Alexander the Great died on this day all the way back in 323 B.C. at 32 years old. He had been named ruler of the small kingdom of Macedonia 13 years earlier and almost immediately began a series of conquests that remain some of the most ambitious in history. First, he took over the Greek states. Then, he waged war with Persia, which had been one of the most powerful and largest nations on the planet. Bit by bit, he conquered their territory. By 331 B.C., he had taken control of modern-day Turkey, Syria, and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. His military campaigns moved so far south that he was able to seize power over Egypt … and he was just getting started.
From there, he seized what is modern-day Iraq and then Iran, vanquishing Macedonia’s long-time foe. He took the lands now comprising Afghanistan, and then Pakistan. Morale among his troops had lasted, somehow, over a decade, and he’d expanded his empire to cover over 2 million square miles. Facing revolts, he ended his campaign and returned west.
He headed to Babylon in 323 B.C., then a major city in what is now Iraq. He was big on parties, and threw a series over several days. During one of them, he collapsed and felt severe back pain. It took 10 days of worsening illness before he died. What that illness was, and how he contracted it, remains unclear.
Like many empires, it was Alexander’s personality and reputation that kept the empire united. He hadn’t named a successor, and infighting quickly ensued. After many years of war, new empires emerged that split up what had been Macedonia, including what we now think of as ancient Egypt.
