Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great, or Alexander III (356–323 B.C.), king of Macedonia (336–323 B.C.). At 20 Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II of Macedon, and executed Philip's plans for freeing the Greeks of Asia Minor from Persian rule. After his defeat of the Persian king Darius III at Issus in 333, Alexander subdued Phoenicia and Egypt, founding Alexandria. In 331 Alexander again defeated Darius in the battle of Guagamela, after which the principal cities of the Persian Empire fell easily to his attack. He was proclaimed king of Asia and moved on eastward. He intended to conquer India, but his soldiers refused to follow him. Though he lived to be only 33, he conquered the greatest empire yet known in Western civilization and prepared the way for the Hellenistic Age.