How Well Do You Know Alexander the Great?

While known as Alexander the Great, his royal title was Alexander III of Macedon. Macedonia was an ancient kingdom that existed in what is modern day Greece.

Alexander was the son of Phillip II of Macedon. Phillip was assassinated in 336 BC.

Alexander's father, Phillip II of Macedon, was assassinated in 336 BC. This led to Alexander being crowned king at 20 years old.

Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until he was 16. Aristotle is considered by many to be the father of Western philosophy.

Alexander the Great had one of the largest empires of the Ancient world. It stretched from Greece and Egypt, through the Middle East, to northwestern India.

After years of campaigning, Alexander's soldiers were tired and homesick. They mutinied in India and refused to march any further east.

Alexander the Great is remembered for many reasons. One of them is that he is one of the few military figures in history to never face defeat in battle.

Alexander founded and named 20 cities after himself throughout his empire. The most famous of these is Alexandria, Egypt.

Alexander the Great's empire only stretched to northwest India. He and his men never reached China.

The ancient Greek calendar was different from the calendar used by the modern world. Most historians place his birth roughly in mid to late July.

Alexander was born to Olympias. She was the daughter of the King of Epirus, Neoptolemus I.

According to Plutarch, Alexander's mother Olympia had a strange dream before his birth. She dreamed that her womb was hit by a thunder bolt. This caused a widespread fire.

According to legends, both of Alexanders parents had different odd dreams before he was born. Some speculated based on those that he may have been a child of Zeus.

According to legend, on the day of Alexander's birth, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus burned down, because the goddess left to watch over his birth. Some think that the legends surrounding his birth were largely started by Alexander himself during his reign.

All Macedonian nobles received a similar education. This included learning to read, play lyre and fight.

Aristotle tutored Alexander in a vast range of subjects. During his education, Alexander developed a love for the Iliad.

Phillip was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguards. Historic record indicates that Alexander and his father were largely a formidable team in battle, and that Alexander may have even saved his father's life.

Alexander ensured his power by killing anyone who could take the throne from him. He had a cousin of his and two princes killed, as well as others.

After the news of Phillip's death spread, many states began to revolt. Alexander handled all of them with measures of success.

The city-states of Ancient Greece are historically known for constantly fighting with each other. A brief peace resulted from Alexander's campaigns, even though there was much death and carnage in the process.

Amun was considered the Egyptian King of the Gods. He is often combined with the sun god Ra.

After taking Egypt, Alexander and his men marched into Mesopotamia. He then captured Babylon.

Alexander defeated Darius I of the Achaemenid empire on multiple occasions. Each time Darius fled, only to eventually be stabbed to death by one of his kinsmen who took the title of king.

Alexander and his men stayed in Persepolis for months, during which they looted it and possibly accidentally burned a large portion of it to the ground. According to Plutarch, Alexander regretted the destruction.

Alexander buried Darius with his predecessors in a respectful and royal funeral. He claimed that Darius had named him the successor of his empire as he died.

Alexander adopted some customs of Persia, which caused him to be unpopular with his countrymen. He was forced to abandon these habits.

There were several plots against Alexander's life during his reign. In fact, some think he may have been assassinated via poisoning.

Alexander's campaigns in Asia brought wealth, prosperity and general peace to Greece. However, he required so many troops and resources for his campaigns that it weakened Macedon, and led to it being conquered after his death.

Alexander's men did not like that he adopted Persian dress and other customs. They also did not like that he allowed Persian men to join and rank in the Macedonian army.

To this day, Alexander the Great's sexuality is debated by scholars. Some think that Hephaestion, who he planned a grand Babylonian funeral pyre for after his death, was more than his friend.

In the summer of 323 BC, Alexander died in Babylon at age 32. There are two different accounts of his death, and much speculation surrounding it.

There are different accounts of his death, which makes things hard to piece together. No one can say for sure whether he was poisoned or fell fatally ill. He suffered for over a week before dying.

Alexander was a known heavy drinker, and historic records even exist of his drunken brawls, during which he killed people. It is thought that years of drinking and battle wounds may have caught up with him.

Alexander had no apparent heir. His son Alexander IV was born after his death.

By the end of his life, Alexander the Great exhibited signs of paranoia and megalomania. His will was largely ignored because it called for the conquering of the whole of Eurasia and the circumnavigation of Africa, which was not possible for Macedonia as he had left it.