Alexander the Great lived a short life even by the standards of his time. The former king of Macedonia died mysteriously at the age of 32, though he had already conquered much of the civilized world and patched it together by that time. He was among the greatest generals the world has ever seen — but beyond that, the story of Alexander is often based in legend, with stars like Richard Burton and Collin Farrell portraying the leader on the silver screen. Still, the truth presents a much more nuanced view of what made Alexander so great.
Born in 356 B.C. in Pella, Macedonia, an ancient city located in present-day Greece, Alexander was famously taught by Aristotle throughout his childhood. According to a 2021 paper published in Advances in Social Science, his father, Phillip II, hired the famous tutor when Alexander was 13 to teach ethics, politics and debate. “It ...
