Greece Travel Tips and Guide

Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) began to be known as Great when as a youth he was the only one of the King, his father and others to ride the monster horse brought to trade. While it had bucked and went into a frenzy with his father and the others, Alexander watched and took in what they were all doing wrong. He had to plead with his father for peremission to give it an attempt. First of all Alexander approached the horse from the other side where Bucephalus was being frightened by his own shadow.

The men of King Philips had all approached the beast from the nearest side to them, which had the horses shadow on the ground, causing the horse to occasionally bolt. Approaching him, Alexander kept his hands down, he spoke gently and lovingly, and he was soon stroking the animal and rubbing himself against it. Soon, Alexander was up on the back of Bucephalis and they were trotting around pleasantly. King Philip said that Alexander would need a larger kingdom to hold him, Macedonia was too small for him.

Alexander had as his tutor Plata, and enjoyed his school years at a private school built by King Philip for Alexander and other princes of Greece and nearby a kingdoms. Always, however, Persia menaced across the Aegean Sea, constantly making attempts by land and sea to conquer Greece, which was only a small series of kingdoms in contrast to the vast Empire that Persia had placed together, from Turkey through Asia to India, which Alexander conquered all and more, taking in down to Baghdad to Cairo.

The epic great battle that began the Greece influence coming into Persia was at the great battle in which the ten thousand soldiers under Alexander defeated the one hundred thousand Persians. Alexander wanted to change history and have a Greece influence throughout the lands controlled by Persia, and he succeeded in this greatly. In the end, however, at the death of Alexander one of his generals, the first king Ptomly was created when Alexander willed Egypt to his general as his territory. Cleopatra was of this Greece blood two centuries later.

During his take over of Persia, however, after such a bloody battle in which his men slaughtered the Persians with their sharpened sixteen foot long poles. Alexander however treated the Persians with civility and dignity. He did bring Greek law and many aspects of daily life that persists, as do architectural relics. He gave support and security to the royal family, the wife and children of King Darius, whose own men turned on him and killed him as the Greeks were winning the battle.

Alexander married Roxanne, the beautiful daughter of Darius. Alexander urged his men to also mix the blood of Greece and Persia with marriages. Some thousands of Greece soldiers obliged. Today in Iran or Afghanistan and elsewhere the name Alexander is part of a male name. All citizens of Greece Persia were to be given all rights of freedom, and the Greek soldiers were to be friendly and helpful. Today in Iran, once Persia, one can see many Greek columns on building relics.

Alexander wanted it to be that this great sea change of fortunes would be permanent and exist for a thousand years. But unfortunately after his death the territories were all parceled out to his various generals, each of whom tended to go his own way in governing. Truly Great, Alexander achieved this in his lifetime, even thought after his death it did not last. In contrast Rome was not built in one lifetime and controlled areas west of Persia for a thousand years.

From his youth Alexander was tutored by an elderly Plato in the ways of people and the wisdom of the ages. As a youth Plato had listened at the feet of Socrates. Alexander learned to look at all aspects of a situation. This is reflected when his father, King Phillip of Macedonia, and his followers all failed to mount and ride a mighty horse brought to sell to Phillip as a sales opportunity to own the most powerful horse in the land. Alexander was the last to try, after pleading with his father, who was afraid the horse would hurt the boy.

Alexander may be the first on record of the fabled horse whisperers. Alexander turned Bucephalus around as he had noticed the horse was afraid of his own shadow, which he no longer saw, facing the other way now. After a period of Alexander relating to Bucephalus, whispering and stroking the huge beast, then mounting him and riding around pleasantly, Bucephalus was purchased for Alexander. King Philip exclaimed that Alexander should look for a kingdom larger than Macedonia as it was not large enough to hold him.

As history shows this was a prophetic statement. Yet Alexander was more than a brilliant tactician and fierce warrior who could inspire confidence in his men, he held loyalty for service on a high level of understanding. When his beloved horse Bucephalus died in India years later, Alexander mourned as if he had lost a blood brother, and had a town built in his beloved steeds memory. To beging with however, Alexander was always the best at everything. In the private school reserved for princes of Greece, where Plato taught. The school was built specially by King Philip in the place of Platos birth.

So this was a chance to later impress and pursuade all Greece if he could dominate these boys, and he did. Alexanders school mates were the other princes of Greece and nearby kingdoms. As they all grew and took power over their own kingdoms, they were easily convinced by Alexander to join in what all else seemed to think was an impossible dream: to attack and conquer Persia. All else in history had been the reverse. Mighty Persia controlled vast portions of the near and middle east. They controlled all of Turkey which had them always it seemed at the Gates to Greece, Athens and Sparta in particular.

Always the attacks with superior forces came from Persia whether by land or sea. Persia was determined and the Greeks and Macedonians were in a state of constant siege. When the time came Alexander had his men ferried across into Persian territory on the west coast of present day Turkey. His ten thousand Greek and Macedonian soldiers faced the army of Persia. King Darius was at the back of them, and they faced off against each other.

The Greeks turned their columns of sixteen foot poles sharpened to a tip which then created massacre, slaughter, Persian soldiers fleeing, as did King Darius when he saw and realized that these were ten thousand warriors of a class he had never before seen.

It seemed an impossibility than ten thousand could defeat one hundred thousand Persian soldiers. But with the innovation of his front line weapon Alexander had the men equipped with a sixteen foot sharpened pole, which they attacked first. The Persians, equipped only with bows, arrows and short swords, parted like the sea in front of this new force The Greeks were skewering Persians soldiers before they had a chance to use their swords, their arrows did little harm as the Greeks moved into a wedge shape and attacked directly into the midst of the Persians.

Darius tried to escape but was killed by his own men who fell to their knees in homage to Alexander and his men. Alexander ordered gentle treatment of the women and fair discipline only when need for the soldiers. All Persia soon became his and he burned the old capital Persepolis. Wishing to place a permanent imprint into modern day Turkey and Iran, Alexander married Roxanne, a beautiful daughter of the defeated King Darius, and had ten thousand of his men also take a Persian bride. Today in old Persia there are apparently quite a few lads named Alexander, with blue eyes, in what had been Persia.