http://www.TrustedCoins.com The Thracian Chersonese was the ancient name of the Gallipoli peninsula, in the part of historic Thrace that is now part of modern Turkey. The peninsula runs in a south-westerly direction into the Aegean Sea, between the Hellespont (now known as the Dardanelles) and the bay of Melas (today Saros bay). Near Agora it was protected by a wall running across its full breadth. The isthmus traversed by the wall was only 36 stadia in breadth (about 6.5 km), but the length of the peninsula from this wall to its southern extremity, Cape Mastusia, was 420 stadia (about 77.5 km).  History The Thracian Chersonese was originally inhabited by Thracians. Settlers from Ancient Greece, mainly of Ionian and Aeolian stock, founded about 12 cities on the peninsula in the 7th century BC. The Athenian statesman Miltiades the Elder founded a major Athenian colony there around 560 BC. He took authority over the entire peninsula, building up its defences against incursions from the mainland. It eventually passed to his nephew, the more famous Miltiades the Younger, around 524 BC. The peninsula was abandoned to the Persians in 493 BC after the outbreak of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–478 BC). The Persians were eventually expelled, after which the peninsula was for a time ruled over by Athens, which enrolled it into the Delian League in 478 BC. The Athenians established a number of cleruchies on the Thracian Chersonese and sent an additional 1,000 settlers around 448 BC. Sparta gained control between 431 BC-404 BC, but the peninsula subsequently reverted to the Athenians. In the 4th century BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the focus of a bitter territorial dispute between Athens and Macedon, whose king Philip II sought possession. It was eventually ceded to Philip in 338 BC. After the death of Philip's son Alexander the Great in 323 BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the object of contention among Alexander's successors. Lysimachus established his capital Lysimachia here. In 196 BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus III seized the peninsula. This alarmed the Greeks and prompted them to seek the aid of the Romans, who conquered the Thracian Chersonese, which they gave to their ally Eumenes II of Pergamon in 188 BC. At the extinction of the Attalid dynasty in 133 BC it passed again to the Romans, who from 129 BC administered it in the Roman province of Asia. It was subsequently made a state-owned territory (ager publicus) and during the reign of the emperor Caesar Augustus it was imperial property. The Thracian Chersonese subsequently passed to the Byzantine Empire, which ruled it until the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century AD. In 1356 the peninsula became the first part of Europe to fall to the Ottomans, who subsequently made it a major base for raids and incursions into territories further afield.  Towns and economy The principal towns of the Thracian Chersonese were Cardia, Pactya, Callipolis (Gallipoli), Alopeconnesus, Sestos, Madytus, and Elaeus. The peninsula was renowned for its wheat. It also benefited from its strategic importance on the main route between Europe and Asia, as well as from its control of the shipping route from Crimea. The city of Sestos was the main crossing-point on the Hellespont (Dardanelles).

http://www.TrustedCoins.com Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great from the Greek alexo "to defend, help" + aner "man"), was a king of Macedon, a state in northern ancient Greece. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas.He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders. Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II of Macedon, to the throne in 336 BC after Philip was assassinated. Upon Philip's death, Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. He was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father's military expansion plans. In 334 BC, he invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. Seeking to reach the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea", he invaded India in 326 BC, but was eventually forced to turn back at the demand of his troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexander's surviving generals and heirs. Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion his conquests engendered. He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture in the east resulted in a new Hellenistic civilization, aspects of which were still evident in the traditions of the Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century. Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and myth of Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and military academies throughout the world still teach his tactics. Early life Lineage and childhood Alexander was born on the 6th day of the ancient Greek month of Hekatombaion, in Pella, the capital of the Ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedon.He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his fourth wife, Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus I, king of Epirus. Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his principal wife for some time, likely a result of giving birth to Alexander. Philip II of Macedon, Alexander's father. On the day that Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. That same day, Philip received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and that his horses had won at the Olympic Games. It was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, burnt down. This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, attending the birth of Alexander. Bust of a young Alexander the Great from the Hellenistic era, British Museum In his early years, Alexander was raised by a nurse, Lanike, sister of Alexander's future general Cleitus the Black. Later in his childhood, Alexander was tutored by the strict Leonidas, a relative of his mother, and by Philip's general Lysimachus. Alexander was raised in the manner of noble Macedonian youths, learning to read, play the lyre, ride, fight, and hunt. When Alexander was ten years old, a trader from Thessaly brought Philip a horse, which he offered to sell for thirteen talents. The horse refused to be mounted and Philip ordered it away. Alexander however, detecting the horse's fear of its own shadow, asked to tame the horse, which he eventually managed. Philip, overjoyed at this display of courage and ambition, kissed his son tearfully, declaring: "My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedon is too small for you", and bought the horse for him.Alexander named it Bucephalas, meaning "ox-head". Bucephalas carried Alexander as far as Pakistan. When the animal died at age thirty, Alexander named a city after him, Bucephala. When Alexander was 13, Philip began to search for a tutor, chose Aristotle and provided the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza as a classroom. In return for teaching Alexander, Philip agreed to rebuild Aristotle's hometown of Stageira, which Philip had razed, and to repopulate it by buying and freeing the ex-citizens who

http://www.TrustedCoins.com Cassander (Greek/font>: Κάσσανδρος , Kassandros Antipatros; ca. 350 - 297 BC), King of Macedonia (305 - 297 BC), was a son of Antipater, and founder of the Antipatrid dynasty.  Early history Cassander is first recorded as arriving at Alexander the Great’s court in Babylon in 323 BC, where he had been sent by his father, Antipater, likely to help uphold Antipater’s regency in Macedon, although a later contemporary suggestion hostile to the Antipatrids was that Cassander had journeyed to poison the King. Whatever the truth of this suggestion, Cassander certainly proved to be singularly noted amongst the diadochi in his hostility to Alexander‘s memory. Alexander IV, Roxanne, and Alexander’s supposed illegitimate son Heracles would all be executed on his orders, and a guarantee to Olympias to spare her life was not respected. So too, Cassander would restore Thebes, which had been destroyed under Alexander. This gesture was perceived at the time to be a snub to the deceased King. It was even said that he could not pass a statue of Alexander without feeling faint. Cassander has been perceived to be ambitious and unscrupulous, and even members of his own family were estranged from him.[4]  Later history      Kingdom of Cassander Other diadochi      Kingdom of Seleucus      Kingdom of Lysimachus      Kingdom of Ptolemy      Epirus Other      Carthage      Rome      Greek colonies As Antipater grew close to death in 319 BC, he transferred the regency of Macedon not to Cassander, but to Polyperchon, possibly so as not to alarm the other diadochi through an apparent move towards dynastic ambition, but perhaps also because of Cassander’s own ambitions. Cassander rejected his father’s decision, and immediately went to court Antigonus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus as allies. Waging war on Polyperchon, Cassander would destroy his fleet, put Athens under the control of Demetrius of Phaleron, and declare himself Regent in 317 BC. After Olympias’ successful move against Philip III later in the year, Cassander would besiege her in Pydna. When the city fell two years later, Olympias was killed, and Cassander would have Alexander IV and Roxanne confined at Amphipolis. Cassander associated himself with the Argead dynasty by marrying Alexander’s half-sister, Thessalonica, and had Alexander IV and Roxanne executed in either 310 BC or the following year. Certainly, in 309, Polyperchon would begin forwarding the claims of Heracles as the true heir to the Macedonian inheritance, at which point Cassander bribed him to have the boy killed. After this, Cassander’s position in Greece and Macedonia was reasonably secure, and he would proclaim himself King in 305 BC. After the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, in which Antigonus was killed, he was undisputed in his control of Macedonia. However, he had little time to savour the fact, dying of dropsy in 297 BC. Cassander’s dynasty did not live much beyond his death, with his son Philip dying of natural causes, and his other sons Alexander and Antipater becoming involved in a destructive dynastic struggle along with their mother. When Alexander was ousted as joint king by his brother, Demetrius I took up Alexander's appeal for aid and ousted Antipater, killed Alexander, and established the Antigonid dynasty. The remaining Antipatrids such as Antipater Etesias would prove unable to re-establish the Antipatrids on the throne. Of more lasting significance was Cassander’s transformation of Therma into Thessalonica, naming the city after his wife. Cassander also founded Cassandreia upon the ruins of Potidaea.  Cassander as a fictional character Mary Renault refers to Cassander in the Alexander Trilogy by his Greek name, Kassandros, and depicts him highly negatively. In Funeral Games, he is the villain of the piece. In the Oliver Stone film Alexander, he is portrayed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

http://www.TrustedCoins.com The Thracian Chersonese was the ancient name of the Gallipoli peninsula, in the part of historic Thrace that is now part of modern Turkey. The peninsula runs in a south-westerly direction into the Aegean Sea, between the Hellespont (now known as the Dardanelles) and the bay of Melas (today Saros bay). Near Agora it was protected by a wall running across its full breadth. The isthmus traversed by the wall was only 36 stadia in breadth (about 6.5 km), but the length of the peninsula from this wall to its southern extremity, Cape Mastusia, was 420 stadia (about 77.5 km).  History The Thracian Chersonese was originally inhabited by Thracians. Settlers from Ancient Greece, mainly of Ionian and Aeolian stock, founded about 12 cities on the peninsula in the 7th century BC. The Athenian statesman Miltiades the Elder founded a major Athenian colony there around 560 BC. He took authority over the entire peninsula, building up its defences against incursions from the mainland. It eventually passed to his nephew, the more famous Miltiades the Younger, around 524 BC. The peninsula was abandoned to the Persians in 493 BC after the outbreak of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–478 BC). The Persians were eventually expelled, after which the peninsula was for a time ruled over by Athens, which enrolled it into the Delian League in 478 BC. The Athenians established a number of cleruchies on the Thracian Chersonese and sent an additional 1,000 settlers around 448 BC. Sparta gained control between 431 BC-404 BC, but the peninsula subsequently reverted to the Athenians. In the 4th century BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the focus of a bitter territorial dispute between Athens and Macedon, whose king Philip II sought possession. It was eventually ceded to Philip in 338 BC. After the death of Philip's son Alexander the Great in 323 BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the object of contention among Alexander's successors. Lysimachus established his capital Lysimachia here. In 196 BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus III seized the peninsula. This alarmed the Greeks and prompted them to seek the aid of the Romans, who conquered the Thracian Chersonese, which they gave to their ally Eumenes II of Pergamon in 188 BC. At the extinction of the Attalid dynasty in 133 BC it passed again to the Romans, who from 129 BC administered it in the Roman province of Asia. It was subsequently made a state-owned territory (ager publicus) and during the reign of the emperor Caesar Augustus it was imperial property. The Thracian Chersonese subsequently passed to the Byzantine Empire, which ruled it until the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century AD. In 1356 the peninsula became the first part of Europe to fall to the Ottomans, who subsequently made it a major base for raids and incursions into territories further afield.  Towns and economy The principal towns of the Thracian Chersonese were Cardia, Pactya, Callipolis (Gallipoli), Alopeconnesus, Sestos, Madytus, and Elaeus. The peninsula was renowned for its wheat. It also benefited from its strategic importance on the main route between Europe and Asia, as well as from its control of the shipping route from Crimea. The city of Sestos was the main crossing-point on the Hellespont (Dardanelles).

http://www.TrustedCoins.com Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great from the Greek alexo "to defend, help" + aner "man"), was a king of Macedon, a state in northern ancient Greece. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas.He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders. Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II of Macedon, to the throne in 336 BC after Philip was assassinated. Upon Philip's death, Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. He was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father's military expansion plans. In 334 BC, he invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. Seeking to reach the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea", he invaded India in 326 BC, but was eventually forced to turn back at the demand of his troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexander's surviving generals and heirs. Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion his conquests engendered. He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture in the east resulted in a new Hellenistic civilization, aspects of which were still evident in the traditions of the Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century. Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and myth of Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and military academies throughout the world still teach his tactics. Early life Lineage and childhood Alexander was born on the 6th day of the ancient Greek month of Hekatombaion, in Pella, the capital of the Ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedon.He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his fourth wife, Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus I, king of Epirus. Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his principal wife for some time, likely a result of giving birth to Alexander. Philip II of Macedon, Alexander's father. On the day that Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. That same day, Philip received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and that his horses had won at the Olympic Games. It was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, burnt down. This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, attending the birth of Alexander. Bust of a young Alexander the Great from the Hellenistic era, British Museum In his early years, Alexander was raised by a nurse, Lanike, sister of Alexander's future general Cleitus the Black. Later in his childhood, Alexander was tutored by the strict Leonidas, a relative of his mother, and by Philip's general Lysimachus. Alexander was raised in the manner of noble Macedonian youths, learning to read, play the lyre, ride, fight, and hunt. When Alexander was ten years old, a trader from Thessaly brought Philip a horse, which he offered to sell for thirteen talents. The horse refused to be mounted and Philip ordered it away. Alexander however, detecting the horse's fear of its own shadow, asked to tame the horse, which he eventually managed. Philip, overjoyed at this display of courage and ambition, kissed his son tearfully, declaring: "My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedon is too small for you", and bought the horse for him.Alexander named it Bucephalas, meaning "ox-head". Bucephalas carried Alexander as far as Pakistan. When the animal died at age thirty, Alexander named a city after him, Bucephala. When Alexander was 13, Philip began to search for a tutor, chose Aristotle and provided the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza as a classroom. In return for teaching Alexander, Philip agreed to rebuild Aristotle's hometown of Stageira, which Philip had razed, and to repopulate it by buying and freeing the ex-citizens who

http://www.TrustedCoins.com Cassander (Greek/font>: Κάσσανδρος , Kassandros Antipatros; ca. 350 - 297 BC), King of Macedonia (305 - 297 BC), was a son of Antipater, and founder of the Antipatrid dynasty.  Early history Cassander is first recorded as arriving at Alexander the Great’s court in Babylon in 323 BC, where he had been sent by his father, Antipater, likely to help uphold Antipater’s regency in Macedon, although a later contemporary suggestion hostile to the Antipatrids was that Cassander had journeyed to poison the King. Whatever the truth of this suggestion, Cassander certainly proved to be singularly noted amongst the diadochi in his hostility to Alexander‘s memory. Alexander IV, Roxanne, and Alexander’s supposed illegitimate son Heracles would all be executed on his orders, and a guarantee to Olympias to spare her life was not respected. So too, Cassander would restore Thebes, which had been destroyed under Alexander. This gesture was perceived at the time to be a snub to the deceased King. It was even said that he could not pass a statue of Alexander without feeling faint. Cassander has been perceived to be ambitious and unscrupulous, and even members of his own family were estranged from him.[4]  Later history      Kingdom of Cassander Other diadochi      Kingdom of Seleucus      Kingdom of Lysimachus      Kingdom of Ptolemy      Epirus Other      Carthage      Rome      Greek colonies As Antipater grew close to death in 319 BC, he transferred the regency of Macedon not to Cassander, but to Polyperchon, possibly so as not to alarm the other diadochi through an apparent move towards dynastic ambition, but perhaps also because of Cassander’s own ambitions. Cassander rejected his father’s decision, and immediately went to court Antigonus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus as allies. Waging war on Polyperchon, Cassander would destroy his fleet, put Athens under the control of Demetrius of Phaleron, and declare himself Regent in 317 BC. After Olympias’ successful move against Philip III later in the year, Cassander would besiege her in Pydna. When the city fell two years later, Olympias was killed, and Cassander would have Alexander IV and Roxanne confined at Amphipolis. Cassander associated himself with the Argead dynasty by marrying Alexander’s half-sister, Thessalonica, and had Alexander IV and Roxanne executed in either 310 BC or the following year. Certainly, in 309, Polyperchon would begin forwarding the claims of Heracles as the true heir to the Macedonian inheritance, at which point Cassander bribed him to have the boy killed. After this, Cassander’s position in Greece and Macedonia was reasonably secure, and he would proclaim himself King in 305 BC. After the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, in which Antigonus was killed, he was undisputed in his control of Macedonia. However, he had little time to savour the fact, dying of dropsy in 297 BC. Cassander’s dynasty did not live much beyond his death, with his son Philip dying of natural causes, and his other sons Alexander and Antipater becoming involved in a destructive dynastic struggle along with their mother. When Alexander was ousted as joint king by his brother, Demetrius I took up Alexander's appeal for aid and ousted Antipater, killed Alexander, and established the Antigonid dynasty. The remaining Antipatrids such as Antipater Etesias would prove unable to re-establish the Antipatrids on the throne. Of more lasting significance was Cassander’s transformation of Therma into Thessalonica, naming the city after his wife. Cassander also founded Cassandreia upon the ruins of Potidaea.  Cassander as a fictional character Mary Renault refers to Cassander in the Alexander Trilogy by his Greek name, Kassandros, and depicts him highly negatively. In Funeral Games, he is the villain of the piece. In the Oliver Stone film Alexander, he is portrayed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers.