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Alexander The Great On a hot day in June of 323 BC, Alexander died in Babylon. Wailing spread through the city, his body squires wandered about in tears, the Persians shaved their heads in mourning, and the temples quenched their fires. Filtered and refracted by layers of fable, history, and tradition, the image of Alexander the Great has stayed with us. Alexander’s existence was determined around 358 BC where his parents, Philip II and Myrtale, later known as Olympias (O’Brien p.13), met. At this time, Philip was king of Macedonia only because his elder brother, Perdiccas III died without leaving someone to assume to the throne. Olympuis on the other hand was the orphaned daughter of the former King of Epirus, Neoptolemus. Both Philip and Olympias had dreams that warned them of Alexander’s birth. Olympias’ had dreamt about a loud burst of thunder and lighting hitting her womb while Philip’s dream was about him sealing her womb with the seal of the lion. (Green p.35) A notorious prophet named Aristander Telmessus interpreted the dreams and determined that Olympias was pregnant, and that the child would have a character of a lion. Thus, