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Dhul-Qarnayn (Arabic: ذو القرنين ḏū al-qarnayn, IPA: [ðuːlqarˈnajn]), literally "He of the Two Horns" ^[1][2] is a figure mentioned in the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Islam, where he is described as a great and righteous ruler who built the wall that keeps Gog and Magog from attacking the people whom he met on his journey to the east (i.e., the rising of the sun). The word qarn means a horn, as also a generation or a century and dhul qarnain literally means the two-horned one, or one belonging to the two generations or two centuries. According to a classical interpretation, the name is due to his having reached the two 'Horns' of the Sun, east and west, where it rises and where it sets" during his journey.^[3]

The identification of Dhul-Qarnayn in historical context is not clear, and therefore this subject has generated various theories. In modern scholarship the character is usually identified as Alexander the Great,^[4][5][6] who is ascribed similar adventures in the Alexander romance.^[7] The same opinion is held in traditional Islamic scholarship.^[8] In other modern scholarship the character is usually identified as Cyrus the Great.^[5][9] Some modern scholars also identify the character as Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who was celebrated by his contemporaries as a "second Alexander" and whose Persian campaign had inspired the Alexander romance.^[10]

Name[link]

Arabic "Dhul-Qarnayn" (Arabic: ذو القرنين‎, ḏū al-qarnayni) literally translates to "possessor of the two horns". "Dhu" (Arabic: ذو‎, ḏū) means "owner".

Qur'anic narrative[link]

The story of Dhul-Qarnayn appears in sixteen verses of the Qur'an, specifically verses 18:83-98:

Traditional exegesis (tafsir)[link]

According to Tafsir ibn Kathir by Ibn Kathir, a widely used 14th-century commentary on the Qur'an:

The Quraysh sent An-Nadr bin Al-Harith and `Uqbah bin Abi Mu`it to the rabbis in Al-Madinah, and told them: `Ask them (the rabbis) about Muhammad, and describe him to them, and tell them what he is saying. They are the people of the first Book, and they have more knowledge of the Prophets than we do.' So they set out and when they reached Al-Madinah, they asked the rabbis about the Messenger of Allah. They described him to them and told them some of what he had said. They said, `You are the people of the Tawrah and we have come to you so that you can tell us about this companion of ours.' They (the rabbis) said, `Ask him about three things which we will tell you to ask, and if he answers them then he is a Prophet who has been sent (by Allah); if he does not, then he is saying things that are not true, in which case how you will deal with him will be up to you. Ask him about some young men in ancient times, what was their story for theirs is a strange and wondrous tale. Ask him about a man who travelled a great deal and reached the east and the west of the earth. What was his story And ask him about the Ruh (soul or spirit) – what is it If he tells you about these things, then he is a Prophet, so follow him, but if he does not tell you, then he is a man who is making things up, so deal with him as you see fit.[4]

According to Maududi's conservative 20th century commentary:

This Surah was sent down in answer to the three questions which the mushriks of Makkah, in consultation with the people of the Book, had put to the Holy Prophet in order to test him. These were: (1) Who were "the Sleepers of the Cave"? (2) What is the real story of Khidr? and (3) What do you know about Dhul-Qarnain? As these three questions and the stories involved concerned the history of the Christians and the Jews, and were unknown in Hijaz, a choice of these was made to test whether the Holy Prophet possessed any source of the knowledge of the hidden and unseen things. Allah, however, not only gave a complete answer to their questions but also employed the three stories to the disadvantage of the opponents of Islam in the conflict that was going on at that time at Makkah between Islam and un-belief.[5]

12th century map by the Muslim scholar Al-Idrisi (South up). "Yajooj" and "Majooj" (Gog and Magog) appear in Arabic script on the bottom-left edge of the Eurasian landmass, enclosed within dark mountains, at a location corresponding roughly to Mongolia. This is a reference to the story of Dhul-Qarnayn in the Qur'an.

Possible identity[link]

Alexander the Great[link]

Cyrus the Great[link]

Oghuz Khan and/or Bilge Qaghan[link]

Based on the exact matching between the Al-Kahf and the Orkhon Inscriptions, it is put forward that Dhul-Qarnayn was Oghuz Khan and/or Bilge Qaghan.[6][7][8]

Differences Between Alexander the Great and Dhul-Qarnayn[link]

The suggestion that Dhul-Qarnayn is Cyrus the Great is supported by some of the Quranic commentaries (Tafsir) and Islamic scholars such as Allameh Tabatabaei (in his Tafsir al-Mizan),^[11] Allameh Tehrani,^[9] Syed Ahmed Khan (known interpreter of the Quran), Abul Kalam Azad (Minister of Culture, India, in Majma' al-Bayan), and Dr. Baha-ed-Din Khorramshahi. Mohammad Ebrahim Bastani Parizi the historian, also deny that Dhul-Qarnayn was Alexander the Great.^[12] They believe that Dhul-Qarnayn was Cyrus the Great, the King and founder of Achaemenid empire. They provide strong evidence, including artifacts, stone carving palaces and graves. Some of their reasons are:

