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Alexander the Great: World Conqueror 

7/20/2015

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YouTube channel: Discovery History Channel

Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας, Aléxandros ho Mégas [a.lék.san.dros ho mé.gas]), was a King (Basileus) of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II, to the throne at the age of twenty. He spent most of his ruling years on an unprecedented military campaign through Asia and northeast Africa, until by the age of thirty he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from Greece to Egypt and into northwest India.
He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful military commanders.

During his youth, Alexander was tutored by the philosopher Aristotle until the age of 16. After Philip was assassinated in 336 BC, Alexander succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. He had been awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father's Panhellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia. In 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire, ruled Asia Minor, and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.

Seeking to reach the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea", he invaded India in 326 BC, but was eventually forced to turn back at the demand of his troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, the city he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexander's surviving generals and heirs.

Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism. He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture in the east resulted in a new Hellenistic civilization, aspects of which were still evident in the traditions of the Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century and the presence of Greek speakers in central and far eastern Anatolia until the 1920s. Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and myth of Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and military academies throughout the world still teach his tactics. He is often ranked among the world's most influential people of all time, along with his teacher Aristotle
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Engineering an Empire: Greece in the age of Alexander (History Channel)

6/23/2014

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After a century of tremendous accomplishment, Greece's territorial ambitions were stymied by constant warfare - until Alexander ventured abroad and initiated the Hellenistic era.

You can buy this great series directly from the History Channel. Please click here to be redirected to the History Channel website.
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Battles BC: Alexander Lord of War (History Channel)

5/26/2014

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Having conquered Egypt and archenemy Persia, the Greek emperor Alexander and his ambition look further east to India. As his forces encounter diverse adversaries they develop new tactics to add to their portfolio. But Alexander was unprepared for the incredible number of soldiers a confederation of Indian kingdoms could lead into battle.
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Indian Campaigns of Alexander the Great and Battle of the Hydaspes

1/23/2014

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YouTube channel: Mysteries & Subterranean Worlds

This show focuses on the Indian campaigns of Alexander the Great. It goes into great detail of Battle of the Hydaspes.

After the death of Spitamenes and his marriage to Roxana (Roshanak in Bactrian) to cement relations with his new satrapies, Alexander turned to the Indian subcontinent. He invited the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara, in the north of what is now Pakistan, to come to him and submit to his authority. Omphis, ruler of Taxila, whose kingdom extended from the Indus to the Hydaspes (Jhelum), complied, but the chieftains of some hill clans, including the Aspasioi and Assakenoi sections of the Kambojas 
(known in Indian texts also as Ashvayanas and Ashvakayanas), refused to submit.

In the winter of 327/326 BC, Alexander personally led a campaign against these clans; the Aspasioi of Kunar valleys, the Guraeans of the Guraeus valley, and the Assakenoi of the Swat and Buner valleys. A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi in which Alexander was wounded in the shoulder by a dart, but eventually the Aspasioi lost. Alexander then faced the Assakenoi, who fought in the strongholds of Massaga, Ora and Aornos.


The fort of Massaga was reduced only after days of bloody fighting, in which Alexander was wounded seriously in the ankle. According to Curtius, "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubble". A similar slaughter followed at Ora. In the aftermath of Massaga and Ora, numerous Assakenians fled to the fortress of Aornos. Alexander followed close behind and captured the strategic hill-fort after four bloody days.

After Aornos, Alexander crossed the Indus and fought and won an epic battle against King Porus, who ruled a region in the Punjab, in the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC. Alexander was impressed by Porus's bravery, and made him an ally. He appointed Porus as satrap, and added to Porus' territory land that he did not previously own. Choosing a local helped him control these lands so distant from Greece. Alexander founded two cities on opposite sides of the Hydaspes river, naming one Bucephala, in honor of his horse, who died around this time. The other was Nicaea (Victory), thought to be located at the site of modern day Mong, Punjab.

The Battle of the Hydaspes River was fought by Alexander the Great in 326 BC against King Porus of the Hindu Paurava kingdom on the banks of the Hydaspes River (Jhelum River) in the Punjab near Bhera, in what is now Pakistan. The battle resulted in a complete Macedonian victory and the annexation of the Punjab, which lay beyond the confines of the defeated Persian empire, into the Alexandrian Empire.

Alexander's tactics to cross the monsoon-swollen river despite close Indian surveillance to catch Porus' army in the flank has been referred as one of his "masterpieces". Although victorious, it was also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians. The resistance put up by King Porus and his men won the respect of Alexander who asked him to become a Macedonian satrap.

The battle is historically significant for opening up India for Greek political (Seleucid, Greco-bactrian Indo-Greek) and cultural influences (Greco-Buddhist art) which was to continue for many centuries.

When Porus reached the point where Alexander's army was arrayed, he deployed his forces and commenced the attack. The Indians were poised with cavalry on both flanks, their center comprising infantry with elephants towering among or before them in equal intervals. The elephants caused much harm to the Macedonian phalanx, but were eventually repulsed by the dense pikes of the phallangitai, wreaking much havoc upon their own lines.
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Macedonia: A Civilization Uncovered (BBC)

1/10/2014

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BBC documentary about Macedonia and the excavations with the great archaeologist Manolis Andronikos in Macedonia, northern Greece. 

