Thursday, November 11, 2010

Alexander the Great 356-323 BC

Today, I interviewed Alexander the Great.

Q: How did you come to the throne?
A: My father, Phillip II conquered the Greek city-states in 359 BC. He had a bigger dream to conquer the entire Persian empire, but never got to live that dream because he was assassinated at my sister's wedding. So at the at the age of 20, I took the throne as an heir to my father.

Q: Did you ever take the Persian empire like your father's dream?
A: In 334 BC, my ships and I crossed the strait between Europe and Asia Minor. I won my first victory against the Persians at the Granicus river. That wasn't enough for me, though. I kept going and kept winning into Palestine and Egypt, then to Babylon in 331 BC. When my troops and I reached northern India in 326 BC, we faced troops on war elephants. Although we had never lost a battle, my soldiers were tired so we returned to Babylon.

Q: Do you feel like you changed any of the areas  you conquered?
A: I feel like I spread Greek culture to new countries. As the Greeks settled, they introduced the culture to these people in the new areas. I married a Persian woman, and encouraged the blending of eastern and western cultures as I realized that no one culture was best.

Alexander died suddenly of a fever at the age of 32. No on proved strong enough to take over for Alexander, so 3 generals split up the empire into Greece, Egypt, and Persia and eventually came the Hellenistic age.

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