1. In the carved stone that can still be seen up to now show Cyrus with his crown with two horns.^[12]
2. According to the Quran, God's grace be with him and with it, Cyrus was the first king (several hundred years before Alexander the Great) who conquered most of Europe and Asia.^[12]
3. Cyrus (as Dhul-Qarnayn) was a monotheist and worshipped the God, but Alexander the Great had many gods.^[12]
4. In the Quran, Dhul-Qarnayn noted that the journey begins to the west and then to the east before the road to the other (the North), which coincided with the start the expedition of Cyrus the Persian conquest in the West to Lydia in Asia Minor and then turned to the east until the Makran and Sistan (Scythian) prior to capturing the Northeast Europe near the Balkan.^[12]
5. Expedition of Cyrus proceeded with the conquest of Lycia, Cilicia and Phoenicia, and they used the techniques of wall construction which was not used anymore by the Greeks at that time.^[12]
6. In accordance to story in Quran, more chances of it being Cyrus, as he ended his expeditions in 542 BC, before returning to Persia, while Alexander was still in war mission when he died.^[12]
7. Alexander didn't built dams, there are just some fictional stories about this but there's not any historical document about it.^[12] (Look at Strabo's Geography for more information)^[11]
8. Besides, Alexander also said to be as generous as it is said Alexander drinking alcohol and partying often, and also had a man, Hephaestion, as a lover.^[11][12][13]

Azad also rejected what it already belongs to Qahtaan Arabic Yemen, on the basis that the question of the Jews by the Prophet was with a view to embarrass him, even if the Arabs of Quraish were aware of it and asked what was miraculous.^[11][12][13]

Azad builds his theory on the basis that the origin of the name "Dhul-Qarnayn" comes from the name stated in the Torah is "Haqqərānayim" which is launched by the name of the Jews to Cyrus, to show tolerance to them when his predecessors had been unjust to them.^[12][13][14]

In Old Testament[link]

In Arabic translations of the Old Testament, the word "Dhul Qarnayn" (Hebrew: Ba'al Haqqərānayim בעל הקרנים) appears once in the Old Testament, in the Book of Daniel 8:20:

أَمَّا الْكَبْشُ الَّذِي رَأَيْتَهُ ذَا الْقَرْنَيْنِ فَهُوَ مُلُوكُ مَادِي وَفَارِسَ

הָאַיִל אֲשֶׁר-רָאִיתָ, בַּעַל הַקְּרָנָיִם--מַלְכֵי, מָדַי וּפָרָס

Translation:

• (New International Version): The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. Daniel 8:20
• (JPS 1917 Hebrew Bible in English): The ram which thou sawest having the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. Daniel 8.

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Bietenholz, Peter G. (1994). Historia and fabula: myths and legends in historical thought from antiquity to the modern age. Brill. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ZFjXaCAWoOUC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Bietenholz+Historia+and+fabula&source=bl&ots=jWwMpOo82A&sig=AhyAv80oPI5Zni4DPv0x3TTNx0Y&hl=en&ei=F8rDTZezH42GvAPyzIibAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 

• Wheeler, Brannon (2006). "Alexander". In Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach. Medieval Islamic civilization. Oxford University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=H-k9oc9xsuAC&pg=PA29&dq=Dhu+al-qarnayn&hl=en&ei=w4D0TaOaJYPGvQPjjIXMBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Dhu%20al-qarnayn&f=false. 

Publication[link]

1. ^ Alexander the Great, p. 37, Richard Stoneman, Routledge, 1997.
2. ^ A. Shapur Shahbazi, 'Iranians and Alexander', American Journal of Ancient History n.s. 2 (2003), 5-38
3. ^ The Wars of the Jews, VII, vii, Flavius Josephus.
4. ^ The Antiquities of the Jews, I, vi, Flavius Josephus.
5. ^ Sahih Bukhari, English Translation, Hadith number 6326
6. ^ Kathir, 2002. Tafsir Ibn Kathir. Surah Al-Kahf. Electronic web-only document last updated October 26, 2002. Tafsir.com. Extracted on September 22, 2010 from http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=18&tid=29908

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A Persian miniature, Dhul-Qarnayn with the help of jinn, building the Iron Wall to keep the barbarian Gog and Magog from civilized peoples. (16th century Persian miniature).

Gog and Magog (Hebrew: גּוֹג וּמָגוֹג‎‎ Gog u-Magog; Arabic: يَأْجُوج وَمَأْجُوج‎ Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj) are names that appear primarily in various Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures, as well as numerous subsequent references in other works. Their context can be either genealogical (as Magog in Genesis 10:2) or eschatological and apocalyptic, as in Ezekiel and Revelation. They are sometimes individuals, sometimes peoples, and sometimes geographic regions. The passages from Ezekiel and Revelation in particular have attracted attention due to their prophetic descriptions of conflicts said to occur near the "End times".

Etymology[link]

The etymology of both the names Gog and Magog remains uncertain. The ma- at the beginning of Magog may indicate a land, or it may mean "from", so that Magog means "of the land of Gog" or "from Gog". Gog may originate as the Hebrew version of the name of Gyges of Lydia, who made his kingdom a great power in the early 7th century BC, but this explanation, although common, is not universally accepted.^[1] A different theory is that "Magog" might be a reference to Babylon, by turning BBL ("Babylon" in Hebrew script, which originally had no vowel-signs) into MGG (Magog), but this account, like the others, has problems.^[2]

Texts[link]

Genesis and Chronicles[link]

Chapter 10 of the Book of Genesis, commonly called the "Table of Nations", names some 70 descendants of Noah from whom "the nations spread out over the earth after the Deluge." Noah has three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and Magog is one of the sons (the second) of Japheth:

This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.^[3]

1 Chronicles begins with a list of genealogies repeating that in the Table of Nations but continuing well beyond. In chapter 5, among the many descendants of Reuben, first of the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob, it mentions an individual named Gog.^[4]

Ezekiel[link]

The two names first appear together in chapters 38 and 39 of the Book of Ezekiel, but here Magog is a place and not an individual:^[5]

Son of man, direct your face towards Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince, leader of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy concerning him. Say: Thus said the Lord: Behold, I am against you, Gog, the prince, leader of Meshech and Tubal.^[6]

Ezekiel lived in the first half of the 6th century BC, and the earliest possible date for the prophecy is c. 585 BC.^[7] Scholars disagree, however, as to whether Ezekiel 38-39 was part of the original text (compare, for example, Joseph Blenkinsopp, who believes it to be a late addition,^[8] and Daniel Block, who argues for its original status).^[9] Its prophecy of a savage foe from the north is based on Jeremiah 1:3-16, where Jeremiah is talking about the Babylonians;^[8] Ezekiel turns this into an eschatological enemy who will come "in the latter years," an apocalypse at the end of time.^[1]

Gog's allies - Meshech and Tubal, Persia, Cush and Put, and "Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north" - are all, with the exception of Persia, taken from the Table of Nations.^[8] Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and Beth Togarmah can be identified with real 8th and 7th century peoples, kings or kingdoms of Anatolia, modern Turkey.^[10] "Why the prophet's gaze should have focused on these particular nations is unclear," says Daniel Block in a recent study of Ezekiel 25-48, but suggests that their remoteness and reputation for violence and mystery "made Gog and his confederates perfect symbols of the archetypal enemy, rising against God and his people."^[11] Cush (Sudan or Ethiopia) and Put (Libya) are sons of Ham according to Genesis 10, while Persia is located to the east, and is not mentioned in Genesis 10 at all. Since Ezekiel insists on a northerly situation of Gog and his allies, many commentators believe that these three names were added later, although this too is disputed.^[12]

Intertestamental period[link]

Around the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Sibylline Oracles mention the "land of Gog and Magog" as "situated in the midst of Aethiopian rivers", but in a second mention links it with the "Marsians and Dacians", in eastern Europe; in both cases they are about to receive "woe," and according to Boe, "there can be little doubt about the direct use of Ezekiel's oracles" in their composition.^[13]

The Book of Jubilees, known from about the same time, mentions Magog as a son of Japheth to whom land is allocated, while Gog is a region on Japheth's borders.^[14] 1 Enoch tells how God stirs up the Medes and Parthians (instead of Gog and Magog) to attack Jerusalem, where they are destroyed; an indebtedness to Ezekiel 38-39 has also been asserted.^[15] In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Messiah will rule "over all the peoples and Magog,"^[16] and Magog is allocated land next to Gomer, the first son of Japheth.^[17] The sole fragment where the two names are combined as "Gog and Magog" is too small to be meaningful.^[15] The 1st century Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum is notable for listing and naming seven of Magog's sons, and mentions his "thousands" of descendants.^[18]

The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, made during this period, occasionally introduces the name of Gog where the Hebrew original has something else. Thus at Numbers 24:7 it replaces Agag, a mysterious but clearly powerful figure, with Gog, and at Amos 7:1 the Greek has Gog as the leader of a threatening locust-like army.^[1] The Greek translation of Ezekiel takes Gog and Magog to be synonyms for the same country, a step which paved the way for the Book of Revelation to turn "Gog from Magog" into "Gog and Magog."^[2]

Book of Revelation[link]

By the end of the 1st century, Jewish tradition had long since changed Ezekiel's Gog from Magog into Gog and Magog, the ultimate enemies of God's people, to be destroyed in the final battle.^[19] The author of the Book of Revelation tells how he sees in a vision Satan rallying Gog and Magog, "the nations in the four corners of the Earth," to a final battle with Christ and his saints:

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the Earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.^[20]

Ezekiel's Gog from Magog was a symbol of the evil darkness of the north and the powers hostile to God,^[1] but in Revelation, Gog and Magog have no geographic location, and instead represent the nations of the world, banded together for the final assault on Christ and those who follow him.^[21]

Qur'an[link]

In Surat Al-Kahf ("The Cave", 18:83–98) of the Qur'an, a pious king called Dhul-Qarnayn ("He of the Two Horns (or he who witnessed two centuries)") journeys to the edge of the earth, where he finds people who are suffering from the mischief of Gog and Magog. Dhu'l-Qarnayn then makes a wall of copper and iron to keep Gog and Magog out, but warns that it will be broken down at the time appointed by Allah.^[22] In sura 21, Al-Anbiyā (The Prophets), the wall is mentioned again: Allah tells his Prophet (Mohammed) that there is a "prohibition upon [the people of] a city which We have destroyed that they will not return until [the dam of] Gog and Magog has been opened and thou shall see them, from every higher ground, descending."^[23] According to Saḥīḥ al-Bukhāri, Gog and Magog are human beings, and the city mentioned in Surat 21 is Jerusalem.^{[citation needed]}

Rabbinic Literature[link]

According to the Radak commenting on Zechariah 14, this part of Zechariah refers to the war of Gog and Magog, that in the end of days Jerusalem will be the battle ground of Gog and Magog.^[24]

Identifying Gog and Magog[link]

Separate passages in the "Jewish Antiquities" and "Jewish War" of the 1st century Jewish historian and scholar Josephus show that Jews of that time identified Gog and Magog with the Scythians: Alexander the Great, Josephus said, locked these horse-riding barbarians of the far north behind the Caucasus mountains with iron gates.^[25] A version of this story formed the basis of the Qur'anic tale of Dhul-Qarnayn.^[26]

Some early Christian writers (e.g. Eusebius) identified Gog and Magog with the Romans.^[27] After the Roman Empire became Christian this was no longer possible and attention switched to Rome's northern barbarian enemies. Ambrose (d.397) identified them with the Goths,^[28] and Isidore of Seville confirmed that people in his day supposed that the Goths were descended from Magog "because of the similarity of the last syllable".^[29] The idea that Gog and Magog were connected with the Goths was longstanding; in the mid-16th century, Archbishop of Uppsala Johannes Magnus traced the royal family of Sweden back to Magog son of Japheth, (Magnus identified two of Magog's sons as Suenno, progenitor of the Swedes, and Gethar (also known as Gog or Gogus), ancestor of the Goths).^[30]

In the 6th century, the Byzantine historian Procopius (d. after 562) saw Attila and the Huns as the nation locked out by Alexander, and a little later other Christian writers identified them with the Saracens.^[31] Still later, Gog and Magog became identified with the Khazars, whose empire dominated Central Asia in the 9th and 10th centuries. In his 9th century work Expositio in Matthaeum Evangelistam, the Benedictine monk Christian of Stavelot referred to them as descendants of Gog and Magog, and says they are "Circumcised and observing all [the laws of] Judaism";^[32] the 14th century Sunni scholar Ibn Kathir also identified Gog and Magog with the Khazars,^[33][34] as did a Georgian tradition, which called them "wild men with hideous faces and the manners of wild beasts, eaters of blood".^[35] According to the famous Khazar Correspondence (c. 960), King Joseph of Khazaria claimed to be a descendant of Magog's nephew Togarmah.^[36]

The Mongols were the next barbarians. Early in the 13th century reports began to reach Europe of a mysterious and invincible horde from the east that destroyed Muslim empires and kingdoms, leading kings and popes to take them for Prester John, marching to save Christians from the Saracens; but when they entered Poland and Hungary and annihilated Christian armies, a terrified Europe concluded that they were "Magogoli", the offspring of Gog and Magog, released from the prison Alexander had constructed for them and heralding Armageddon.^[37]

The Mongolian armies decided to turn back because of the death of Genghis Khan back in the East and their defeat in the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine. Gog and Magog became the subject of literature. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, a 14th best-seller, associated the Jews with Gog and Magog, saying the nation trapped behind the Gates of Alexander comprised the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.^[38] Marco Polo located Gog and Magog as regions of Tenduk, a province belonging to the legendary Prester John, and governed by one George, fourth in descent from the original John. According to this account Gog (locally Ung) is inhabited by a tribe called the Gog, whilst Magog (or Mongul) is inhabited by Tatars. The 14th century Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta reported that "the rampart of Yajuj and Majuj" was "sixty days' travel" from the city of Zeitun;^[39] the translator notes that Ibn Battuta has confused the Great Wall of China with that built by Dhul-Qarnayn.^[40]

A German tradition claimed a group called the Red Jews would invade Europe at the end of the world; the "Red Jews" became associated with different peoples, but especially the Eastern European Jews and the Ottoman Turks.^[41]

Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages, including Rashi, Radak and others, had associated no specific nation or territory with Magog, beyond locating it to the north of Israel.^[42] In the early 19th century some Chasidic rabbis identified Napoleon's invasion of Russia as "The War of Gog and Magog" which would precede the coming of the Messiah, so that the Emperor filled the role of Gog.^[43] In the 20th century Hitler was seen as a likely candidate.^[27]

During the Cold War the idea (first advanced by Wilhelm Gesenius in the mid-1800s) that Russia itself had the role of Gog gained popularity (since Ezekiel's words describing him as "prince of Meshek" - rosh meshek in Hebrew - sounded suspiciously like Russia and Moscow).^[8] This interpretation has been taken up by several Christian authors and preachers since then (such as Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth; Grant R. Jeffrey's Armageddon: Appointment with Destiny; M. R. De Haan's The Signs of the Times; Tim LaHaye's Are We Living in the End Times?).

The popularity of this theory during the Cold War can be seen in that it was openly advocated in 1971 by the then Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. During a dinner address to state legislators Reagan said "Ezekiel tells us that Gog, the nation that will lead all of the other powers of darkness against Israel, will come out of the north. Biblical scholars have been saying for generations that Gog must be Russia. What other powerful nation is to the north of Israel? None. But it didn’t seem to make sense before the Russian revolution, when Russia was a Christian country. Now it does, now that Russia has become Communistic and atheistic, now that Russia has set itself against God. Now it fits the description of Gog perfectly."^[44]

With the closing of the Cold War, some Christian thinkers who accepted this interpretation altered it after the fall of the Soviet Union (such as Pat Robertson who advocated it in his 1982 book The Secret Kingdom, but in 1992 suggested Gog was "Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan"^[45]). Other Christian thinkers do not consider the fall of communism to have any relevance in maintaining their interpretation that Russia is Gog (such as Chuck Missler in his book Magog Invasion).

The biblical interpretation that Russia is Gog, is one that some Russians believe themselves according to historian Christopher Marsh. He writes "Russians and Ukrainians, [are] two peoples with a long history of looking to the Bible for clues to their past and future. At least as far back as the Primary Chronicle, the Rus' looked to scripture for such clues and found them from Genesis to Revelations. They were the descendants of Noah's third son, Japheth, giving themselves direct lineage to the diluvian period, and they were of the tribe of Magog (or Gog), in the land of Rosh. The implications of such identity as expressed in Revelations, where the Gog and Magog were both thrown out of heaven, apparently didn't matter to those drawing these lines. Ancestors were found in the Bible, and that was enough."^[46]

Gog and Magog in Britain and Ireland[link]

Giants[link]

Gog and Magog figures located in the Royal Arcade, Melbourne (Australia)

Despite their generally negative depiction in the Bible, Lord Mayors of the City of London carry images of Gog and Magog (depicted as giants) in a traditional procession in the Lord Mayor's Show. According to the tradition, the giants Gog and Magog are guardians of the City of London, and images of them have been carried in the Lord Mayor's Show since the days of King Henry V. The Lord Mayor's procession takes place each year on the second Saturday of November.

The Lord Mayor's account of Gog and Magog says that the Roman Emperor Diocletian had thirty-three wicked daughters. He found thirty-three husbands for them to curb their wicked ways; they chafed at this, and under the leadership of the eldest sister, Alba, they murdered their husbands. For this crime they were set adrift at sea; they washed ashore on a windswept island, which they named "Albion" - after Alba. Here they coupled with demons and gave birth to a race of giants, whose descendants included Gog and Magog.^[47]

An even older British connection to Gog and Magog appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's influential 12th century Historia Regum Britanniae, which states that Goemagot was a giant slain by the eponymous Cornish hero Corin or Corineus. The tale figures in the body of unlikely lore that has Britain settled by the Trojan soldier Brutus and other fleeing heroes from the Trojan War. Corineus supposedly slew the giant by throwing him into the sea near Plymouth; Richard Carew notes the presence of chalk figures carved on Plymouth Hoe in his time. Wace (Roman de Brut), Layamon (Layamon's Brut) (who calls the giant Goemagog), and other chroniclers retell the story, which was picked up by later poets and romanciers. John Milton's History of Britain gives this version:

The Island, not yet Britain, but Albion, was in a manner desert and inhospitable, kept only by a remnant of Giants, whose excessive Force and Tyrannie had consumed the rest. Them Brutus destroies, and to his people divides the land, which, with some reference to his own name, he thenceforth calls Britain. To Corineus, Cornwall, as now we call it, fell by lot; the rather by him lik't, for that the hugest Giants in Rocks and Caves were said to lurk still there; which kind of Monsters to deal with was his old exercise.

And heer, with leave bespok'n to recite a grand fable, though dignify'd by our best Poets: While Brutus, on a certain Festival day, solemnly kept on that shore where he first landed (Totnes), was with the People in great jollity and mirth, a crew of these savages, breaking in upon them, began on the sudden another sort of Game than at such a meeting was expected. But at length by many hands overcome, Goemagog, the hugest, in hight twelve cubits, is reserved alive; that with him Corineus, who desired nothing more, might try his strength, whom in a Wrestle the Giant catching aloft, with a terrible hugg broke three of his Ribs: Nevertheless Corineus, enraged, heaving him up by main force, and on his shoulders bearing him to the next high rock, threw him hedlong all shatter'd into the sea, and left his name on the cliff, called ever since Langoemagog, which is to say, the Giant's Leap.

Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion preserves the tale as well:

Amongst the ragged Cleeves those monstrous giants sought:

Who (of their dreadful kind) t'appal the Trojans brought

Great Gogmagog, an oake that by the roots could teare;

So mighty were (that time) the men who lived there:

But, for the use of armes he did not understand

(Except some rock or tree, that coming next to land,

He raised out of the earth to execute his rage),

He challenge makes for strength, and offereth there his gage,

Which Corin taketh up, to answer by and by,

Upon this sonne of earth his utmost power to try.

Gog Magog Hills[link]

The Gog Magog Downs are about three miles south of Cambridge, said to be the metamorphosis of the giant after being rejected by the nymph Granta (i.e. the River Cam). The dowser Thomas Charles Lethbridge claimed to have discovered a group of three hidden chalk carvings in the Gogmagog Hills. This alleged discovery is described at length in his book Gogmagog: The Buried Gods,^[48] in which Lethbridge uses his discoveries to extrapolate a primal deity named 'Gog' and his consort, 'Ma-Gog', which he believed represented the Sun and Moon. Although his discovery of the chalk figures in the Gogmagog Hills has been dogged by controversy, there are similarities between the name and nature of the purported 'Gog' and the Irish deity Ogma, or the Gaulish Ogmios.

Gog and Magog in Ireland[link]

"Gog and Magog giving Paddy a Lift Out of the Mire." From Punch magazine, 1846

Works of Irish mythology, including the Lebor Gabála Érenn (the Book of Invasions), expand on the Genesis account of Magog as the son of Japheth and make him the ancestor to the Irish through Partholón, leader of the first group to colonize Ireland after the Deluge, and a descendant of Magog, as also were the Milesians, the people of the 5th invasion of Ireland. Magog was also the progenitor of the Scythians, as well as of numerous other races across Europe and Central Asia. His three sons were Baath, Jobhath, and Fathochta.^[49]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Gog and Magog

Gog and Magog in Colorado[link]

Two rock outcroppings visible from Manitou Springs Colorado named after the two giants.

Gog and Magog in Canada[link]

Gog and Magog are also names given to two rock formations near Friendship Col, 2000 feet above the Alpine Club of Canada's Fairy Meadows hut in the northern Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada.

References[link]

• BHS refers to the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

This article lacks information such as ISBNs for the books listed in it. If the {{Cite book}} or {{Citation}} templates are in use, you may add ISBNs automatically. Specific concerns can be found on the Talk page. Please improve this article if you can.

Bibliography[link]

