(356 BCE - 323 BCE) was born Alexander III, King of Macedonia.

Macedonia was to the Northeast of Greece. Greeks regarded it as foreign and semi-barbarian. Alexander's mother was from Epirus, another semi-Greek state to the Northwest of the Greek peninsula.

In 336BC, ALEX succeeded his father on the throne. he established his political base in Greece and set off in 334 BCE on his famous conquest of Persia. Within two years, he had conquered the eastern Mediterranean coast, entered Syria and defeated the great Syrian king Darius III.

In 332-331, he conquered Egypt and, returning to Persia, occupied babylon. He adopted Persian dress and customs. many of his Greek countrymen resented this action. he drove his army further and further east, through deserts and other hostile landscapes. Many of his army died. he returned west to consolidate his empire.

On June 10, 323, before returning; he died of a sudden fever. Alexander the Great was only 32 years old. It is suspected that this fever was the result of malaria.

He left a huge empire, and an odd assemblage of towns: Alexandrias, Alexandropolises and other Alexvilles all over Greece Egypt to India.