Alexander's legacy extended beyond his military conquests, and his reign marked a turning point in European and Asian history. His campaigns greatly increased contacts and trade between
East and
West, and vast areas to the east were significantly exposed to
Greek civilization and influence. Some of the cities he founded became major cultural centers, many surviving into the 21st century. His chroniclers recorded valuable information about the areas through which he marched, while the Greeks themselves got a sense of belonging to a world beyond the Mediterranean.
Hellenistic kingdoms world view:
world map by
Eratosthenes (276–194 BC), using information from the campaigns of Alexander and his successors Alexander's most immediate legacy was the introduction of Macedonian rule to huge new swathes of Asia. At the time of his death, Alexander's empire covered some , and was the largest state of its time. Many of these areas remained in Macedonian hands or under Greek influence for the next 200–300 years. The
successor states that emerged were, at least initially, dominant forces, and these 300 years are often referred to as the
Hellenistic period. The eastern borders of Alexander's empire began to collapse even during his lifetime. However, the power vacuum he left in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent directly gave rise to one of the most powerful Indian dynasties in history, the
Maurya Empire. Taking advantage of this power vacuum,
Chandragupta Maurya (referred to in Greek sources as "Sandrokottos"), of relatively humble origin, took control of the
Punjab, and with that power base proceeded to conquer the
Nanda Empire.
Founding of cities Over the course of his conquests, Alexander founded
many cities that bore his name, most of them east of the
Tigris. The first, and greatest, was
Alexandria in Egypt, which would become one of the leading Mediterranean cities. The cities' locations reflected trade routes as well as defensive positions. At first, the cities must have been inhospitable, little more than defensive garrisons. Following Alexander's death, many Greeks who had settled there tried to return to Greece. An
inscription from the temple, now housed in the
British Museum, declares: "King Alexander dedicated [this temple] to Athena Polias." This inscription is one of the few independent archaeological discoveries confirming an episode from Alexander's life.
Libanius wrote that Alexander founded the temple of Zeus Bottiaios (), in the place where later the city of
Antioch was built.
Suda wrote that Alexander built a big temple to
Sarapis. In 2023,
British Museum experts have suggested the possibility that a Greek temple at
Girsu in
Iraq, was founded by Alexander. According to the researchers, recent discoveries suggest that "this site honours Zeus and two divine sons. The sons are Heracles and Alexander."
Hellenization The term
Hellenization was coined by the German historian
Johann Gustav Droysen to denote the spread of Greek language, culture, and population into the former Persian empire after Alexander's conquest. This process can be seen in such great Hellenistic cities as
Alexandria,
Antioch and
Seleucia (south of modern
Baghdad). Alexander sought to insert Greek elements into
Persian culture and to hybridize Greek and Persian culture, homogenizing the populations of Asia and Europe. Although his successors explicitly rejected such policies, Hellenization occurred throughout the region, accompanied by a distinct and opposite 'Orientalization' of the successor states. The core of the Hellenistic culture promulgated by the conquests was essentially
Athenian. The close association of men from across Greece in Alexander's army directly led to the emergence of the largely
Attic-based "
koine", or "common" Greek dialect. Koine spread throughout the Hellenistic world, becoming the
lingua franca of Hellenistic lands, and eventually the ancestor of
modern Greek. Furthermore,
town planning, education, local government, and art current in the Hellenistic period were all based on Classical Greek ideals, evolving into distinct new forms commonly grouped as Hellenistic. Also, the
New Testament was written in the
Koine Greek language. Aspects of Hellenistic culture were still evident in the traditions of the Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century.
Hellenization in South and Central Asia , in
Greco-Buddhist style, 1st to 2nd century AD,
Gandhara, northern Pakistan.
Tokyo National Museum. Some of the most pronounced effects of Hellenization can be seen in Afghanistan and India, in the region of the relatively late-rising
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (250–125 BC) (in modern
Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and
Tajikistan) and the
Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BC – 10 AD) in modern Afghanistan and India. On the
Silk Road trade routes, Hellenistic culture hybridized with Iranian and
Buddhist cultures. The cosmopolitan art and mythology of
Gandhara (a region spanning the upper confluence of the Indus, Swat and Kabul rivers in modern Pakistan) of the ~3rd century BC to the ~5th century AD are most evident of the direct contact between Hellenistic civilization and South Asia, as are the
Edicts of Ashoka, which directly mention the Greeks within Ashoka's dominion as converting to Buddhism and the reception of Buddhist emissaries by Ashoka's contemporaries in the Hellenistic world. The resulting
syncretism known as
Greco-Buddhism influenced the development of Buddhism and created a culture of
Greco-Buddhist art. These Greco-Buddhist kingdoms sent some of the first Buddhist missionaries to
China,
Sri Lanka and Hellenistic Asia and Europe (
Greco-Buddhist monasticism). Some of the first and most influential figurative portrayals of
The Buddha appeared at this time, perhaps modelled on Greek statues of
Apollo in the Greco-Buddhist style. Several Buddhist traditions may have been influenced by the
ancient Greek religion: the concept of
Boddhisatvas is reminiscent of Greek divine heroes, and some
Mahayana ceremonial practices (burning
incense, gifts of flowers, and food placed on altars) are similar to those practised by the ancient Greeks; however, similar practices were also observed amongst the native Indic culture. One Greek king,
Menander I, probably became Buddhist, and was immortalized in
Buddhist literature as 'Milinda'. The process of Hellenization also spurred trade between the east and west. For example, Greek astronomical instruments dating to the 3rd century BC were found in the
Greco-Bactrian city of
Ai Khanoum in modern-day
Afghanistan, while the Greek concept of a
spherical Earth surrounded by the spheres of planets eventually supplanted the long-standing Indian cosmological belief of a disc consisting of four continents grouped around a central mountain (Mount Meru) like the petals of a flower. The
Yavanajataka () and
Paulisa Siddhanta texts depict the influence of Greek astronomical ideas on Indian astronomy. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the east,
Hellenistic influence on Indian art was far-reaching. In
architecture, a few examples of the
Ionic order can be found as far as
Pakistan with the
Jandial temple near
Taxila. Several examples of
capitals displaying Ionic influences can be seen as far as
Patna, especially with the
Pataliputra capital, dated to the 3rd century BC. The
Corinthian order is also heavily represented in the
art of Gandhara, especially through
Indo-Corinthian capitals.
Influence on Rome , demonstrating the influence of Alexander's memory.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.|upright Alexander and his exploits were admired by many Romans, especially generals, who wanted to associate themselves with his achievements.
Polybius began his
Histories by reminding Romans of Alexander's achievements, and thereafter Roman leaders saw him as a role model.
Pompey the Great adopted the epithet "Magnus" and even Alexander's anastole-type haircut, and searched the conquered lands of the east for Alexander's 260-year-old cloak, which he then wore as a sign of greatness. Alexander was used by these writers as an example of ruler values such as (friendship) and (clemency), but also (anger) and (over-desire for glory). The
Itinerarium Alexandri is a 4th-century Latin description of Alexander the Great's campaigns.
Julius Caesar went to serve his quaestorship in Hispania after his wife's funeral, in the spring or early summer of 69 BC. While there, he encountered a statue of Alexander the Great, and realised with dissatisfaction that he was now at an age when Alexander had the world at his feet, while he had achieved comparatively little.
Pompey posed as the "new Alexander" since he was his boyhood hero. After Caracalla concluded his campaign against the Alamanni, it became evident that he was inordinately preoccupied with Alexander the Great. He began openly mimicking Alexander in his personal style. In planning his invasion of the Parthian Empire, Caracalla decided to arrange 16,000 of his men in Macedonian-style
phalanxes, despite the Roman army having made the phalanx an obsolete tactical formation. The historian Christopher Matthew mentions that the term
Phalangarii has two possible meanings, both with military connotations. The first refers merely to the Roman battle line and does not specifically mean that the men were armed with
pikes, and the second bears similarity to the 'Marian Mules' of the late
Roman Republic who carried their equipment suspended from a long pole, which were in use until at least the 2nd century AD. It was said that the bridge was to rival the Persian king
Xerxes' pontoon bridge crossing of the Hellespont. then proceeded to ride his favourite horse
Incitatus across, wearing the breastplate of
Alexander the Great.
