Alexander the Great, the Conqueror Who Couldn’t

In the annals of history, few names loom as large as Alexander III of Macedon, or Alexander the Great. Born in 356 B.C. to King Philip II and Queen Olympias, Alexander ascended to the throne at the tender age of 20, inheriting not just a kingdom, but also his father’s vision of Macedonian hegemony. By his mid-20s, the marvel had already reshaped the ancient world, carving out an empire that stretched from the sun-baked shores of the Mediterranean to the wind-swept steppes of Central Asia. By age 25, he had toppled the mighty Persian Empire, defeating Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 B.C. — millennia ago this very month. The victory made him the “Great King” or Sikandar of Persia, adding to his already impressive titles: King of Macedonia, Hegemon of the Hellenic League, and Pharaoh of Egypt.

Then he looked east, to India. In 1957, the historian A.K. Narain wrote of Alexander and his army: “They came, they saw, but India conquered.” To this day, while the histories of Alexander the Great mention India almost as a footnote, histories from the subcontinent tend to write chapters on Sikandar. Why this glorification and romanticization of an invader?