Name: Alexander the Great: From King of Macedon to Master of the Orient
Uploaded: 2026-08-28T11:00:00+02:00
Description: In thirteen years of military campaigns, Alexander the Great built one of antiquity's greatest empires. This documentary follows archaeologists and historians in the footsteps of his conquests, from Macedonia to India.

In thirteen years of military campaigns, Alexander the Great built one of antiquity's greatest empires. This documentary follows archaeologists and historians in the footsteps of his conquests, from Macedonia to India.

In 336 BCE, a twenty-year-old king ascended the throne of Macedon. Thirteen years later, Alexander -- known as "the Great" -- had covered more than 30,000 kilometers and conquered a territory stretching from Greece to the borders of India. This documentary retraces his extraordinary journey through archaeological excavations and ancient sources that still illuminate his legend today.¹

Born in Pella in 356 BCE, Alexander was a student of Aristotle and heir to Philip II. By 334 BCE, he crossed the Hellespont and defeated the Persians at the Granicus River. Excavations in Macedonia, notably at Vergina -- ancient Aegae -- have uncovered magnificent royal tombs testifying to the wealth and ambition of the Macedonian dynasty.²

The Alexander Mosaic found at Pompeii depicting the Battle of Issus — The Alexander Mosaic, discovered at Pompeii (c. 100 BCE), likely depicts the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE -- National Museum of Naples (public domain)

After the victory at Issus in 333 BCE and the capture of Tyre, Alexander entered Egypt, where he founded Alexandria in 331 BCE. The city would become one of the great intellectual centers of the ancient world. His successors, the Ptolemies, built the Great Library and the Mouseion there, attracting scholars and philosophers from across the Mediterranean.³

The Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE sounded the death knell of the Persian Empire. Alexander seized Persepolis, burned the palace of Xerxes, and pressed eastward. In Bactria and Sogdia, he married Roxana, a local princess, cementing a policy of cultural integration that defined his reign. The remains of Hellenistic cities founded during this period -- such as Ai Khanoum in Afghanistan -- attest to the depth of the Greek imprint in Central Asia.⁴

Reaching the Hydaspes River (modern Pakistan) in 326 BCE, Alexander was forced by his exhausted troops to turn back. He died in Babylon in 323 BCE, aged just 32, without a designated heir. His empire was immediately divided among his generals -- the Diadochi -- triggering decades of war. Yet the Hellenism he had sown continued to spread for three centuries, profoundly transforming cultures from Egypt to India.⁵

Alexander the Great: From King of Macedon to Master of the Orient

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