Letters Alexander wrote and received numerous letters, but no
originals survive. A few official letters addressed to the Greek cities survive in copies inscribed in stone and the content of others is sometimes reported in historical sources. These only occasionally quote the letters and it is an open question how reliable such quotations are. Several fictitious letters, some perhaps based on actual letters, made their way into the
Romance tradition.
In legend Many of the legends about Alexander derive from his own lifetime, probably encouraged by Alexander himself. His court historian Callisthenes portrayed the sea in
Cilicia as drawing back from him in proskynesis. Writing shortly after Alexander's death,
Onesicritus invented a tryst between Alexander and
Thalestris, queen of the mythical
Amazons. He reportedly read this passage to his patron King
Lysimachus, who had been one of Alexander's generals and who quipped, "I wonder where I was at the time." containing many dubious stories, and was translated into twenty-five languages, for example
Middle Persian,
Syriac and
Arabic. The colloquial form of his name in modern Greek ("O Megalexandros") is a household name, and he is the only ancient hero to appear in the
Karagiozis shadow play. In
Islamic Persia, under the influence of the
Alexander Romance (in
Iskandarnameh), a more positive portrayal of Alexander emerges.
Firdausi's
Shahnameh ("The Book of Kings")
includes Alexander in a line of legitimate Persian
shahs, a mythical figure who explored the far reaches of the world in search of the
Fountain of Youth. In the
Shahnameh, Alexander's first journey is to
Mecca to pray at the
Kaaba. Alexander was depicted as performing a
Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) many times in subsequent Islamic art and literature. Later Persian writers associate him with philosophy, portraying him at a symposium with figures such as
Socrates,
Plato and Aristotle, in search of immortality. depicting Alexander being lowered in a glass
submersible The figure of
Dhu al-Qarnayn (
Arabic: ذو القرنين; ) is believed by the majority of modern researchers of the
Qur'an as well as Islamic commentators to be a reference to Alexander. The figure is also believed by scholars to be based on later legends of Alexander. In this tradition, he was a heroic figure who
built a wall to defend against the nations of
Gog and Magog. He also travelled the known world in search of the Water of Life and Immortality, eventually becoming a prophet. The
Syriac version of the
Alexander Romance portrays him as an ideal
Christian world conqueror who prayed to "the
one true God". In Egypt, Alexander was portrayed as the son of
Nectanebo II, the last
pharaoh before the Persian conquest. His defeat of Darius was depicted as Egypt's salvation, "proving" Egypt was still ruled by an Egyptian. According to
Josephus, Alexander was shown the
Book of Daniel when he entered Jerusalem, which described a mighty Greek king who would conquer the Persian Empire. This is cited as a reason for sparing Jerusalem. , ''Les faits et conquêtes d'Alexandre le Grand'', 1448–1449 In
Hindi and
Urdu, the name "
Sikandar", derived from the Persian name for Alexander, denotes a rising young talent, and the
Delhi Sultanate ruler
Alauddin Khalji stylized himself as "Sikandar-i-Sani" (the Second Alexander the Great). In
medieval India, Turkic and Afghan sovereigns from the Iranian-cultured region of Central Asia brought positive cultural connotations of Alexander to the Indian subcontinent, resulting in the efflorescence of
Sikandernameh (
Alexander Romances) written by Indo-Persian poets such as
Amir Khusrau and the prominence of Alexander the Great as a popular subject in Mughal-era Persian miniatures. In
medieval Europe, Alexander the Great was revered as a member of the
Nine Worthies; a group of heroes whose lives were believed to encapsulate all the ideal qualities of
chivalry. During the first
Italian campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars, in a question from
Bourrienne, asking whether he gave his preference to Alexander or Caesar,
Napoleon said that he places Alexander The Great in the first rank, the main reason being his campaign on Asia. ==Historiography==