Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great (356–323 bc), son of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias, educated by Aristotle, became king of Macedon in 336 bc. He caused the Greek states to nominate him to conduct the war against Persia and in 334 crossed the Hellespont. He captured the family of Darius and extended his conquests to Egypt, where he founded Alexandria; and, after completely defeating the Persians at the battle of Arbela in 331, to India. He married Roxana, and a second wife Barsine. He is said to have destroyed Persepolis, the capital of the Persian empire, at the insistence of the courtesan Thaïs (331). He died of fever at Babylon when only 32 years old. His horse was named Bucephalus.

Alexander was made the centre of a cluster of medieval legends, comparable to the cycles concerning Charlemagne and King Arthur. The chief of the romances concerning him are the great French Roman d'Alexandre of the 12th cent., some 20,000 alexandrines, and the English King Alisaunder of the early 14th cent. The story of the rivalry of his two wives forms the subject of Lee's tragedy The Rival Queens.