UNFAMILIAR FACTS ABOUT ALEXANDER THE GREAT

ALEXANDER THE GREAT’S MILITARY TACTICS

AND STRATEGIES ARE STILL STUDIED IN

MILITARY ACADEMIES TODAY. FROM HIS FIRST

VICTORY AT AGE EIGHTEEN UNTIL HIS DEATH

(AT AGE THIRTY-THREE) HE NEVER LOST A

SINGLE BATTLE

EVER HEARD OF GRECO-BUDDHISM? THIS TERM

REFERS TO THE CULTURAL SYNCRETISM BETWEEN

HELLENISTIC CULTURE AND BUDDHISM, WHICH

DEVELOPED BETWEEN THE FOURTH CENTURY BCE

AND THE FIFTH CENTURY AD IN BACTRIA AND

THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, CORRESPONDING

TO THE TERRITORIES OF MODERN-DAY

AFGHANISTAN, INDIA, AND PAKISTAN. IT WAS

A CULTURAL CONSEQUENCE OF A LONG CHAIN

OF INTERACTIONS BEGUN BY GREEK FORAYS

INTO INDIA FROM THE TIME OF ALEXANDER

THE GREAT, CARRIED FURTHER BY THE

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INDO-GREEK KINGDOM

AND EXTENDED DURING THE FLOURISHING OF

THE KUSHAN EMPIRE

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS LEGENDS ABOUT

ALEXANDER IS THAT IN 333 WHEN HE WAS IN

GORDIUM, IN ASIA MINOR, HE UNDID THE GORDIAN

KNOT. THE PROPHECY ABOUT THE GORDIAN KNOT

SAID THAT HE WHO UNTIED IT WOULD RULE ALL

OF ASIA. ALEXANDER IS SAID TO HAVE UNDONE

THE KNOT BY SLASHING THROUGH IT WITH A SWORD.

IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE MAN WHO TIED THE KNOT

WAS EITHER MIDAS OF GOLDEN TOUCH FAME

OR HIS FATHER, GORDIUS

THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA, A MODERN COUNTRY

LOCATED IN THE CENTRAL BALKAN PENINSULA

IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE, IS NOT RELATED

HISTORICALLY TO THE ANCIENT GREEK KINGDOM

OF MACEDON. ITS NAME, HOWEVER, DERIVES

FROM THE GREEK REGION MAKEDONÍA, CAPITAL

OF ALEXANDER’S ANCIENT KINGDOM

THREE OF FIDEL CASTRO’S SONS ARE NAMED AFTER

ALEXANDER THE GREAT: ALEXIS, ALEJANDRO

AND ALEXANDER

ALEXANDER ONCE HELD A DRINKING CONTEST AMONG

HIS SOLDIERS. WHEN IT WAS OVER, FORTY-TWO

SOLDIERS HAD DIED FROM ALCOHOL POISONING

ALEXANDER THE GREAT WAS KING OF THE GREEK

KINGDOM OF MACEDON, PHARAOH OF EGYPT,

KING OF PERSIA AND KING OF ASIA ALL

AT THE SAME TIME!

AFTER DEFEATING THE PERSIANS, ALEXANDER

STARTED DRESSING LIKE A PERSIAN KING AND

HAD TWO PERSIAN WIVES SO THE NEWLY

CONQUERED PEOPLE WOULD FEEL MORE

COMFORTABLE WITH THEIR NEW LEADER