The Confessions of Alexander The Great:
33 Lessons in Greatness
Written by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan
NEW BOOK! Published by Granicus Publishing
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The Confessions of Alexander The Great: 33 Lessons in Greatness Written by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan NEW BOOK! Published by Granicus Publishing |
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$19.95 List Price - $14.95 Special Introductory Offer! Free shipping until Christmas.
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Goods and services provided by Granicus Publishing (QC, Canada). |
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The Confessions of Alexander The Great: 33 Lessons in Greatness (356BC - 323BC) is a new book by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan telling history through the eyes of Alexander The Great. Published by Granicus Publishing ISBN 0-9736941-0-6 ebook ISBN 0-9736941-1-4 paperback The following is a biography on Alexander The Great and NOT an excerpt of the book. In The Confessions of Alexander The Great: 33 Lessons in Greatness, Alexander tells history through his eyes. Alexander was born on July 20th, 356 BC in Pella, Macedonia. On the very same day, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the temple of Artemis, burned down. His father, Philip II, was King of Macedonia. His mother Olympias was a princess from Epirus, or modern day Albania. From an early age, his mother lobbied on behalf of Alexander, foreshadowing his rise to power.
At the age of 13, Alexander was sent off to study under the great Greek philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle was a student of Plato, who in turn studied under Socrates. By the age of 18, Alexander was trusted with his father's army's cavalry at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. There, a young Alexander crushed the Sacred Band of Thebes. After this battle, Philip had the entire Greek city-states under his command.
Alexander was destined for greatness. His destiny, he believed, was to go on and avenge the destruction of Athens in 480 BC by the mighty Persian Empire. Standing in his way was his father, then in his forties.
Philip was assassinated and Alexander seized power by the age of 20. He quickly consolidated his power by razing Thebes, effectively intimidating any potential dissent by any of the city-states. Within a year, he began his campaign into Asia Minor.
His first symbolic battle of Persian Empire soil was at the Battle of Granicus, in modern day Turkey, in which he dealt a psychological but not lethal blow to the Persian King Darius' forces. From there on, he continued his journey through modern day Turkey, Egypt, onto Iraq on his way to the heart of the Persian Empire and its capital, Persepolis.
But to get there, he had to travel through the large and vast Persian Empire. He spent seven months in Tyre, waging the epic Siege of Tyre where he and his men built not one but two man-made bridges to penetrate the fortress island of Tyre, in order to secure the Eastern Mediterranean coastline.
With his supply lines secure, he continues his journey and routed Darius' troops in Issus, from where Darius fled to Babylon. From Babylon, Darius fled to Guagamela, where he clashed with Alexander's much smaller army again yet suffered a crushing defeat. Throughout, Alexander seized treasures in Susa as he marched onto Persepolis. In Persepolis, he found even more gold, roughly four hundred times the annual income of the Greek Empire. With his newfound riches, he financed both his military escapades and reinvigorated Greece's finances back home.
As his sojourn continues, Alexander's ambition grew. From Persia, he ventured further East onto India. But throughout, he began to adopt some Persian ways, which led to some dissent amongst his most ardent supporters. As his ambition grew, his idealism faded and gave to the reality of war: war was messy, occupation messier. But so long as the cost of war was lesser than the profit gained from it, he knew that his base back home would approve of his campaigns.
By now, it has been twelve years that he had left home. Despite numerous wounds and a twenty-two thousand march eastwards, Alexander survived it all. After losing his beloved horse and his companion, he began to drink increasingly. Exasperating his condition was a nearly fatal wound he suffered at the hands of the Mallians. By now, at the tender age of 32, Alexander was a mere shadow of himself physically. As he wept for there were no more lands to conquer, he turned around and began to head back home. Militarily, he yearned for more, looking towards Sicily and Italy.
He set up a capital in Babylon, where he died one month shy of his 33rd birthday.
Alexander tells history, in The Confessions of Alexander The Great: 33 Lessons in Greatness. |
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$19.95 List Price - $14.95 Special Introductory Offer! Free shipping until Christmas.
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Goods and services provided by Granicus Publishing (QC, Canada).
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Granicus Publishing ISBN 0-9736941-0-6 ebook ISBN 0-9736941-1-4 paperback © Copyright - Ashkan Karbasfrooshan |
