Alexander the Great Read online

  So the first man, Ousos, sailed to the rocks where, perched on top of an olive tree, was an eagle. However, coiled round the trunk was a deadly serpent which prevented Ousos from getting onto the rocks so that he could kill the eagle. The eagle, understanding why Ousos had come, offered itself as a sacrifice, and immediately the rocks became stable.

  The citizens of Tyre extended their city by building on the rocks and, for many years, Tyre was in two parts, divided by the sea. The city grew and grew, and the god they worshipped was Melkart.

  Every time you look at a rainbow, remember Melkart, the god of Tyre. Every time you see the colour purple, think of kings, think of power, think of gods, think of Tyre! For this is how the colour purple was discovered.

  One day, Melkart was strolling along the seashore with his beloved, the sea nymph, Tyrus. Their dog, who had been chasing the waves, suddenly came bounding towards them, and they were horrified to see his mouth dripping with blood. But when the dog came close, they realized it wasn’t blood, but some substance dripping from a shell, which he held in his jaws. It was a Murex shell. Tyrus gasped at the sight of such a beautiful colour – such as had only ever been seen in the rainbow. If only she could have a dress of that colour.

  So Melkart gathered hundreds of Murex shells. When he had enough, he extracted the colour purple and dyed cloth, out of which a beautiful robe was made for his dearest Tyrus. From then on, purple became the colour of royalty.

  In 980 BC King Hiram came to the throne.

  One day, he had a dream. His dream was to build the finest city in the world, with temples and palaces. But his first plan was to fill in the sea between the rocks and the land, to link the two parts of Tyre and create one marvellous city. With sand and rubble, he filled in the gap and soon a causeway was created linking the two.

  Then he set about fulfilling his dream. First he built a dazzling temple of cedar wood, with pillars of gold and emeralds, and dedicated it to Melkart, the protector of sailors and merchants. It was so magnificent, even King Solomon, in Jerusalem, asked King Hiram to help him build his own temple.

  Then King Hiram set about creating the greatest and most beautiful city in Phoenicia. Because he was still short of land, Hiram built tall. His buildings were three or four storeys high. Tyre’s fame spread.

  And many people came to worship at the temple and marvel at the city.

  By the time Alexander came to Tyre, the causeway built by King Hiram had sunk long ago, and the city was once more divided into two parts.

  Alexander surrounded the city and besieged it. Then he brought in engineers to build the causeway again and link the rocky island back to the mainland. He had siege towers built – some floating on water – and turned the vast walls of the city, which were 150 feet high, into the walls of a prison, trapping the Tyrians in their own city. All round the outside, he deployed siege engines and battering rams, catapults and sling-throwers. The Tyrians responded with flaming arrows, blocks of stone and burning hot sand which rained down on Alexander’s troops from the battlements, and they sent secret underwater swimmers, who attempted to destroy the causeway. The battle was bitter; the Tyrians were stubborn and valiant, and the siege lasted seven whole months.

  The seers and soothsayers were kept busy with their predictions. A bird flying overhead dropped a stone which landed on Alexander’s helmet. Although he was unhurt, he consulted a seer to interpret the omen. “You will take the city today,” pronounced the seer. “But watch out for your safety.”

  Never one to listen to soothsayers unless it suited him, Alexander plunged back into commanding the battle, pitching himself into the fray, dodging knives and arrows, till finally he was struck by a bolt from an enemy crossbow.

  The seer was right. Though bleeding heavily, Alexander fought on until he fainted. Drifting in and out of consciousness, he continued to direct the battle till the city fell, and entered as victor. But the losses had been huge, the bloodshed appalling. 35,00 citizens were slaughtered or enslaved.

  Alexander went to the temple and performed sacrifices to Melkart, his supposed ancestor, though one historian commented wryly: “Never had this god received such a blood-stained sacrifice.”

  Darius had fled the field of Issus ignominiously. But he was not beaten yet. He was gathering his army and his mighty fleet back together again, and Alexander knew that not only must Tyre be won (and held) but so too must all the other ports on the way to Egypt.

  Having defeated Tyre, Alexander charged on down the coast and took Gaza, very much a Persian stronghold. It too put up strong resistance. It was strongly fortified and occupied by Arabs and Persians. The battle was bloody but short-lived, and soon, a victorious Alexander was on his way to Egypt.

  Darius, The Great King, sent more messages calling for a truce. He offered Alexander the sum of 10,000 talents for the return of his family, and promised him all Asia Minor west of the Euphrates, as well as his daughter’s hand in marriage.

  Alexander’s senior general, Parmenion said, “If I were Alexander I would accept the truce and end the war without any further risk.” Alexander is said to have replied, “If I were Parmenion, so would I,” and he rejected the offers.

  CHAPTER NINE

  INTO EGYPT

  Alexander and his army have crossed the treacherous deserts and marshlands and arrived in Memphis, the capital of the Upper Nile in the Land of the Pharaohs.

  Egypt had been conquered by the Persian king, Artaxerxes III, eleven years earlier. But the Egyptians had hated Artaxerxes. They had called him The Sword, because of his brutal repression of them, and accused him of killing, roasting and eating the sacred bull of their god, Apis. So when in 332 BC Alexander and his army rode down the Phoenician coast towards Egypt, city after city flung open their gates and hailed them as heroes. Memphis welcomed him not as a conqueror, but as a redeemer, and the Egyptians ran before his chariot strewing his path with flowers.

  This was one of the most ancient civilizations in the world, older even than Greece, and Alexander and his followers knew the names and the stories.

  Ah men, Ra, Tut, Khnum, Shu! These were the names of early Egyptian gods. But it was long, long ago, when the land was inhabited by broken tribes, wandering like savages, fighting each other in the valleys and among the hills, that the tales of Isis and Osiris were first told.

  OSIRIS AND ISIS

  Osiris came down from heaven with his wife Isis. When he was born on earth as a human, a voice from heaven proclaimed, “Here cometh the Lord of All Things,” and a wise man in Thebes told all the people to rejoice, because a good and noble king had appeared among them.

  Osiris introduced agriculture. He taught men to make tools to help them break up the land, sew the seeds, reap the harvest and produce corn and flour. He planted fruit trees and trained the vine. He made laws, proclaimed decrees and sat in wise judgement. He had a message which he carried all over his kingdom, that peace was better than war.

  Isis the Strong taught many skills: how to weave cloth, spin flax, make bread out of wheat, and grind corn. She had magic powers of healing, and was a goddess of medicine and wisdom.

  When Osiris went away to administer his other territories, he left his consort, Isis, in charge of the kingdom.

  But Osiris had a brother called Seth, who was jealous and tried to stir up trouble. He waited till Osiris had left the capital on a tour of the land, and then conspired to destroy him.

  A royal feast was prepared to welcome Osiris back to the palace. Seth came to the feast with his conspirators, and brought with him a magnificent chest – all beautifully carved and decorated – but which Seth had secretly ordered to be made exactly to the measurements of Osiris’ body.

  It was such a magnificent piece of work that everyone admired it and wished it was theirs. Seth said, if there were a man whose body fitted into the chest, then he could have it.

  There was much merriment and banter as, one by one, men climbed into the chest to see if they fitted in. Soon every guest
had tried – and not one of them fitted exactly. Then Osiris came forward – so innocently, so full of the joys of the feast, and the warm friendship he felt around him. He climbed into the chest – and he fitted it perfectly.

  But even as he called out in triumph, Seth’s evil followers leaped forward and slammed down the lid of the chest. They hammered it tight with nails and sealed it with lead. The chest became a coffin. The feast became a battleground; blood flowed and confusion spread. In the mayhem, Seth had the coffin smuggled away. No one saw the evil men take it to the banks of the River Nile and cast it in. No one saw it carried away by the currents. All they knew was that the reign of Osiris had ended, and Seth with his evil and tyrannical ways would now rule.

  Isis was grief-stricken. She cut off her hair and made a vow that she would not rest untill she had found the chest containing Osiris. Even though she was pregnant, she put on garments of mourning, and set off on her quest.

  Far and wide she wandered, asking all she met if any had seen this chest. But each time they shook their heads sadly and could tell her nothing.

