ABSTRACT
Considered one of the great military geniuses in history, Alexander III (Alexander the Great), through his conquests, fostered the spread of Greek culture into Asia and Egypt. Alexander was born in 356 B.C.E., son of King Philip II of Macedon, in the northern Balkan Peninsula. He was tutored by Aristotle, absorbing Greek culture, and was groomed for military leadership. Alexander built his empire on a Macedonian kingdom consolidated and strengthened by his father. In 332 Alexander turned south (into modern Lebanon and Israel-Palestine), destroying the ports at Tyre and Gaza that supported the Persian fleet, then marched into Egypt, founding the city of Alexandria. In 331, he returned eastward to defeat Darius again at the Battle of Gaugamela. Approximately one million people died during Alexander's wars of expansion. Alexander Ill's effort to create an empire of universal rule resulted in the spread of Greek culture throughout much of Egypt and western Asia.
