‘DOING AN ALEXANDER’ 199The life of Alexander
Alexander the Great was one of the most celebrated conquerors of
the ancient world, one of history ’ s greatest warriors, and a legend of
almost divine status in his own lifetime. He falls into the category
of individuals who changed the history of civilization and shaped
the present world as we know it. He accomplished greater deeds than
any other leader before or, indeed, after him (Kets de Vries and Eng-
ellau, 2004 ).
Before Alexander, the world ’ s civilization had been dominated by
eastern cultures — by Persians, Egyptians, and Babylonians. Alexander
radically changed that picture. The fi rst great conqueror to reach Greece,
Egypt, Asia Minor, and Asia as far as western India, Alexander stretched
the limits of what was considered the inhabited earth. Within less
than 12 years, Alexander conquered almost the entire known world
of his era. At the height of his power, his realm stretched from the
Ionian Sea to northern India. Not until the voyages of the Portuguese
and Spanish explorers in the late fi fteenth century would Europeans
be able to say that they had fi nally explored farther than Alexander
had.
Alexander the Great was born in 356 BCE in Pella, the ancient
capital of Macedonia, the area around present - day Thessaloniki in
northern Greece. He was the son of Philip I, King of Macedonia, and
Princess Olympias of Epirus (now Albania). His father, a brilliant ruler
and strategist who turned the Macedonia army into a formidable fi ghting
force, conquered most of Greece in just a few decades. His mother,
Olympias, was a woman known for her temper and willfulness. These
traits, coupled with her great intelligence, made her an extremely diffi -
cult person to live with. Her quarrelsome nature put her at war with
Philip (and him at war with her) for most of Alexander ’ s childhood
(Hogarth, 1977 ; Lane Fox, 1994 ; Baynham, 1998 ).
Education and Training
At the age of seven, Alexander stepped from under his mother ’ s wing
to undergo rigorous training by Leonidas, a relative of Olympias. Leo-
nidas taught him the physical skills — such as horseback riding and
sword fi ghting — necessary in a warrior - king. To further refi ne his edu-
cation, at the age of 13, Alexander became a student of the Greek
philosopher Aristotle, who instructed him in rhetoric and literature
and stimulated his interest in science, medicine, and philosophy.