Alexander (son of Philip)

Also known as: Alexander the son of Philip · Family: Macedonian · Role: king · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 6

After the death of Philip (son of Amyntas), Alexander succeeded him. He conquered Porus and India, becoming the first European to possess elephants, and wished to cut a canal through Mimas, though an oracle at Delphi stopped the work. At Lampsacus, Anaximenes outwitted him into pardoning the people; he also joined Clazomenæ’s island to the mainland and, after a dream involving Nemesis, built modern Smyrna.

Alexander’s actions affected cities and individuals alike: he paid Chæron a large bribe to become tyrant of Pellene, where Chæron destroyed the constitution, and Demosthenes was “most bitterly hated by Alexander.” Harpalus escaped arrest at Athens by bribing Alexander’s friends. Alexander offered his breastplate and spear to Æsculapius, and statues of him and his family were made by Leochares in ivory and gold; at Olympia, a statue of Alexander was offered “to imitate Zeus.”

After Alexander’s death, the Macedonians chose Aridæus as his successor, while Antipater (Macedonian statesman) held the power. Ptolemy (son of Lagus) secured Alexander’s body and buried it at Memphis; later Philadelphus brought the corpse from Memphis. A tradition said Alexander died from the poisonous water of the Styx.