  She became a fugitive, having to hide from her enemies in swamps and jungles. The god Ra looked down on her with pity. He sent seven giant scorpions to protect her.

  One day, she came to the wild marshlands near the mouth of the Nile before it opened into the sea. As she wandered along a lonely shore, she came across some children. They had seen a chest, they cried. It had floated down the Nile and had drifted into the sea near the city of Tanis.

  By now, Isis knew that her baby was due to be born and she needed shelter. One evening she came to the dwelling of a poor woman. At her knock, the woman opened the door. However, at the sight of the seven scorpions, she slammed the door shut in terror. As a punishment, one of the scorpions gained entry and stung the poor woman’s child, who then died. Screams of lamentation came from the distraught mother. Isis took pity and, murmuring magical words, brought the child back to life. Filled with gratitude and remorse, the poor woman welcomed the wandering queen into her house.

  Isis lived there in safety until she gave birth to a son called Horus. However, Seth came to know about the birth of this boy child and, fearing that the son of Osiris might one day claim the throne, he sent out his men to find and kill the child. But up in heaven, the god Thoth warned Isis in time and she fled the house with her child.

  Isis came to the city of Buto where there was a virgin goddess who was also a serpent. Her name was Uazit. Isis entrusted her beloved son to the virgin goddess, who promised to take care of him, then continued her search for the chest.

  Meanwhile, as the children had told her, the chest had floated out of the mouth of the Nile into the sea, where it was at last cast upon a Syrian shore near the town of Byblos. A marvellous tree had sprung up around it and enveloped the chest with its twisting branches. The king of that land was amazed. He ordered the tree to be cut down and had the trunk, to which the chest was sealed, erected as a pillar inside his palace for all to see. No one knew, though, what was in the chest.

  Isis had a dream. It told her to go by sea to the shore near Byblos. Dressed as a common villager, she left the ship and wandered into the town. She came to a well and sat there weeping. Many women approached her with concern, but she didn’t cease from weeping until the royal handmaidens also came to see what was happening. They spoke to her gently and offered her help.

  Isis thanked them for their kindness and offered to braid their hair. As each one’s hair was plaited, Isis breathed into the hair, so that they returned to the palace sweetly perfumed. The queen asked why they smelled so sweet, and they told her about the strange woman. The queen sent for Isis.

  Isis, the queen-goddess revealed who she really was and asked the king for the sacred pillar. The king agreed, and Isis cut deep into the trunk and brought out the coffin which had been sealed inside. It was taken to her ship, and Isis set sail for Egypt, carrying home, at last, the body of her dead husband.

  When she reached Egypt, she hid the chest in a forest, and hurried longingly to find her son, Horus. But alas, Seth was out hunting boar that night and, by the light of the moon, he came across the hidden chest. He opened it to find the body of Osiris. The body was taken out and Seth commanded that it be chopped up into fourteen pieces and thrown to the crocodiles in the Nile. However, the crocodiles feared the wrath of Isis and would not eat the pieces of Osiris, so when Isis heard what had taken place, once more she went out in search of her husband’s remains. She made herself a boat out of papyrus and sailed up and down until she had collected every piece. Then all along the banks of the Nile, she buried him, fragment by fragment, weeping and wailing, and built a temple over each one.

  Once again, Ra heard her lamentations and sent down Anubis, the jackal-headed god of embalming, to help her. They assembled all the pieces of the body of Osiris and wrapped them in linen bandages.

  Isis was transformed, becoming winged and, as a goddess once more, hovered over his body and breathed life into his nostrils. And so Osiris lived again as man and god. He became Judge and King of the Dead.

  Before he set out on his conquest, Alexander had reached and crossed one of the greatest rivers in Europe, the Danube. Here he was on the edge of Africa, on the banks of another great river, the Nile – a legendary river about which he had heard so many stories when he was a child.

  Now he could marvel himself at its fertile lands, towering temples, the extraordinary pyramids and the great sphinx in the desert. Nothing he had ever seen in his life could have prepared him for the wonders of Egypt.