• Bietenholz, Peter G. (1994). Historia and fabula: myths and legends in historical thought from antiquity to the modern age. Brill. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ZFjXaCAWoOUC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Bietenholz+Historia+and+fabula&source=bl&ots=jWwMpOo82A&sig=AhyAv80oPI5Zni4DPv0x3TTNx0Y&hl=en&ei=F8rDTZezH42GvAPyzIibAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Blenkinsopp, Joseph (1996). A history of prophecy in Israel. Westminster John Knox Press. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=6P9YEd9lXeAC&pg=PR4&dq=The+prophetic+literature:+an+introduction++By+David+L.+Petersen&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q=Gog%20and%20Magog&f=false. 
• Block, Daniel I. (1998). The Book of Ezekiel: chapters 25-48. Eerdmans. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=uYemhagtCpgC&pg=PA478&lpg=PA478&dq=The+Book+of+Ezekiel:+chapters+25-48+Daniel+Isaac+Block&source=bl&ots=n29kaAIQws&sig=oQBxUj23DnJXsyIq9LVEmILuglY&hl=en&ei=0d_BTczGL42gvgP7naGjBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Bøe, Sverre (2001). Gog and Magog: Ezekiel 38-39 as pre-text for Revelation 19,17-21 and 20,7-10. Mohr Siebeck. http://books.google.com/books?id=vettpBoVOX4C&pg=PA91&dq=Gog+Magog+Gyges&hl=en&ei=19s0TbqqEYmIvgPF7JnqCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Gog%20Magog%20Gyges&f=false. 
• Boring, Eugene M (1989). Revelation. Westminster John Knox Press. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=FVRIOJVkg7cC&pg=PP4&lpg=PP4&dq=Boring+Revelation&source=bl&ots=wzKoGuVeY0&sig=3wUxZgY8Bj5ba-EamFfUMWnFT8I&hl=en&ei=Q4vCTeeTBoHGvQPb5MXDAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Brook, Kevin A (2006). The Jews of Khazaria. Rowman&Littlefield. 
• Buitenwerf, Rieuwerd. "The Gog and Magog Tradition in Revelation 20:8". http://books.google.com.au/books?id=DAyzzK7COmoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+book+of+Ezekiel+and+its+influence&source=bl&ots=lBes1rP_Tb&sig=h3txGLa63DdxqjCvTA4dI0AAr74&hl=en&ei=IyB_TaiQMo6kuAO05-nYBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false.  in de Jonge, H.J; Tromp, Johannes (2007). The book of Ezekiel and its influence. Ashgate Publishing. 
• Christensen, Arne Søby (2002). Cassiodorus, Jordanes, and the History of the Goths: Studies in a Migration Myth. Museum Tusculanum Press. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=AcLDHOqOt4cC&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=Cassiodorus,+Jordanes,+and+the+History+of+the+Goths&source=bl&ots=exBLTysOef&sig=zzdiTO_t1AFZWnEmHfI91WR0HwM&hl=en&ei=L0fDTa73FIvCvQPL9qSrAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBTgU#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Derry, T.K (1979). A history of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. University of Minnesota Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=eDh5z2_K_S0C&pg=PA129&dq=Christina+Magog&hl=en&ei=3UvDTcGrKou8uwOxy_yvAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Christina%20Magog&f=false. 
• Gow, Andrew Colin (1995). The red Jews: antisemitism in an apocalyptic age, 1200-1600. Brill. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Yp5O_rPI7nsC&dq=The+red+Jews+google+books&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=6z3DTdzIHZKGvAPl_PCxAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=11&sqi=2&ved=0CGIQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Marshall, Robert (1993). Storm from the East: from Ghengis Khan to Khubilai Khan. BBC Books. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=YQleM5Yc0VAC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=Robert+Marshall+Storm+from+the+East&source=bl&ots=b-5aBbPbqr&sig=7qxUTYOdZGqPPvR-8EYGRP4iHbM&hl=en&ei=v93DTYmgCYWEvgPQn5GgAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Mounce, Robert H (1998). The Book of Revelation. Eerdmans. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=06VR1JzzLNsC&pg=PP4&lpg=PP4&dq=The+Book+of+Revelation+Robert+H.+Mounce&source=bl&ots=ulSNoeNkM5&sig=T4rKqHA_zmd6uDMpVfCjo1DJB-U&hl=en&ei=s4nCTbHJNou2vQOw7JnMAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CGEQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Petersen, David L (2002). The prophetic literature: an introduction. John Knox Press. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Z9zLXRhNl9MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+prophetic+literature:+an+introduction++By+David+L.+Petersen&source=bl&ots=x2l4xWqd5q&sig=dxUaoRtrkNXw5NHPlCsLLMIe4D0&hl=en&ei=SuIrTZaqOYOAvgPcqpmQCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Pieter; Van der Horst, Bob (1999). Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible. Brill. http://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Dictionary+of+Deities&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Westrem, Scott D. "Against Gog and Magog". http://books.google.com.au/books?id=PdEywwxcQ0wC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=The+last+place+that+Johannes+Witte+de+Hese+vists&source=bl&ots=J9Sh0vnVnd&sig=rBW1C9CTLCXQPSvHl7-BTf6LfBg&hl=en&ei=4WTCTarqLsTHrQek5MT2Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false.  in Tomasch, Sylvia; Sealy, Gilles (1998). Text and territory: geographical imagination in the European Middle Ages. University of Pennsylvania Press. 

External links[link]

• Agog over Bush's comments on Gog and Magog
• Yajuj wa Ma'juj (Gog and Magog) according to Islam
• Christian website explaining Gog and Magog from their point of view.

Alexander the Great
Basileus of Macedon
Alexander fighting the Persian king Darius III. From Alexander Mosaic, Naples National Archaeological Museum
Reign	336–323 BC
Full name	Alexander III of Macedon
Greek	Μέγας Ἀλέξανδροςiii[›] (Mégas Aléxandros, Great Alexander) Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας (Aléxandros ho Mégas, Alexander the Great)
Titles	King of Macedon Hegemon of the Hellenic League Shahanshah of Persia Pharaoh of Egypt Lord of Asia
Born	20 or 21 July 356 BC
Birthplace	Pella, Macedon
Died	10 or 11 June 323 BC (aged 32)
Place of death	Babylon
Predecessor	Philip II of Macedon
Successor	Alexander IV of Macedon Philip III of Macedon
Wives	Roxana of Bactria Stateira II of Persia Parysatis II of Persia
Offspring	Alexander IV of Macedon
Dynasty	Argead dynasty
Father	Philip II of Macedon
Mother	Olympias of Epirus
Religious beliefs	Greek polytheism

Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας, Aléxandros ho Mégas^iii[›] from the Greek αλέξω alexo "to defend, help" + ανήρ 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.^[1] He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders.^[2]

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.^i[›] 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.^[3]ii[›]

Early life[link]

Lineage and childhood[link]

Bust of a young Alexander the Great from the Hellenistic era, British Museum.

Aristotle tutoring Alexander, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

Alexander was born on the 6th day of the ancient Greek month of Hekatombaion, which probably corresponds to 20 July 356 BC, although the exact date is not known,^[4] in Pella, the capital of the Ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedon.^[5] He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his fourth wife, Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus I, king of Epirus.^[6][7][8] Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his principal wife for some time, likely a result of giving birth to Alexander.^[9]

Several legends surround Alexander's birth and childhood.^[10] According to the ancient Greek biographer Plutarch, Olympias, on the eve of the consummation of her marriage to Philip, dreamed that her womb was struck by a thunder bolt, causing a flame that spread "far and wide" before dying away. Some time after the wedding, Philip is said to have seen himself, in a dream, securing his wife's womb with a seal engraved with a lion's image.^[11] Plutarch offered a variety of interpretations of these dreams: that Olympias was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb; or that Alexander's father was Zeus. Ancient commentators were divided about whether the ambitious Olympias promulgated the story of Alexander's divine parentage, variously claiming that she had told Alexander, or that she dismissed the suggestion as impious.^[11]

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.^[7][12] Such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his own instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception.^[10]

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.^[13] Alexander was raised in the manner of noble Macedonian youths, learning to read, play the lyre, ride, fight, and hunt.^[14]

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.^[10] Plutarch stated that 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.^[15] Alexander named it Bucephalas, meaning "ox-head". Bucephalas carried Alexander as far as India. When the animal died (due to old age, according to Plutarch, at age thirty), Alexander named a city after him, Bucephala.^[8][16][17]

Adolescence and education[link]

When Alexander was 13, Philip began to search for a tutor, and considered such academics as Isocrates and Speusippus, the latter offering to resign to take up the post. In the end, Philip 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 were slaves, or pardoning those who were in exile.^[18][19][20]

Mieza was like a boarding school for Alexander and the children of Macedonian nobles, such as Ptolemy, Hephaistion, and Cassander. Many of these students would become his friends and future generals, and are often known as the 'Companions'. Aristotle taught Alexander and his companions about medicine, philosophy, morals, religion, logic, and art. Under Aristotle's tutelage, Alexander developed a passion for the works of Homer, and in particular the Iliad; Aristotle gave him an annotated copy, which Alexander later carried on his campaigns.^[21][22][23]

Philip's heir[link]

Regency and ascent of Macedon[link]

Philip II of Macedon, Alexander's father.

At age 16, Alexander's education under Aristotle ended. Philip waged war against Byzantion, leaving Alexander in charge as regent and heir apparent.^[10] During Philip's absence, the Thracian Maedi revolted against Macedonia. Alexander responded quickly, driving them from their territory. He colonized it with Greeks, and founded a city named Alexandropolis.^[24][25][26]

Upon Philip's return, he dispatched Alexander with a small force to subdue revolts in southern Thrace. Campaigning against the Greek city of Perinthus, Alexander is reported to have saved his father's life. Meanwhile, the city of Amphissa began to work lands that were sacred to Apollo near Delphi, a sacrilege that gave Philip the opportunity to further intervene in Greek affairs. Still occupied in Thrace, he ordered Alexander to muster an army for a campaign in Greece. Concerned that other Greek states might intervene, Alexander made it look as though he was preparing to attack Illyria instead. During this turmoil, the Illyrians invaded Macedonia, only to be repelled by Alexander.^[27]

Philip and his army joined his son in 338 BC, and they marched south through Thermopylae, taking it after stubborn resistance from its Theban garrison. They went on to occupy the city of Elatea, only a few days' march from both Athens and Thebes. The Athenians, led by Demosthenes, voted to seek alliance with Thebes against Macedonia. Both Athens and Philip sent embassies to win Thebes' favor, but Athens won the contest.^[28][29][30] Philip marched on Amphissa (ostensibly acting on the request of the Amphictyonic League), capturing the mercenaries sent there by Demosthenes and accepting the city's surrender. Philip then returned to Elatea, sending a final offer of peace to Athens and Thebes, who both rejected it.^[31][32][33]

Statue of Alexander in Istanbul Archaeology Museum.

As Philip marched south, his opponents blocked him near Chaeronea, Boeotia. During the ensuing Battle of Chaeronea, Philip commanded the right wing and Alexander the left, accompanied by a group of Philip's trusted generals. According to the ancient sources, the two sides fought bitterly for some time. Philip deliberately commanded his troops to retreat, counting on the untested Athenian hoplites to follow, thus breaking their line. Alexander was the first to break the Theban lines, followed by Philip's generals. Having damaged the enemy's cohesion, Philip ordered his troops to press forward and quickly routed them. With the Athenians lost, the Thebans were surrounded. Left to fight alone, they were defeated.^[34]

After the victory at Chaeronea, Philip and Alexander marched unopposed into the Peloponnese, welcomed by all cities; however, when they reached Sparta, they were refused, but did not resort to war.^[35] At Corinth, Philip established a "Hellenic Alliance" (modeled on the old anti-Persian alliance of the Greco-Persian Wars), which included most Greek city-states except Sparta. Philip was then named Hegemon (often translated as "Supreme Commander") of this league (known by modern scholars as the League of Corinth), and announced his plans to attack the Persian Empire.^[36][37]

