. What We Know About Him Is a Blend of History and Myth-Making
15:09 The propagandization of Alexander the Great's image and achievements through history
15:14 is a fascinating study of ancient and posthumous reputation management.
15:18 While Alexander himself employed Callisthenes,
15:21 a nephew of Aristotle, to document his campaigns,
15:24 much of what contemporary audiences know about him
15:26 comes from sources written centuries after his death,
15:29 such as Plutarch, Arian, Diodorus Siculus, and Quintus Cordius Rufus.
15:34 These historians, writing in different contexts and for various purposes,
15:38 contributed to the mythologizing of Alexander, blending fact with legend.
15:42 Their accounts were influenced by the prevailing political,
15:45 cultural, and philosophical ideas of their times,
15:48 often portraying Alexander as a heroic, godlike figure.
15:51 This process of propagandizing has shaped Alexander's legacy,
15:55 making it a blend of historical fact and the embellishments of successive generations.
16:00 "He was truly a legend in his own lifetime, and after his death,
16:04 that legend became an inspiration to many who dreamed,
16:08 but ultimately failed to follow where he had led."
16:11 Number 6. His Era Was Not About Sparta
16:15 Alexander's era is often conflated with earlier periods of Greek history,
16:19 particularly events like those depicted in the movie 300,
16:22 which dramatizes the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE during the Persian Wars.
16:27 "This is Sparta!"
16:29 But Alexander's conquests occurred approximately 150 years after King Xerxes' invasion of Greece,
16:39 a time when Sparta's influence had waned from its zenith during the Persian Wars.
16:43 Alexander's campaigns focused on creating a vast empire that stretched from Greece through Asia
16:48 Minor, Egypt, and into the Persian Empire and India, far beyond the concerns of the
16:53 city-states like Sparta that had previously dominated Greek life.
16:56 His era marked a shift from the localized conflicts of the Greek city-states to the
17:01 creation of a vast Hellenistic empire.
17:03 Number 5. The Conqueror Liked To Put His Name On Cities
17:08 Alexander actually named a city after his horse in 326 BCE on the Hadaspus, now known as the Jhelum.
17:15 In fact, he founded or renamed up to 70 cities during his conquest.
17:20 Naturally, he named almost every single one after himself, calling them all Alexandria.
17:25 The most famous Alexandria was founded at the mouth of the Nile River in 331 BCE.
17:31 It was planned on a massive scale, with broad boulevards, marketplaces, palaces, and temples.
17:37 It was claimed that Alexander himself designed the fortified walls.
17:42 Alexandria ensured his immortality.
17:45 Once the home of Cleopatra and the wondrous Great Library,
17:49 it is currently the second-largest city in Egypt.
17:52 Number 4. He Could Cut To The Heart Of The Matter
17:55 The Gordian knot was an intricate knot used by Gordius and tied by his son
18:00 Midas to keep his ox cart secured.
18:02 It was better known by the famous prophecy that predicted that whoever
18:05 untied the knot would become the king of Asia.
18:08 Over the years, many people attempted to untie the knot, but none succeeded.
18:13 However, this changed when Alexander reached the town of Gordium.
18:16 Ever the problem solver, the story goes that Alexander grew frustrated with the knot,
18:21 and immediately pulled out his sword and sliced it in half.
18:25 This was a very Alexander-type solution,
18:27 going straight for the jugular of the matter, preferably with a weapon in his hand.
18:31 He would eventually fulfill the prophecy by conquering Asia as far as the Oxus and the Indus.
18:36 Some people say this is cheating, but that night a great thunderstorm breaks over Gordium.
18:40 Alexander believes that Zeus approves.
18:44 Number 3. He Could Really Hold A Grudge
18:48 The vengeful character Alexander often displayed is most epitomized by his decision
18:52 to burn down Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire, in 330 BCE.
18:59 This act was seen as retribution for the Persian king Xerxes' burning of Athens
19:03 during the Greco-Persian Wars generations earlier.
19:06 Although Alexander's campaign was primarily aimed at conquering the Persian Empire and
19:10 avenging previous Greek defeats, the destruction of Persepolis went beyond military objectives,
19:15 serving as a symbolic act of vengeance and closure for the historical grievances between Greece and Persia.
19:21 "Alexander described Persepolis to the Macedonians as the most hateful of the cities of Asia,
19:27 and gave it over to his soldiers to plunder.
19:29 The Macedonians raced into it, slaughtering all the men whom they met, and plundering their residences."
19:37 The burning of Persepolis is often cited as a moment where Alexander's personal emotions
19:41 and desire for revenge influenced his decisions, showcasing a vengeful aspect of his character
19:46 that intertwined with his military and political ambitions.
19:50 2. Roxanna was pretty great too
19:52 Alexander had many impressive accomplishments in his life,
19:56 including the remarkable capture of Sogdian rock in 327 BCE.
20:01 While surveying the captives, he noticed Roxanna, also known as Roxanne,
20:06 the daughter of a Bactrian nobleman.
20:08 Despite opposition from his generals and friends,
20:10 Alexander married Roxanne in a traditional ceremony, and she would go on to give birth to a son.
20:15 "But why does Alexander marry?
20:18 Well, it's a good political alliance with the local nobility,
20:20 and there's a chance of producing a legitimate heir for his vast empire.
20:24 But some ancient historians write that Alexander may indeed
20:29 have had genuine romantic feelings for Roxanne."
20:32 Alexander also had other Macedonian men take Persian wives,
20:36 and adopted several aspects of Persian culture,
20:38 including their dress, thanks to Roxanna's influence.
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20:56 Number 1. His Death Was Suitably Mysterious
21:01 By the time he was 32, Alexander had accomplished more than many could have in three lifetimes.
21:08 Unfortunately, he suddenly died in June 323 BCE.
21:12 Sources differ on the cause, with some claiming that he developed a fever after a day of drinking
21:17 that was so severe he was unable to speak. Others claim that he may have been poisoned,
21:22 with one source even going so far as to say that Aristotle was involved.
21:26 Natural causes like typhoid fever or malaria have also been suggested,
21:30 but we likely will never know the real cause.
21:40 What do you think is the most astonishing fact about Alexander the Great's life?
21:44 Let us know in the comments.
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