The myth of a timeless hero
20 July 356 Bc 10 June 323 B.c. Alexander III, known as Alexander the great, was born at Pella (Macedonia) on 20 July 356 Bc by the marriage of King Philip II of Macedon and his wife Olympias, epirote Princess; on his father's side descended from Hercules, while maternal side counts among its ancestors the Homeric hero Achilles. According to legend, partly fueled by Alexander himself after he ascended the throne, and reported by Plutarch, his real father would have been the same God Zeus. At the time of the birth of Alexander's Macedonia that Epirus are believed to have been semi-barbarians at the northern edge of the Greek world. Philip wants to give his son a Greek education and, after Leonidas and Lysimachus of Acarnania, chooses as his master the Greek philosopher Aristotle (in 343 BC), who rear him teaching science and art, the specially prepared an annotated edition of the Iliad. Aristotle will remain tied to King Alexander throughout his life, both as a friend than as a confidant. Among the numerous anecdotes concerning the myth of Alexander the great there is one where it is said that as a young man--at the age of twelve or thirteen manages to tame the horse Bucephalus, given to him by his father alone: how tame the horse relies on wit to have caught the fear of the animal in their shadow; Alexander puts it so with the nose facing the sun before getting on his back. There is also another particular physical uniqueness that has gone down in history: Alexander had a blue eye and one black. In 340 BC, only sixteen years old, his father's expedition against Byzantium he was entrusted the Regency to Macedonia. Two years later Alexander the Macedonian cavalry Guide at the battle of Chaeronea. In 336 BC Philip is assassinated by an officer of his guard during the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to King Alexander I of Epirus. According to Plutarch's tale is apparently traditional Olympiad that his son Alessandro were aware of the conspiracy. After the death of his father Alexander is acclaimed King by the army. At the age of 20 years is committed now to consolidate his power by suppressing the possible rivals to the throne. Thanks to his exploits will go down in history as Alexander the great (or great) and is considered one of the most famous conquerors and strategists in history. In just twelve years of the Persian Empire, the white Kingdom Egypt and other territories, going up to the territories now occupied by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Northern India. His victories on the battlefield accompanied the spread of Greek culture, not as an imposition but as integration with cultural elements of the conquered peoples. Historically identifies this period as the start to the Hellenistic period of Greek history. Dies in the city of Babylon on June 10 day (or maybe the 11) of the year 323 BC, perhaps poisoned, or a recurrence of malaria which he had contracted before. After death, the Empire was divided among the generals who had accompanied him in his conquests, being in fact the Hellenistic kingdoms, including the Ptolemaic Egypt, that of the Antigonidi in Macedonia and the Seleucids in Syria, Asia minor, and in other eastern territories. The phenomenal success of Alexander the Conqueror, both in life and even more so after his death, inspired a literary tradition in which looks like a mythological hero, similar to the figure of Homeric Achilles.