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In last week's episode, we covered the early years of Alexander the Great and left off with the assassination of Philip II in the fall of 336, leaving Alexander undisputed king of Macedonia, primed to invade the Persian Empire,

and carry the torch of Greek culture with him. He was only 20 years old.

But could it have been really that easy, even for Alexander?

Well, no.

It seems that Alexander needed to take care of some business in his own backyard before he left the neighborhood.

If there's one thing we can learn from politics, it's that they are messy, ancient

politics even more so.

The death of Philip did not automatically transfer authority to Alexander, despite being

the principal heir and effective standing regent of Macedonia.

Phil's murderer, Pausanius, was dead, but he was not likely a lone wolf.

There also were other contenders to the throne, so it is understandable that Alexander was

going to have to break a few eggs in order to secure a kingship.

Alex immediately took a preemptive strike against the other possible rivals, his cousin

Amintus III, son of Philip's older brother and previous king.

There was the family of one Alexander of Linkestis, who himself narrowly avoided the execution

block because he was the first to hail Alex's king before Philip's body was cold.

Alex's half-brother Karananus, was also slain.

Surprisingly, though, Philip Aridaeus was not touched, which can also be unsurprising

and gives indication of how little of a threat Aradais actually was, especially with a

moniker like Half-Wit.

Now that things were solved in the immediate interior of Macedonia,

...