Alexander the Great was the son of Philip II of Macedonia with one of his wives, Olympias, who From being a young child his mother encouraged him to believe that he was a descendent of heroes and gods, and his birth right was divine. Alexanders father arranged for him to be tutored by Aristotle himself, whose education infused him with a love of knowledge, logic, philosophy, music and culture. The teachings of Aristotle gave him the understanding of how to treat his new subjects in the empires he invaded and conquered, allowing him to admire and maintain the countries religions and cultures.
With the belief in himself that his mother had impressed on him, Alexander was said to have a great charisma and forceful personality which gave him the ability to motivate his army to do what seemed to many to be impossible. He was a visionary who could plan and strategize his way to success, he motivated his men who knew they were part of one of the greatest conquests in history.
Alexanders father Philip II was assassinated in 336BC by the captain of his bodyguard, Pausanias, who was also his son and had previously been designated as his heir,
The Oracle of Amon at Siwa Oasis & the founding of Alexandria
The Macedonian noblemen and army proclaimed Alexander as King of Macedonia, and he continued with his fathers conquests and arrived in Egypt in October 332 B.C. where the Egyptians surrendered without a fight. Travelling to Siwa Oasis to the village of Aghurmi Alexander consulted the oracle of Amun, who confirmed him as both a divine personage and the legitimate Pharaoh of Egypt, and he was pronounced the son of the deities Zeus and Amon by the Oracle, and was then often referred to as Zeus-Ammon.
The floor plan of the temple reveals a hidden passage and chamber from which it would have been possible for a concealed priest to simulate the voice of the oracle. but with the oracles words of Alexanders destiny he then travelled to the northern Coast of Egypt where he founded the famous city of Alexandria and he himself marked out where the agora was to be built and decided how many temples were to be erected and to which Ancient Egyptian Gods they were to be dedicated. He had the city built to face the rising sun on the day that he was born.
Alexander and The Festival of the Opet with the god Amun Min in Thebes (luxor)
Alexander understood the symbolism of Ancient Egyptian festivals and ceremonies. Every year the ancient Egyptians eagerly anticipated the coming of Akhet, the flooding season. Akhet was the most important event in the Egyptian year that celebrated the Nile’s floodwaters replenishing the land and restoring Egypt’s fertility. This time of joyous renewal was also when ancient Egypt held one of its most spectacular and most mysterious festivals: the Feast of Opet, a very important festival, for which luxor temple had been especially created, and was held each year to both symbolically to renew the Life of both Egypt and the pharaoh, the celebrations perpetuated the divine royal ka. Each year the spirit of kingship that linked the living king with the gods and all his royal predecessors was renewed with great ceremony
The festival began with a grand procession from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple. In this procession, statues of the city’s most sacred gods Amun-Re, his wife, Mut, and his son, Khonsu were escorted by the ruling pharaoh and placed in special vessels called barques and were carried by priests down the avenue of sphinx that connected the two temples for two miles from the earthly home of Amun at Karnack Temple to Luxor Temple, a unique temple in all of Egypt that had been created to celebrate this festival which lasted for 11 days. Even today Modern Egyptians hold a celebration where boats are carried around the town
Alexander had the original Barque Shrine of Amun-Re reconstructed inside what is often referred to as the Third Antechamber where the reliefs presented On the exterior walls now show Alexander as Pharoahhim, the legitimate heir of the pharaohs. During the feast of the Opet, the rites show him in the presence of Amun Min the god of Fertility. By carving his presence into the walls of the barque shrine, Alexander was now ordained into the everlasting cycle of kingship. In the reliefs Alexander receives the two crowns of both Upper and Lower Egypt, declaring him to be King of all Egypt
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Inside the shrine, reliefs show Alexander portrayed as the rightful Egyptian king, accompanied by various gods. Above these scenes is a dedication formula that acknowledges Alexander's esteemed ancestor: "He [Alexander] has created the great chamber anew in white and beautiful sandstone after it existed since the time of the majesty of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmaatre, Son of Re Amenhotep, Ruler of Thebes."
Above the lintel of the doorway into this antechamber, a small chamber was built into the wall that was just large enough to accommodate a man. It was concealed by removable slabs, and accessed by holds cut in the wall. Some scholars believed this to be a priest-hole, where a priest would conceal himself during religious ceremonies. He would then be the voice of Amun, when priests asked questions of the god. Alexander did not stay in Egypt long. By 331 BC he was on his way west to complete his conquest of the Persian Empire, but the impact of his conquest in Egypt was significant. Alexander had respected Egyptian culture and religion, but he installed a Greek government to control his administration of Egypt. Greek influence in Egypt was reinforced by the settlement of Greek veterans throughout Egypt, where they became a privileged aristocracy that gradually assimilated with the Egyptians. Alexander had also founded a new Greek capital, Alexandria, located on the Mediterranean at the mouth of the Nile.
Although Alexander would never return to Egypt, he died in Babylon in 323 BC, the Greek rule that he established proved more enduring. In the crisis after Alexander's death, Ptolemy, one of his generals, claimed Egypt as his kingdom and established hereditary rule. The Ptolemaic Dynasty would last until the Romans conquered Egypt in 32 BC, and incurred the death of the Famous Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra, who had children with both Julias Ceasar and Mark Antony
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