LOVE. BETRAYAL. CLASHING SWORDS. GLORY. DEATH. THOSE ARE THE ELEMENTS OF "ALEXANDER THE GREAT," OLIVER STONE'S NEW EPIC MOVIE STARRING COLIN FARRELL, ANTHONY HOPKINS, VAL KILMER, AND ANGELINA JOLIE. THE MOVIE RETELLS ONE OF THE GREATEST TALES OF ALL TIME. BELOW IS THE REAL STORY OF ALEXANDER, WHO CAME TO BE KNOWN AS "THE GREAT" IN HIS SHORT LIFETIME.
King Philip was angry--hotter than the blazing sun that shone down on the baked plains of ancient Macedonia that April day in 342 B.C.
"Who can tame him?" the king shouted at the men in the courtyard. No one volunteered, Bucephalus, the huge and very expensive black stallion Philip had recently bought had stomped, snorted, and refused to be handled by any of the king's expert horsemen.
"I can," came a boy's voice from the courtyard fence. The men turned to look at Alexander, Philip's 14-year-old son.
The tough, old horsemen smiled. How could a boy do what they could not do?
"All right," said Philip, suppressing a smile of his own.
Alexander ran to Bucephalus and sun. He spoke gently, clapping the huge beast on the back to reassure him. Then he lowered Bucephalus's head and, in one bound, leaped on the animal's back. In a short time, the giant stallion was walking
How had the boy done it?
Alexander told his surprised father he had noticed that when Bucephalus was led into the courtyard, his back was to the sun, casting a shadow that terrified him. All Alexander did was turn the horse toward the sun and then wait until the beast calmed down.
Impressed, Philip kissed his son on the head. "My son," he declared, "Macedonia will not be big enough for you. You need a kingdom of your own."
GREEKS AND PERSIANS
In 342 B.C., the world was full of kingdoms. To the south of Macedonia lay Greece, divided into city-states often at war with one another. To the east lay the huge Persian Empire, stretching from Egypt to India. In 490 B.C., the Persian king Darius I had invaded Greece, only to be defeated at the Battle of Marathon. Ten years later, the Persian king Xerxes invaded Greece. His army burned Athens and destroyed many temples. The Greeks united to throw off the invader, but they never forgave the Persians for destroying their temples.
Philip became king of Macedonia in 359 B.C. Two years later, he married Olympias, the daughter of a minor ruler. In July 356 B.C., their child Alexander was born. When Alexander was 14, Philip hired one of Greece's greatest philosophers, Aristotle, to tutor the boy in the fundamentals of Greek education.
King Philip's dream was to unite Greece and to take revenge against the Persians. He rebuilt the Macedonian army into a powerful fighting force. The new army's main weapon was the Macedonian phalanx, an infantry of 9,000 troops armed with 13-foot-long spears, supported by cavalry and archers.
Philip's well-trained army defeated one Greek city-state after another. The climax of his conquest of Greece was the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C., when Philip defeated a combined Greek army. After his victory, Philip was appointed captain-general of all Greece. He was in the midst of preparations to attack the Persian Empire when he was assassinated in 336 B.C. by one of his own men. The motive for the assassination was reportedly personal, but some people believed that Darius III, the Persian king, was behind it. Others cast suspicion on Olympias, who hated Philip's new wife, Cleopatra, and feared that Cleopatra's son would succeed to the throne instead of Alexander.
HIS OWN KINGDOM
Alexander, 20 years old in 336 B.C., became king of Macedonia. He swiftly and ruthlessly put down revolts that arose after Philip's death. In 334 B.C., Alexander crossed the Hellespont, a narrow stretch of water separating Greece and the Persian Empire, with 30,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 cavalry. Alexander's personal motive for the campaign was everlasting fame, to prove himself an even greater conqueror than his father. To ensure the right "press coverage," his army included not only soldiers but also scientists, artists, and philosophers.
Darius wasn't impressed. He ordered three of his satraps, or governors, to send an army to tech the boy a lesson. The two armies faced each other on opposite sides of the river Granicus in what is now western Turkey. Alexander ordered his troops to attack, and he was first across the river, riding Bucephalus. A furious battle ensued, and the Greeks won a complete victory. Alexander's historians reported that his army killed more than 20,000 Persian soldiers while losing only 35 Greeks--a number that modern experts find hard to believe.
