ABSTRACT
Alexander's boyhood had been normal or as normal as that of the heir to the Macedonian throne could be. The divine element increased dramatically when Alexander was in Asia. However, once he left Macedonia things were quite different, and he took on a very different persona. Incense was burned in Alexander's presence, and a reverential silence was preserved. Both these observances show that there was a cult to him at his court. Whether Alexander had a hand in Philips murder or not, he pushed ahead with his father's plan to invade Asia once he became king. Ephesus had erected a statue of Philip II in its temple when the advance force under Parmenion invaded Asia in 336. The Sacred War was the turning point for the formal expansion of Philips power in Greece. His intervention in it led to its end in 346 and the liberation of Delphi.
