Philip and His Son

If the Greek cities had stayed friends and allies, like they were when they fought against the Persians, Greece would have been a strong country. But instead, Sparta and Athens fought.

In this case, the bully was a king named Philip, who ruled a country called Macedonia. Philip noticed that Athens and Sparta had become weaker and weaker after years of battle. And so he came down into Greece with his army and conquered the Greek cities. They barely had enough energy to resist.

Now Philip ruled Macedonia and Greece. But he wanted even more cities. He wanted to sail across the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor and take over the Persian Empire as well. But before he could attack Persia, Philip died. And his son Alexander took over his throne.

Do you know what the name Alexander means? It means “ruler of men.” Alexander became the most famous “ruler of men” ever. He was known by the whole world as “Alexander the Great.”

Alexander had always been an unusual boy. Even as a child, he was strong and brave. Nothing scared him. When he was still a small boy, he went with his father Philip to look at a warhorse that Philip wanted to buy. The horse, a huge black stallion named Bucephalus, bucked and kicked constantly. No one could ride him.

“He’s too wild,” King Philip said. “I don’t want him. I would never be able to manage him.”

“I can ride him!” Alexander said.

“Nonsense!” Philip said. “You’re too little.”

“But I can!” Alexander insisted.

“If you can ride him, I’ll buy him for you,” Philip promised.

Alexander had been watching Bucephalus carefully. He noticed the horse kicked and reared whenever the sun threw his shadow on the ground in front of him. Alexander thought that the huge stallion was frightened of his shadow. So he walked fearlessly up to the horse, took his bridle, and turned him so that he couldn’t see his shadow.

Philip bought the horse for Alexander. And when Alexander became king after his father’s death, the great black stallion Bucephalus always carried him into battle. He even named a city after his horse. He called it Bucephela!

Alexander had many opportunities to ride his warhorse into battle. His father Philip had conquered Greece, but Alexander had even larger goals in mind. He wanted to rule Persia. The Persians had given up trying to conquer Greece, but their empire was still the largest in the world. It stretched all the way from Asia Minor to India. And Alexander wanted it.

When Alexander met the Persian army in Asia Minor, he used his cavalry—soldiers riding on horseback—to push the Persians back. Asia Minor was now his. But could he conquer the rest of the Persian Empire?

According to one story, Alexander stopped at a city in Asia Minor and saw there, in the city’s center, a chariot tied to its axle with a huge, complicated knot of rope, larger than a man’s head. “What is that?” he asked.

“That is the Gordian Knot,” the people told him. “We have a legend about it. The man who loosens that knot will rule all the rest of Asia. But it is impossible to untie the knot. Hundreds of men have tried, and no one has ever succeeded!”

Alexander studied the knot carefully. Then he took out his sword and sliced the knot in half.

“There,” he said. “I have loosened the knot.”

No one had ever thought of doing that before. But the prophecy of the knot came true. Alexander conquered all the rest of Asia. He went south into Egypt and was crowned the pharaoh of Egypt. And then he came back up into Mesopotamia and took over the rest of the Persian Empire.

Now Alexander was king of more land than anyone else had ever ruled. He was truly “Alexander the Great”—the ruler of the largest empire the world had ever seen.