This is the History of the World Podcast with me Chris Hasler

And you're listening to volume three, the classical world

episode 21

The Diadiki. Oh, Back in episode 18 the story of the life of Alexander the Great came to an abrupt

end when we learned of Alexander's death in the year 323,

C. E. Alexander the Great was actually Alexander the

third, the King of Macedon, a land in the far north of the Greek-speaking lands, who were initially

in the shadows of Greek politics when Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Corinth were the superpowers of the Balkan city states.

Eventually when Alexander's father was the king, Masidun became the most dominant of the Greek-speaking nations.

Then in 336 BCE, Alexander took the throne and invaded Persia.

Alexander would march through the Akeminid Persian Empire, taking city after city and winning battle after battle.

Alexander would eventually chase the Persian king off of his throne and rule over his lands. Then when Alexander was planning to expand

this new Macedonian Empire even further he fell ill and died at the tender age of 32.

When Alexander's father died, Alexander's ascension and continuation of his father's work was quite a natural thing because Alexander

was already a young man, 20 years of age, a capable leader and military commander clearly groomed for monarchy.

However with Alexander's sudden death there was no successor prepared to take over.

Had Alexander lived for another 20 years, then the situation may have been completely

different, and the reason we can say this is due to a fact revealed towards the end

of episode 18 when we declared that at the end of 324 b.c. E. Alexander's wife, Roxana, had fallen pregnant.

As things transpired, Alexander would never see his child, as he passed away before his child's birth.

Roxana gave birth to a baby boy so this son of Alexander would become Alexander the fourth of Masadon on his birth.

However he would also become the Persian King of Kings and the hegerman of the Hellenic League of Greek

...