Not long after the battle, Alexander passed through the town of Gordium, home of the famous Gordian knot, which held fast a war chariot. Legend said that anyone who could untie the knot would become king of Asia. After trying unsuccessfully to untangle the knot, Alexander took out Ins sword, and, with a single stroke, sliced it apart. "There is more than one way to untie a knot," he said.
Alexander resumed the attack. In 333 B.C., he met Darius and Ins army at Issus, in what is now central Turkey. Again, the Greek army won a complete victory. At the end, 100,000 Persians lay dead.
After Issus, Alexander marched down the Mediterranean coast toward Egypt. The Persians still had a powerful fleet. Alexander planned to capture the Mediterranean ports that supplied the fleet. Without supplies, the fleet would have to surrender.
After a seven-month siege, the last port city, Tyre, fell, and the road to Egypt was now open. The Egyptians, who had been ruled by the Persians for 200 years, welcomed Alexander with open arms. On Nov. 14, 332 B.C., they crowned him pharaoh, or king, of Egypt. He founded a new city at the mouth of the Nile River and named it after himself. Alexandria, which became one of the ancient world's greatest cities, was the first of 17 Alexndrias built by Alexander across his empire.
THE END OF DARIUS
Alexander had unfinished work to do. Darius had spent the time since Issus raising another large Persian army. Alexander marched Ins troops out of Egypt and on Oct. 1, 331 B.C., met Darius's army at Gaugemela, in what is now northeastern Iraq. The result was the same: a complete victory for the Greeks. Darius fled the battlefield and was later killed by his own men.
By 330 B.C., half the world recognized Alexander as king. No man had ever ruled so many peoples or lands. But Alexander was not content. After setting fire to Persepolis, the Persian capital, Alexander marched his troops into what is now Afghanistan. It was there that he saw Roxane, the daughter of a local chieftain, dancing at a banquet. He fell in love and married her. Roxane followed her husband for the rest of her life, never far from the sound of battle, and bore him two children.
Alexander marched south into what is present-day Pakistan. He crossed the Indus River in 326 B.C. and reached the river Hydaspes, which runs through northwestern India today. A great Indian ruler named Porus rose to challenge him and barred the way on the other side of the river. Porus was 7 feet tall and rode into battle on a huge elephant. The Greeks, who had never seen elephants before, were faced with 100 battle elephants.
Despite the elephants, the Greeks soundly defeated Porus. Alexander, however, was heartbroken after the battle. Bucephalus, the great horse he had tamed at age 14, died of battle wounds.
When Alexander ordered the army to march eastward, however, Ins troops simply refused to move. They loved Alexander, but they were exhausted, worn out after eight years and 11,000 miles of fighting and conquest. They feared Alexander would have them march on forever. Alexander pleaded with them. He stripped off Ins clothes to show them the many wounds he had shared in battle with them, and then he sulked in his tent for days. Finally, Alexander gave in. He ordered the army to head home.
Before returning, Alexander wanted to leave his mark in India. He had armor, battle equipment, and apparel for men and horses made much larger than normal and scattered it around in great numbers. He wanted future generations to think that his men were giants.
After a harrowing desert march that killed more of his men than any single battle had, Alexander reached Persepolis, the city he had left six years before. It was 324 B.C. The journey from India had taken a year and a half.
ALEXANDER'S DEATH
Not long after Ins return, Alexander caught a cold and complained of a sharp pain, like a spear's thrust, in Ins back. The cold got worse, and a fever developed. Modern experts say Alexander probably contracted malaria or typhoid fever, but some believe he may have been poisoned. On June 7, 323 B.C., Macedonians filed past their dying leader for the last time. Alexander died three days later, on June 10. He had reigned 12 and a half years and was 32 years old.
Before he died, Alexander's friends asked him, "To whom do you leave the kingdom?" Alexander replied, "To the strongest."
That is what happened: The huge empire was divided into five parts, each ruled by one of Alexander's generals.