  His first act was to worship at the shrine of Apis, the Bull, and offer sacrifices. How different from the previous conqueror, the Persian Ochus who, like Ataxerxes, had deliberately slaughtered a sacred bull and ordered it to be roasted for dinner.

  Alexander was hailed as a Deliverer, and enthroned as Pharaoh. They gave him the symbols of the Shepherd and the Judge. They called him Horus, the Strong Prince, beloved of Amun, Selected of Ra, Son of Ra, Alexandros. They had made him not just a king, but according to their traditions, a god.

  As Alexander moved from kingdom to kingdom, country to country, from one religion to another, he knew he could rule more effectively if he, as emperor, was also seen to be a god, so he accepted the aspect of a god of Egypt. If in Greece he was known as the son of Zeus, related to Heracles and Dionyses, in Egypt, he happily took on the title, Son of Amun, for Amun, the ram-headed god, was also known as Zeus Ammon.

  Endowed with such power and respect, Alexander took a boat from Memphis and sailed down the Nile to the coast to explore the Nile Delta and visit the Pharaoh’s fort at Rhacotis. It was the year 331 BC.

  THE FOUNDING OF ALEXANDRIA

  Where the Nile met the sea, there was a natural harbour around the fort, on the western edge of the delta. It struck Alexander as an ideal site for building a city port.

  Excitedly, he walked over the area, explaining his vision to the architects and engineers, describing in detail where everything should be: here the market place, here gathering spaces for the people, here the temples dedicated to both Egyptian gods and Greek, and here the perimeter walls. His followers ran alongside, trying to record his thoughts.

  He had no chalk to mark out his dimensions, so he used meal which someone resourcefully thought of. But as he sprinkled it, birds came down and ate it. Wondering what this omen meant, Alexander anxiously consulted the seers. They reassured him it meant that he would build a flourishing city which would feed everyone.

  Fantastical tales were told of monsters in the sea which tried to prevent Alexander from building his city, so Alexander built and entered a glass chest which was lowered under the waves. He descended to the bottom of the ocean so that he could draw these terrible creatures, and when he resurfaced, he had huge images made in metal, which lined the buildings along the sea front. When the monsters surfaced from the depths and saw their own images, they turned and fled away.

  Whatever the stories, Alexander built
his Egyptian city and called it Alexandria. It was one of the most modern and technologically advanced cities in the world, with roads and bridges, temples and palaces, and an intricate and effective system of water delivery throughout the city.

  This pearl of the Mediterranean, situated at the heart of three great continents, Europe, Asia and Africa, reached its glorious apex, after Alexander’s death, when his general Ptolemy became Pharaoh. Ptolemy built both the glorious Great Library, which celebrated scholarship, and was a storehouse of learning throughout the known world, and the Pharos Lighthouse – one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was the first lighthouse ever. With its giant mirror, it not only guided ships but also, it was said, could set enemy fleets on fire with its powerful reflector.

  But the vision was Alexander’s. Perhaps he was still trying to prove himself to the Greeks: that he was as civilized, as cultured and as literate as any of them. Perhaps he had wanted Alexandria to rival Athens as a seat of learning and power. Of all his exploits, whether he was thought to be a great leader, or just a power-mad, genocidal maniac, Alexandria would be his finest legacy. It would be recognized as one of the seven ancient Wonders of the World.

  Ra, Ah, Ptah, Anubis, Mut or Nekhebet, Horus, Isis and Osiris. How strange the names must have sounded to Alexander and his men. And what new sights they saw too: the pyramids in the desert, and the astonishing sphinx gazing out across the sands. Some saw crocodiles for the first time, and learned about incredible beasts like the hippopotamus; they heard of magic serpents, sacred cats, gods with the head of an eagle or a dog.

  But it was Ammon who Alexander thought about in the depths of his soul.

  Zeus Ammon.

  It was Alexander’s father, Philip, who said that to keep power, one must also be worshipped as a god. Alexander wondered if he was really the son of Zeus. Was he a god? He could proclaim himself as a god, but he needed proof. Being a god meant more to Alexander than just being a means of holding on to power. He wanted to find a single source of truth for himself – something that told him who he really was.