He hunted down and executed the leaders of the revolt before trapping other participants in a cave in Wadi Daliya and suffocating them with smoke. Alexander swiftly returned to the Levant to take vengeance. But in 331 the Samaritans rebelled, burning alive the Macedonian satrap he had installed in the province. In imitation of Achilles’ mythological desecration of Hector’s corpse, Alexander then had the unfortunate commander tied to his chariot and dragged to his death.Īfter subduing Gaza, Alexander departed the region and moved on to Egypt. When Gaza surrendered, he ordered for hooks to be dug into the ankles of the man who had commanded its defence. After finally subjugating the city, he had around 3,000 of the city’s defenders crucified on its beach before moving onto Gaza. The Macedonian king spent seven months between January and August 332 BC besieging the city of Tyre. Alexander the Great in the Old TestamentĪlexander’s occupation of the Levant was marked by brutal violence.And traces of him can be found in some unexpected places: from the Old Testament to the Qur’an to philosophical texts and adventure novels of the Middle Agesand Early Modern period. The legendary Alexander has had as much, if not more, currency over the history of the last 2,000 or so years as the historical. He was often regarded as a religious figure: a key character in many Jewish, Christian, and Islamic writings as a prophet, a sacred hero, and a messenger of God. He dived to the depths of the ocean in a glass bell, searched for the elixir of life, and debated philosophy with naked ascetics. This Alexander was less the great general and more the philosophical protégé of his tutor Aristotle. As an imperialist he lay the groundwork for the Romans, who sought to replicate his feats while avoiding his failure to consolidate the empire he had gained.įew people, however, know about the legendary afterlife of Alexander the Great. After unifying Greece under the power of Macedon, he defeated the declining Persian Empire and conquered lands to the East, marching to the ends of the known world as far as the Hindu Kush in northern Pakistan.Īs a military tactician, Alexander inspired the likes of Julius Caesar, Hannibal Barca, and Napoleon Bonaparte. Many of us are familiar with the historical exploits of Alexander the Great.
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