Alexander the Great, Philip II, and Darius II

• Alexander the Great - Alexander the Great was best known for his military leadership and for being a strategic commander. His father was King Philip II. He was king of Ancient Greece before he passed down his kingship to his son. Alexander ruled over a strong and united Greece from 336-323 BCE. When he was a child, he was taught how to ride a horse, how to fight, how to hunt, and many other skills like mathematics, reading, writing, and how to play a lyre. Philip II got an amazing philosopher, Aristotle to tutor his son, Alexander, when he was 13 years old. Alexander like to read writings of Homer such as the Iliad and the Odyssey. Once Alexander was in control of Greece and was named king, he headed east, looking to expand his empire and conquer land. He first went through Asia Minor, winning battle after battle. He conquered Syria, defeated the Persian Empire, conquered Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, and was going to go through India, but his men were angered and missed their wives and children. Therefore, Alexander and his men were coming back to Greece. However, Alexander becomes sick, only being able to make it back to Babylon, and dies at the age of 32. The cause of his sickness is unknown, but some people say that it was poison that killed him. (Fun fact about Alexander the Great: he never lost one of his battles!)

• Philip II - Philip II was best known for being the father of Alexander the Great, but, just like his son, Philip was a great king and military leader himself. He ruled Macedonia from 359-336 BCE. Unlike Alexander, Philip inherited Macedonia when it was weak and had an undisciplined army. When he came around, all of that changed. He started to conquer land around Macedonia, and eventually, most of Greece was under his control. When Philip came into power, he had two main goals: to protect Macedonia's borders and to reorganize the army. For three years, (around 367-364 BCE) Philip was a hostage in Thebes, until his brother helped release him. There, Philip saw may military tactics that he used to strengthen his own army. He increased the size of the army from 10,000 to 24,000 men and increased the size of the cavalry from 600-3,500 men. When Alexander was 18 years old, they actually defeated the alliance of Athens and Thebes. (Fun fact about Philip II: while he was taking control of Greece, he married seven times!) Philip dreamed of conquering the Persian Empire with the League of Corinth that he created, which was an alliance of the Greek city-states which he ruled.) He wanted to conquer the Persians because he wanted an empire. Alexander, his son, fulfilled this dream though his own life. Philip died at the age of 46 after being assassinated by his old friend and lover, Pausanias. She was mad at him and stabbed him until he died.

• Darius III - Darius III was best known as the last king of the Achaemenid dynasty (Persian king). He ruled Persia from 336-330 BCE. When he came into rule, Bagoas, a guard for the royal family tried to murder Darius with poison, just as he did with the last two kings in the dynasty: Artaxerxes III and Arses. However, Darius had been warned of Bagoas's true intentions for his death, so he forced Bagoas to drink his own poison. Darius didn't prepare for Alexander the Great's invasion in the spring of 334 BCE, so the Achaemenid army was defeated. Soon after (in the next year), Alexander had already conquered most of Asia Minor. Darius decided to battle against Alexander and his army, but was defeated at Issus in the fall of the year 333 BCE. He then abandoned his mother, wife, and children by running off the field, getting away from Alexander. Darius asked for friendship (alliance) with Alexander twice, through letters. The second time. he even included a sum of money (10,000 drachma) for Alexander's family, giving up his whole Achaemenid Empire west of the Euphrates River if they were to collaborate, and even said that he would marry Alexander's daughter (because he wanted an alliance). However, both times, Alexander rejected his letters. Darius wanted to battle again at Gaugamela and was defeated on October 1, 331 BCE, again. Just like at Issus, he ran away (on his chariot). While he was trying to escape Alexander, Bessus, a relative of Darius killed him at the age of 50. (Fun fact about Darius III: Darius was originally named Artashata and called Codomannus by the Greeks.)