Exile and return[link]

When Philip returned to Pella, he fell in love with and married Cleopatra Eurydice, the niece of his general Attalus.^[38] The marriage made Alexander's position as heir less secure, since any son of Cleopatra Eurydice would be a fully Macedonian heir, while Alexander was only half-Macedonian.^[39] During the wedding banquet, a drunken Attalus publicly prayed to the gods that the union would produce a legitimate heir.^[38]

At the wedding of Cleopatra, whom Philip fell in love with and married, she being much too young for him, her uncle Attalus in his drink desired the Macedonians would implore the gods to give them a lawful successor to the kingdom by his niece. This so irritated Alexander, that throwing one of the cups at his head, "You villain," said he, "what, am I then a bastard?" Then Philip, taking Attalus's part, rose up and would have run his son through; but by good fortune for them both, either his over-hasty rage, or the wine he had drunk, made his foot slip, so that he fell down on the floor. At which Alexander reproachfully insulted over him: "See there," said he, "the man who makes preparations to pass out of Europe into Asia, overturned in passing from one seat to another."

—Plutarch, describing the feud at Philip's wedding.^[40]

Alexander fled Macedon with his mother, dropping her off with her brother, King Alexander I of Epirus in Dodona, capital of the Molossians.^[41] He continued to Illyria,^[41] where he sought refuge with the Illyrian King and was treated as a guest, despite having defeated them in battle a few years before. However, it appears Philip never intended to disown his politically and militarily trained son.^[41] Accordingly, Alexander returned to Macedon after six months due to the efforts of a family friend, Demaratus the Corinthian, who mediated between the two parties.^[42][43]

In the following year, the Persian satrap (governor) of Caria, Pixodarus, offered his eldest daughter to Alexander's half-brother, Philip Arrhidaeus.^[41] Olympias and several of Alexander's friends suggested this showed Philip intended to make Arrhidaeus his heir.^[41] Alexander reacted by sending an actor, Thessalus of Corinth, to tell Pixodarus that he should not offer his daughter's hand to an illegitimate son, but instead to Alexander. When Philip heard of this, he stopped the negotiations and scolded Alexander for wishing to marry the daughter of a Carian, explaining that he wanted a better bride for him.^[41] Philip exiled four of Alexander's friends, Harpalus, Nearchus, Ptolemy and Erigyius, and had the Corinthians bring Thessalus to him in chains.^[39][44][45]

King of Macedon[link]

Accession[link]

The Kingdom of Macedon in 336 BC.

In 336 BC, while at Aegae attending the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to Olympias's brother, Alexander I of Epirus, Philip was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguards, Pausanias.^vi[›] As Pausanias tried to escape, he tripped over a vine and was killed by his pursuers, including two of Alexander's companions, Perdiccas and Leonnatus. Alexander was proclaimed king by the nobles and army at the age of 20.^[46][47][48]

Consolidation of power[link]

Alexander began his reign by eliminating potential rivals to the throne. He had his cousin, the former Amyntas IV, executed.^[49] He also had two Macedonian princes from the region of Lyncestis killed, but spared a third, Alexander Lyncestes. Olympias had Cleopatra Eurydice and Europa, her daughter by Philip, burned alive. When Alexander learned about this, he was furious. Alexander also ordered the murder of Attalus,^[49] who was in command of the advance guard of the army in Asia Minor and Cleopatra's uncle.^[50]

Attalus was at that time corresponding with Demosthenes, regarding the possibility of defecting to Athens. Attalus also had severely insulted Alexander, and following Cleopatra's murder, Alexander may have considered him too dangerous to leave alive.^[50] Alexander spared Arrhidaeus, who was by all accounts mentally disabled, possibly as a result of poisoning by Olympias.^[46][48][51]

News of Philip's death roused many states into revolt, including Thebes, Athens, Thessaly, and the Thracian tribes north of Macedon. When news of the revolts reached Alexander, he responded quickly. Though advised to use diplomacy, Alexander mustered the Macedonian cavalry of 3,000 and rode south towards Thessaly. He found the Thessalian army occupying the pass between Mount Olympus and Mount Ossa, and ordered his men to ride over Mount Ossa. When the Thessalians awoke the next day, they found Alexander in their rear and promptly surrendered, adding their cavalry to Alexander's force. He then continued south towards the Peloponnese.^{[52][53][54][55]}

Alexander stopped at Thermopylae, where he was recognized as the leader of the Amphictyonic League before heading south to Corinth. Athens sued for peace and Alexander pardoned the rebels. The famous encounter between Alexander and Diogenes the Cynic occurred during Alexander's stay in Corinth. When Alexander asked Diogenes what he could do for him, the philosopher disdainfully asked Alexander to stand a little to the side, as he was blocking the sunlight.^[56] This reply apparently delighted Alexander, who is reported to have said "But verily, if I were not Alexander, I would like to be Diogenes."^[57] At Corinth Alexander took the title of Hegemon ("leader"), and like Philip, was appointed commander for the coming war against Persia. He also received news of a Thracian uprising.^[53][58]

Balkan campaign[link]

Before crossing to Asia, Alexander wanted to safeguard his northern borders. In the spring of 335 BC, he advanced to suppress several revolts. Starting from Amphipolis, he traveled east into the country of the "Independent Thracians"; and at Mount Haemus, the Macedonian army attacked and defeated the Thracian forces manning the heights.^[59] The Macedonians marched into the country of the Triballi, and defeated their army near the Lyginus river^[60] (a tributary of the Danube). Alexander then marched for three days to the Danube, encountering the Getae tribe on the opposite shore. Crossing the river at night, he surprised them and forced their army to retreat after the first cavalry skirmish.^[61][62]