Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great Alexander's childhood Alexander the Great was born in 356 B.C. His father, Philip, was the brother of King Perdiccas III of Macedon or Macedonia, in northern Greece. His mother was Philip's wife Olympias, daughter of King Neoptolemus I of Epirus, in modern Albania. Alexander had a younger sister, Cleopatra (not the famous Egyptian queen). Unfortunately for Alexander and Cleopatra, their parents hated each other. In keeping with Macedonian tradition, Philip had several …

…should share the empire. His efforts to create unity failed; even the marriages between his men and the Persians mostly broke up after Alexander's death. In the fall of 324 Alexander's beloved friend Hephaestion died. Alexander was heartbroken. The following summer Alexander too became ill, and on June 13 he died in Babylon. He was 32. Modern historians have long suspected that he died from malaria, but recently it has been suggested that the culprit was typhoid fever.