الموضوع
:
أعظم الناس:ما سر عظمتهم!!..وهل لليتم دور في العظمة؟
عرض مشاركة واحدة
02-13-2012, 10:03 AM
المشاركة
13
ايوب صابر
مراقب عام سابقا
اوسمتي
مجموع الاوسمة
: 4
تاريخ الإنضمام :
Sep 2009
رقم العضوية :
7857
المشاركات:
12,768
تابع الاسكندر الاكبر
1Regency and ascent of Macedon</SPAN>
Main articles:
Philip II of Macedon
and
Rise of Macedon
At age 16, Alexander's education under Aristotle ended. Philip waged war against
Byzantion
, leaving Alexander in charge as
regent
and
heir apparent
.
[9]
During Philip's absence, the
Thracian
Maedi
revolted against Macedonia. Alexander responded quickly, driving them from their territory. He colonized it with Greeks, and founded a city named
Alexandropolis
.
[23]
[24]
[25]
Upon Philip's return, he dispatched Alexander with a small force to subdue revolts in southern
Thrace
. Campaigning against the Greek city of
Perinthus
, Alexander is reported to have saved his father's life. Meanwhile, the city of
Amphissa
began to work lands that were sacred to
Apollo
near
Delphi
, a sacrilege that gave Philip the opportunity to further intervene in Greek affairs. Still occupied in Thrace, he ordered Alexander to muster an army for a campaign in Greece. Concerned that other Greek states might intervene, Alexander made it look as though he was preparing to attack Illyria instead. During this turmoil, the Illyrians invaded Macedonia, only to be repelled by Alexander.
[26]
Philip and his army joined his son in 338 BC, and they marched south through
Thermopylae
, taking it after stubborn resistance from its Theban garrison. They went on to occupy the city of
Elatea
, only a few days' march from both Athens and Thebes. The Athenians, led by
Demosthenes
, voted to seek alliance with Thebes against Macedonia. Both Athens and Philip sent embassies to win Thebes' favor, but Athens won the contest.
[27]
[28]
[29]
Philip marched on Amphissa (ostensibly acting on the request of the
Amphictyonic League
), capturing the mercenaries sent there by
Demosthenes
and accepting the city's surrender. Philip then returned to Elatea, sending a final offer of peace to Athens and Thebes, who both rejected it.
[30]
[31]
[32]
As Philip marched south, his opponents blocked him near
Chaeronea
,
Boeotia
. During the ensuing
Battle of Chaeronea
, Philip commanded the right wing and Alexander the left, accompanied by a group of Philip's trusted generals. According to the ancient sources, the two sides fought bitterly for some time. Philip deliberately commanded his troops to retreat, counting on the untested Athenian
hoplites
to follow, thus breaking their line. Alexander was the first to break the Theban lines, followed by Philip's generals. Having damaged the enemy's cohesion, Philip ordered his troops to press forward and quickly routed them. With the Athenians lost, the Thebans were surrounded. Left to fight alone, they were defeated.
[33]
After the victory at Chaeronea, Philip and Alexander marched unopposed into the Peloponnese, welcomed by all cities; however, when they reached
Sparta
, they were refused, but did not resort to war.
[34]
At
Corinth
, Philip established a "Hellenic Alliance" (modeled on the old
anti-Persian alliance
of the
Greco-Persian Wars
), which included most Greek city-states except Sparta. Philip was then named
Hegemon
(often translated as "Supreme Commander") of this league (known by modern scholars as the
League of Corinth
), and announced his plans to attack the
Persian Empire
.
[35]
[36]
Exile and return
When Philip returned to Pella, he fell in love with and married
Cleopatra Eurydice
, the niece of his general
Attalus
.
[37]
The marriage made Alexander's position as heir less secure, since any son of Cleopatra Eurydice would be a fully Macedonian heir, while Alexander was only half-Macedonian.
[38]
During the wedding banquet, a drunken Attalus publicly prayed to the gods that the union would produce a legitimate heir.
[37]
At the wedding of Cleopatra, whom Philip fell in love with and married, she being much too young for him, her uncle Attalus in his drink desired the Macedonians would implore the gods to give them a lawful successor to the kingdom by his niece. This so irritated Alexander, that throwing one of the cups at his head, "You villain," said he, "what, am I then a bastard?" Then Philip, taking Attalus's part, rose up and would have run his son through; but by good fortune for them both, either his over-hasty rage, or the wine he had drunk, made his foot slip, so that he fell down on the floor. At which Alexander reproachfully insulted over him: "See there," said he, "the man who makes preparations to pass out of Europe into Asia, overturned in passing from one seat to another."
—Plutarch, describing the feud at Philip's wedding.
[39]
Alexander fled Macedon with his mother, dropping her off with her brother, King
Alexander I of Epirus
in
Dodona
, capital of the
Molossians
.
[40]
He continued to Illyria,
[40]
where he sought refuge with the Illyrian King and was treated as a guest, despite having defeated them in battle a few years before. However, it appears Philip never intended to disown his politically and militarily trained son.
[40]
Accordingly, Alexander returned to Macedon after six months due to the efforts of a family friend,
Demaratus the Corinthian
, who mediated between the two parties.
[41]
[42]
In the following year, the Persian
satrap
(governor) of
Caria
,
Pixodarus
, offered his eldest daughter to Alexander's half-brother,
Philip Arrhidaeus
.
[40]
Olympias and several of Alexander's friends suggested this showed Philip intended to make Arrhidaeus his heir.
[40]
Alexander reacted by sending an actor,
Thessalus
of Corinth, to tell Pixodarus that he should not offer his daughter's hand to an illegitimate son, but instead to Alexander. When Philip heard of this, he stopped the negotiations and scolded Alexander for wishing to marry the daughter of a Carian, explaining that he wanted a better bride for him.