A very interesting documentary with footage about the graves of the royal house of the Ancient Macedonians as they were being unearthed.

With Greek subtitles
Με ελληνικούς υπότιτλους
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Ancient Greece: The Greatest Show on Earth (BBC) - 3 Part Series

9/13/2013

 


This series examines the extraordinary rise of Athens in the ancient world from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century AD through the prism of one of its most important and culturally crucial spaces: the theatre.

The home of democracy, the creator of empire, the builder of architectural greats like the Parthenon, Athens was a city that in its time saw it all, did it all, lost it all and strained every sinew to get it all back again.

As Athens played its life out on the Mediterranean stage, the Athenians were regularly sitting down to watch tragedies and comedies in their theatres. These plays spoke to their audiences in a very different way to theatrical performances today. Rather than providing pure ‘entertainment’, ‘distraction’ or ‘diversion’ from reality, they were sharply focused on reality. For the Athenians, theatre was not simply a mirror of their present, it was itself a stage on which that present could be played out.

Athens’ story is one of survival in a difficult and changing world. This series follows that astonishing and dramatic story from the inception of theatre in the 6th century BC through to its place in the Roman Empire of the 2nd century AD, and reveals how Athenian tragedy and comedy not only reflected the intricacies of that survival, but were also critical reasons for it. A seat in the theatre, it turns out, is the perfect vantage point from which to see and understand one of the most extraordinary tales in human history.

This series was made in conjunction with the Open University, and in association with my production company, Nostos Productions.

Mystery Files: Alexander the Great (National Geographic)

8/19/2013

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What happened to Alexander's body? Was his tomb destroyed? Hijacked? Or was it something more sinister?

Mystery Files investigates what happened to the body and tomb. Alexander the Great was one of the most famous military leaders in history. After his death, his body and tomb would be sources of great veneration. History, however, reveals few references to Alexander's body and tomb. Mystery Files speculates that the body was taken from its tomb in Alexandria to Venice where it is now passed off as the body of St. Mark the Evangelist.
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In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (Part 4) - To the End of the Earth (BBC)

7/12/2013

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British filmmaker Michael Wood embarks on an idiosyncratic journey of 20,000 miles tracing the expedition of Alexander the Great in this captivating documentary.

You can buy this great series directly from the BBC. Please click here to be redirected to the BBC website.
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In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (Part 3) - Across the Hindu Kush (BBC)

7/11/2013

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British filmmaker Michael Wood embarks on an idiosyncratic journey of 20,000 miles tracing the expedition of Alexander the Great in this captivating documentary.

You can buy this great series directly from the BBC. Please click here to be redirected to the BBC website.
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In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (Part 2) - Lord of Asia (BBC)

7/10/2013

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British filmmaker Michael Wood embarks on an idiosyncratic journey of 20,000 miles tracing the expedition of Alexander the Great in this captivating documentary.

You can buy this great series directly from the BBC. Please click here to be redirected to the BBC website.
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In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (Part 1) - Son of God (BBC)

7/9/2013

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British filmmaker Michael Wood embarks on an idiosyncratic journey of 20,000 miles tracing the expedition of Alexander the Great in this captivating documentary.

You can buy this great series directly from the BBC. Please click here to be redirected to the BBC website.
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Time Commanders: Battle of Hydaspes (BBC)

7/4/2013

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A crack force of Macedonian troops has just made an audacious night-time crossing of a tempestuous river; but now an army featuring one of the largest forces of war elephants ever fielded threatens to force them back into the water. Will the Macedonians overcome? Or will they be ground into the dust?
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Decisive Battles: Battle of Cynoscephalae - Rome vs. Macedon (History Channel)

6/16/2013

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In 197 BC Phillip V of Macedon fought a fierce battle, here, against a Roman army that was determined to destroy him. The stakes were high, both Rome and Macedon were fighting for control of Greece. If Rome won, she would rule the entire Mediterranean world; but Cynoscephalae was not just a battle between two military powers, it was a battle between two ways of fighting. Between the old way of the Greeks and the new way of Rome.
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Time Commanders: Battle of Gaugamela (BBC)

5/28/2013

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It's 331 BC. Alexander the Great is on the attack, taking on the massive Persian army of Darius, king of kings. Can Darius hold on to his colossal empire? Or will the hot-headed young Alexander seize it from him by force?
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Lost Tomb of Alexander (National Geographic)

11/13/2008

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For all his power in life, Alexander the Great could not control the fate of his body after death.
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Alexander the Great (Encyclopedia Channel)

6/5/2007

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Alexander III of Macedon was the son of Macedonian King Phillip II. Since his childhood Homer's heroic poems were favourite books of the heir of throne. And Alexander considered Achilles, the hero of the Trojan War, and mythical athlete Hercules as his idols.

Alexander the Great from Macedonia brought together the civilizations of Greece and Middle East and started the period known as the Hellenic Age.
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