Resumo de Alexander The Great, Prince Of Macedon

Introduction:
Alexandros III Philippou Makedonon (Alexander the Great, Alexander III of Macedon) (356-323 B.C.), King of Macedonia, was born in late July 356 BC in Pella, Macedonia, he was one of the greatest military genius in history. He conquered much of what was then the civilized world, driven by his divine ambition of the world conquest and the creation of a universal world monarchy.
Arrian describes Alexander: the strong, handsome commander with one eye dark as the night and one blue as the sky, always leading his army on his faithful Bucephalus. Alexander inherited from his father King Philip the best military formation of the time, the Macedonian Phalanx, armed with sarisses - the fearful five and half meter long lances. He was the first great conqueror who reached Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Asia up to western India. He is famous for having created the ethnic fusion of the Macedonians and the Persians. From victory to victory, from triumph to triumph, Alexander created an empire which brought him eternal glory. He brought Greek ideas, culture and life style to the countries which he conquered, and assured expansion and domination of Hellenistic Culture which, together with Roman Civilization and Christianity, constitutes the foundation of what is now called Western Civilization.
Alexander, Prince of Macedon
Even as a young boy Alexander was fearless and strong. At the age of twelve, he tamed the beautiful and spirited Bucephalus ("ox-head" in Greek), a horse that no one else could ride. Philip was so proud of Alexander's horsemanship that he said:
O my son, seek out a kingdom worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee.
Later, this famous stallion carried him as far as India up to the Hydaspes River, where he died. There Alexander built the city of Bucephala, in memory of his beloved horse.
The court at which he grew up was the centre of great deeds, and Philip, by war and thorough diplomacy, was raising Macedon to the guidance of the Greek states, and the atmosphere was charged with grand ideas. To unite the Greek race in a war against the Persian Empire (Isocrat's political project) was set up as the ultimate mark for his ambition,
Prince Alexander was even more ambitious than his father; he was even desperate when he heard of Philip's conquests:
My father will get ahead of me in everything, and will leave nothing great for me to do.
Alexander knew the Iliad by heart. He loved Homer, and always slept with a copy of the Iliad under his pillow.
His first teacher was Leonidas, a relative of Olympias. Leonidas instilled in Alexander his ascetic nature for which he became famous during his future campaigns; he lived simply, in a Spartan way, eating and sleeping together with his troops. Leonidas was replaced with Lysimachus, who taught Prince Alexander to play the lyre, and to appreciate the arts.
Plutarch writes: The care of his education, as it might be presumed, was committed to a great many attendants, preceptors, and teachers, over the whole of whom Leonidas, a near kinsman of Olympias, a man of an austere temper, presided, who did not indeed himself decline the name of what in reality is a noble and honorable office, but in general his dignity, and his near relationship, obtained him from other people the title of Alexander's foster father and governor. But he who took upon him the actual place and style of his pedagogue was Lysimachus the Acarnanian, who, though he had nothing to recommend him, but his lucky fancy of calling himself Phoenix, Alexander Achilles and Philip Peleus, was therefore well enough esteemed, and ranked in the next degree after Leonidas.

Character of Alexander
Alexander's actions were inspired: by one god, one demigod, one hero and one sovereign. Dionysios - a divinity. Hercules - a demigod. Achilles - a hero. Cyrus the Great - The Persian emperor. His actions were guided by the sprit of Homer, who appeared inander's dreams, while the Illiad was his manual of war. Like Achilles he was a superhuman hero and warrior, he exposed himself often to the extreme danger during battle. Alexander could support pain, hunger, thirst, heat, desperation and great suffering with immense patience, like Hercules. As a boy, his mother introduced him to the cult mysteries of the Dionysios. Through Dionysios, Alexander took extreme mobility and love for adventure. During the course of his conquest, Alexander repeated the same journey as Dionysios, only in reverse. Alexander admired the personality of the Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire, whose example and politics he imitated during the creation of his universal empire. Like Cyrus, Alexander respected the tradition and religion of dominated peoples. The Illiad thought him that he could have only two epic and noble passions: furious anger and disinterested generous friendship. To live with such a multitude of images and multiplicity of souls inside one personality was difficult and dangerous, as such a coexistence was not often harmonious and pacific. Alexander's epic actions were often guided by the ghost of Homer, like Hamlet's were by the ghost of his dead father.

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