[40]
Philip exiled four of Alexander's friends,
Harpalus
,
Nearchus
, Ptolemy and
Erigyius
, and had the Corinthians bring Thessalus to him in chains
==
In 336 BC, while at
Aegae
attending the wedding of his daughter
Cleopatra
to Olympias's brother,
Alexander I of Epirus
, Philip was assassinated by the captain of his
bodyguards
,
Pausanias
.
vi[›]
As Pausanias tried to escape, he tripped over a vine and was killed by his pursuers, including two of Alexander's companions,
Perdiccas
and
Leonnatus
. Alexander was proclaimed king by the nobles and
army
at the age of 20
Personality
Some of Alexander's strongest personality traits formed in response to his parents. His mother had huge ambitions, and encouraged him to believe it was his destiny to conquer the Persian Empire.Olympias' influence instilled a sense of destiny in him, and Plutarch tells us that his ambition "kept his spirit serious and lofty in advance of his years". However, his father Philip was Alexander's most immediate and influential role model, as the young Alexander watched him campaign practically every year, winning victory after victory while ignoring severe wounds.
]
Alexander's relationship with his father forged the competitive side of his personality; he had a need to out-do his father, illustrated by his reckless behavior in battle. While Alexander worried that his father would leave him "no great or brilliant achievement to be displayed to the world", he also downplayed his father's achievements to his companions.
According to Plutarch, among Alexander's traits were a violent temper and rash, impulsive nature, which undoubtedly contributed to some of his decisions. Although Alexander was stubborn and did not respond well to orders from his father, he was open to reasoned debate. He had a calmer side—perceptive, logical, and calculating. He had a great desire for knowledge, a love for philosophy, and was an avid reader. This was no doubt in part due to Aristotle's tutelage; Alexander was intelligent and quick to learn. His intelligent and rational side was amply demonstrated by his ability and success as a general.[ He had great self-restraint in "pleasures of the body", in contrast with his lack of
self control
with alcohol.
[
Alexander was erudite and patronized both arts and sciences. However, he had little interest in sports or the
Olympic games
(unlike his father), seeking only the
Homeric
ideals of honor (
timê
) and glory (
kudos
).[48
[
e had great
charisma
and force of personality, characteristics which made him a great leader.[ His unique abilities were further demonstrated by the inability of any of his generals to unite Macedonia and retain the Empire after his death – only Alexander had the ability to do so.
[153]
During his final years, and especially after the death of Hephaestion, Alexander began to exhibit signs of
megalomania
and
paranoia
.
[137]
His extraordinary achievements, coupled with his own ineffable sense of destiny and the flattery of his companions, may have combined to produce this effect.
[177]
His
delusions of grandeur
are readily visible in his
testament
and in his desire to conquer the world.[
He appears to have believed himself a deity, or at least sought to deify himself.
[137]
Olympias always insisted to him that he was the son of Zeus,
[178]
a theory apparently confirmed to him by the oracle of Amun at
Siwa
.
[179]
He began to identify himself as the son of Zeus-Ammon.
[179]
Alexander adopted elements of Persian dress and customs at court, notably
proskynesis
, a practice that Macedonians disapproved, and were loath to perform.
[102]
This behavior cost him the sympathies of many of his countrymen.
[180]
However, Alexander also was a pragmatic ruler who understood the difficulties of ruling culturally disparate peoples, many of whom lived in kingdoms where the king was divine. Thus, rather than megalomania, his behavior may simply have been a practical attempt at strengthening his rule and keeping his empire together.
[
]
Personal relationships
The central personal relationship of Alexander's life was with his friend, general, and bodyguard
Hephaestion
, the son of a Macedonian noble.
[127]
[
Hephaestion's death devastated Alexander.[ This event may have contributed to Alexander's failing health and detached
mental state
during his final months.
[
]
Alexander married twice:
Roxana
, daughter of the
Bactrian
nobleman
Oxyartes
, out of love;
[184]
and
Stateira II
, a Persian princess and daughter of
Darius III
of Persia, for political reasons.
[185]
He apparently had two sons, Alexander IV of Macedon of Roxana and, possibly,
Heracles of Macedon
from his mistress Barsine. He lost another child when Roxana miscarried at Babylon.
[186]
[187]
Alexander's sexuality has been the subject of speculation and controversy.
[188]
No ancient sources stated that Alexander had
homosexual
relationships, or that Alexander's relationship with Hephaestion was sexual. Aelian, however, writes of Alexander's visit to
Troy
where "Alexander garlanded the tomb of Achilles and Hephaestion that of
Patroclus
, the latter riddling that he was a beloved of Alexander, in just the same way as Patroclus was of Achilles".
[189]
Noting that the word
eromenos
(ancient Greek for beloved) does not necessarily bear sexual meaning, Alexander may have been bisexual, which in his time was not controversial.
[190]
Green argues that there is little evidence in ancient sources that Alexander had much interest in women; he did not produce an heir until the very end of his life.
[166]
However, he was relatively young when he died, and Ogden suggests that Alexander's matrimonial record is more impressive than his father's at the same age.
[191]
Apart from wives, Alexander had many more female companions. Alexander accumulated a harem in the style of Persian kings, but he used it rather sparingly;
[192]
showing great self-control in "pleasures of the body".
[176]
Nevertheless, Plutarch described how Alexander was infatuated by Roxana while complimenting him on not forcing himself on her.
[193]
Green suggested that, in the context of the period, Alexander formed quite strong friendships with women, including
Ada of Caria
, who adopted him, and even Darius's mother
Sisygambis
, who supposedly died from grief upon hearing of Alexander's death.
]
رد مع الإقتباس