Europe While
Philip II was
besieging Perinthus, Alexander, as regent, subdued the
Maedi, a
Thracian tribe, in what is now southwestern
Bulgaria. According to
Plutarch, he founded a small settlement in the region and named it
Alexandropolis; the name mirrored his father's foundation of
Philippopolis and was probably given on Philip's order. The settlement's site is unknown, and some scholars have found its historicity questionable.
Asia Minor Many ancient settlements claimed a significant relationship to Alexander. In
Asia Minor, such cities included
Ilion,
Priene, and
Smyrna. In 334 BC, Alexander visited Ilion, site of the ruined Troy. He ordered that the town be made exempt from taxes and its buildings be rebuilt; he later promised to make Ilion a great city. However, none of these plans came to fruition in Alexander's lifetime. A local tribe called the
Alexandris were probably named after the legendary
Paris, sometimes called Alexander, not the Macedonian king. Although Alexander certainly took a great interest in Priene (including dedicating the city's
temple to Athena and granting exemptions to the populace), and even though it is probable that the town was refounded in the late fourth century, there is no direct evidence to claim Alexander carried it out. Excavations of the site could not find pre-
Hellenistic remains. While the later authors
Pausanias,
Pliny, and
Aelius Aristides recorded traditions which held that Alexander refounded Smyrna,
Strabo, writing in the first century BC, instead noted that the settlement was revived by
Antigonus I Monophthalmus after Alexander's death. Other settlements in the region, with much less viable claims, include
Aegae,
Alexandria by the Latmos,
Amorium,
Apollonia,
Chrysopolis,
Eukarpia,
Kretopolis,
Nicaea, and
Otrus.
Egypt, Phoenicia, and Syria In
Syria, the city of
Antioch, later to become one of the major cities of the ancient world, claimed a relationship with Alexander. According to
Libanius, a 4th-century AD native of the city, Alexander planned to found a city on the future site of Antioch but did not have enough time to do so; he instead set up a shrine to
Zeus and a small fortress. It is likely that this tradition was merely a local legend. The nearby settlement of
Alexandria by Issus, located in the general area of modern
İskenderun, is only recorded as a foundation of Alexander by
Pseudo-Scymnus, and some
recensions of the
Alexander Romance; a
seal found nearby bears the king's portrait. Considering the emphasis on Alexandria in Egypt as his first foundation, it is considered very unlikely that Alexander founded the settlement, although it almost certainly existed. In
Phoenicia and
Egypt, the cities of
Gaza and
Tyre are sometimes recorded as refoundations of Alexander.
Tyre was besieged and destroyed in 332 BC, and
Gaza experienced a similar fate later in the same year. Although Alexander rebuilt and resettled both cities, they are not usually considered foundations, but rather large-scale rehabilitations. Other less well-supported claims include that of
Alexandroschene,
Capitolias,
Dion,
Larisa Sizara,
Nikopolis,
Paraitonion,
Pella, and
Seleucia Abila.
The eastern provinces In
Mesopotamia,
Nikephorion (present-day Raqqa) was occasionally attributed to Alexander, but it was more probably founded by
Seleucus I. The 19th-century
Orientalist H. C. Rawlinson proposed that the Macedonian king founded a settlement shortly after and near the
Battle of Gaugamela in
Assyria. There are numerous attestations that Alexander founded a city in
Lower Mesopotamia: many city-names such as
Seleucia-on-the-Hedyphon,
Alexandria near Babylon, Alexandria near the Pallakopas, and Alexandria on the Tigris have been proposed; but it is likely that some of these names refer to the same city.
Alexandria Carmania may have been founded in
Carmania, but its existence is only weakly supported; if it existed, it was likely a later foundation. Similarly, the
Altars of Alexander and the
Portus Macedonum, reputedly located near Carmania, may have been
elephant-hunting stations established by
Nearchus. A settlement named
Alexandropolis was supposedly founded near
Nysa, but there is no evidence to support a foundation so soon after the army's passage of the
Caspian Gates. Further east,
Alexandria in Sakastane was likely founded after Alexander's death and only then attributed to him. Many Alexandrias are attested to regions of
Bactria,
Sogdiana, and the
Indian subcontinent; however, most are considered to be different names for the same settlement. Thus,
Alexandria Opiane and
Alexandria Kapisa are considered to be names for
Alexandria in the Caucasus; Alexandria near Baktra and Alexandria Oxiana may both refer to the same problematic settlement; while in India, the settlements of
Taxila and
Patala probably existed, but Alexander likely founded neither.
Quintus Curtius Rufus wrote that Alexander founded several cities in the
Indus Delta, but these were probably only garrisons. ==References==