The Last Will and Testament of Alexander the Great: Its Appearance, Disappearance And Legacy
“…the uncomfortable fact remains that the Alexander Romance provides us, on occasion, with apparently genuine materials found nowhere else, while our better-authenticated sources, per contra, are all too often riddled with bias, propaganda, rhetorical special pleading or patent falsification and suppression of evidence.’ Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon
When Alexander III of Macedon took the throne at age 20 in 336 BC, no one could have foreseen the magnitude of change coming to the Graeco-Persian World. Alexander’s reign spanned almost 13 years, 11 of which were spent marching through the Asian provinces of the former Persian Empire. His Macedonian-led army, supported by grudging Greek mercenaries from the garrisoned Hellenic world with auxiliaries from subjugated Balkan states and tribes, toppled 220 years of Achaemenid rule, only to face the prospect of a fragile new world order imploding at his death in Babylon in mid-June 323 BC. Alexander was aged 32.
Map of Alexander's empire and his route (CC BY-SA 3.0)
