Alexander the Great Facts – 31 Unknown Facts about Alexander

Facts About Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great had heterochromia and one of his eyes was blue and the other was brown.

The only other teacher who impressed the young prince was Diogenes the Cynic, who had a reputation of rejecting niceties and even slept in a huge jar.

This trait of indulging with great philosophers did not end and during his conquest of the Hindukush and Western India he held lengthy discourses with Hindu thinkers and Jain philosophers who had eschewed all worldly possessions including their clothes.

In his long and tedious 15 years military campaign, he never lost any battle.

He is considered one of the best military tactician and his strategies are studied even today on military academies. His tactic of sending smaller well trained forces to break enemy lines before their enemies were ready has been tried by many military strategists of modern times.

He was held in high esteem by many future rulers and the likes of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Octavian; all made pilgrimages to Alexander the Great’s tomb in Alexandria.

He had a crack team of 15,000-strong Macedonian phalanx, whose units kept at bay the sword-wielding Persians equipped with 20-foot-long pikes called sarissa.

To make his conquests permanent and achieve control over his vast empire he constructed cities around forts and named the cities after himself, the most striking is Alexandria, which continues to this day.

Kandahar is a place in Afghanistan which when loosely translated means Alexander and it was one of the 70 cities which he helped to establish during his brief but momentous reigns.

He encountered the costliest victory in India and the battle was fought near the river Hydaspes and he founded a city named Bucephala, for his favorite horse, which was mortally wounded in the battle.