Alexander the Great

Life

His Greek name was Alexandros III. He was born in 356 BC at Pella to Philip II, king of Macedonia, and Olympias. Macedonia is also mentioned in the Bible (rendered Magedonya in Korean translations). As a young man he is said to have studied under the philosopher Aristotle. When his father was assassinated in 336 BC, he ascended the throne at the age of twenty.

In 334 BC he crossed into Asia Minor and began his campaign against Persia (Persia). He defeated the armies of Darius III at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC and at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. In the interval he took Egypt and founded Alexandria. He then advanced through Central Asia as far as the Indus River valley, but turned back when his soldiers refused to march farther. He died in Babylon in 323 BC at the age of thirty-two. The cause of his death is uncertain; proposed explanations include fever and poisoning.

Achievements

• Building an empire: In a short span of time he conquered a vast territory spanning Greece, Egypt, Persia, and northwestern India.
• Spread of Hellenism: As Greek-style cities were founded throughout the conquered lands, a Hellenistic culture blending Greek and Eastern elements emerged. A common form of Greek known as Koine became the lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean.
• Division of the empire: After his death, his generals divided the empire among themselves. Judea was ruled first by the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and later by the Seleucid dynasty of Syria. The persecution under the Seleucid king Antiochus IV and the Maccabean revolt against it were major events of the intertestamental period and gave rise to the Feast of Dedication.

The Bible and the Korean Church

His name does not appear in the Protestant canon (the books the church recognizes as Scripture). The text that names him directly is 1 Maccabees 1. The Catholic Church accepts this book as deuterocanonical, while Protestants classify it among the Apocrypha and do not include it in the Bible.

The book of Daniel contains passages widely interpreted as referring to him. A representative example is the vision of the he-goat in chapter 8: "And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king" (Daniel 8:21). The "mighty king" of Daniel 11:3–4 is also commonly identified as Alexander.

Interpretations differ regarding the four beasts of Daniel 7:1–8.

• Conservative interpretation: This view regards the book of Daniel as the prophecy of Daniel in the sixth century BC. It identifies the four kingdoms as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, and interprets the leopard with four wings as Alexander's Greek empire.
• Historical-critical interpretation: This view dates the final composition of the book of Daniel to the second century BC. It identifies the four kingdoms as Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece, and interprets the fourth beast as Alexander and his successor kingdoms.

Expositions of Daniel and Bible study materials in the Korean church often follow the former interpretation. The Jewish historian Josephus relates a story in which Alexander visited Jerusalem and was shown the prophecies of the book of Daniel. Historians, however, generally do not regard this account as factual.

The Korean church also discusses him in lectures on the intertestamental period. A common explanation is that because his conquests spread the Greek language widely, the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, came into being, and the New Testament was likewise written in Koine and could be read across a broad region. Philippi, home to a church founded during Paul's missionary journeys, was named after his father, Philip II. Thessalonica is known as a city named after his half-sister Thessalonike.

Assessment

Historians regard him as an outstanding military leader and credit him with opening the way for cultural exchange between East and West. On the other hand, the destruction of Thebes (335 BC), the burning of the palace at Persepolis, and the massacres carried out during his conquests have drawn criticism. He has also been criticized for presenting himself as the son of a god and for demanding the Eastern custom of prostration.

Some within the church hold that his conquests laid the linguistic and cultural groundwork for the spread of the gospel, and they understand this as an act of God's providence. This is a theological interpretation and is distinct from the assessment of historical scholarship.