The Ascension of Alexander the Great Part 3

After the assassination of Philip, Alexander faced a demanding and tense succession crisis. Forced to kill of a rival heir, opposing generals, and then put down rebellions against Macedonian rule in Thrace and mainland Greece, Alexander spent the first two years of his reign consolidating his power and control over the kingdom and alliances his father had built.

The sack and destruction of Thebes was a message the reverberated around the Greek world and would leave no doubt in the minds of all Greeks that Alexander was the son of Philip and just as ruthless.

After the power struggles were resolved Alexander was finally able to follow the path laid out by his father and begin the invasion of the Persian Achaemenid Empire proper, only two years behind schedule. And yet the story of Alexander is not one that I'm telling through tales of battles and daring do. There are plenty of other podcasts out there that cover Issus, Granicus and others just fine. This podcast covers the people and interactions. The relationship between Greeks and Persians was complex, nuanced, and not nearly the Greek Good, Persian Bad that's reflected in popular fiction. Persia left Greek colonies to govern themselves and many of the conflicts that happened during the Greco-Persian wars were often the result of local governors and warlords allying with each other to attack other Greek or Persian areas of control, put down rebellions, or invade new lands.

Alexander's first major battle in Persia might have gone very differently if not for Persia recovering from recent palace coups and the need to show strength and stability in the empire. Had the kingship been more stable might the advice of a certain Greek general been followed to deny Alexander's army food and supplies in a scorched Earth policy rather than try and face them down in a decisive battle?

After Granicus Alexander begins attacking Persian port cities and comes across his first of many "impenetrable fortresses". And yet the critical need to remove the Phoenician naval from attacking Greek colonies back home left Alexander no choice but to invent some creative solutions to attacking an island fortress without a navy of his own.

Lastly in this episode we explore the surrender of Jerusalem as written by the historian Flavius Josephus who relates the Jewish account of the surrender of Jerusalem to Alexander and we get our first glimpses into Alexander's obsession and reverence for all things divine (Greek related or not).

With the first phase of Alexander's conquest completed we pause until next month where we begin a deeper exploration of religion, divinity, and Alexander by exploring his time in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and his consolidation of control over the Persian Empire.

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