The Ascension of Alexander the Great Part 1

Kicking off our series on Alexander the Great we look at previous 150 years of Greece; the Greco-Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian Wars, the Corinthian Wars, Philip of Macedon's Conquest, the Empire of Athens, the conflict between Athens and Sparta and the life of Philip of Macedon.

Philip was a fascinating political figure, as much Persian as Greek, as much conqueror as politician, an innovator far beyond his time. His reforms to the Macedonian army and way of making war along with political alliances and the crippled state of Greece set the stage for Philip to unify all of Greece and several surrounding nations all the way up the coast of Croatia and into modern day Bulgaria.

His marriage to Olympias of Epirus (Alexander's mother) was swirled in conflict as a fiercely independent woman and devout follower of the Orphic mysteries. Olympias was a dominating political force in a world which normally held Greek women to largely background duties of producing children.

Come with me as we explore this turbulent world, the roots of Alexander's own divinity and relationship with divine gods such as Zeus, Persephone, Hades, and most importantly Dionysus, and set the stage for what will become the force that destroys the Persian controlled Achaemenid Empire.

Was this invasion an act of revenge on Persia for the Greco-Persian wars? Was it an act of Greek revolutionaries seeking to free the Greek colonies from Persian control? Was it a naked grab for land, plunder and slaves? Was it the act of a man desperate to connect with his own divinity and ascend to godhood like the demigods from their own ancient past?

Follow me as we explore the complex and violent life of Alexander the Great and his interactions with Greeks, Persians, Mesopotamians, Scythians, Indians, Egyptians, and more.

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