:34:04
Everything, suddenly changed for him,
:34:09
His father, King Philip, was murdered,
:34:13
..and Alexander 20
:34:16
..became the new ruler of Macedonia.
:34:21
And breaking their treaties with us, dismissing
Alexander as an untried boy,
:34:26
Several Greek city-states,
:34:28
rose up in revolt, much to Persia's delight, and
:34:33
.. half-sponsored by their gold.
:34:40
And truly Alexander could love like no other,
:34:43
but to betray him was to arrouse a vast and frightening anger,
:34:48
..and he massacred several thousand of the
men of that tragic city, Thebes,
:34:51
and sold the survivors into slavery.
:34:55
This, as intended, stunned and defeated the greeks,
:34:59
and though in the end he treated
most populations with..magnanimity,
:35:04
it is these exceptions,
:35:06
Thebes, Gaza in Syria and later, Persepholis in Persia and others,
:35:11
..that are always remembered by those
who hate Alexander and all he stood for.
:35:17
At 21, Alexander invaded Asia
:35:21
with an army of 40,000 trained men.
:35:24
And liberating one city state after the other,
:35:27
he conquered all of western Asia, south to Egypt,
:35:31
where he was declared Pharoah of Egypt,
:35:35
worshiped as a god.
:35:38
It was in Egypt that the respected oracle at Siwah
:35:45
declared him the true son of Zeus.
:35:52
He finally provoked Darius himself to battle
:35:56
in the heart of the Persian empire, near Babylon.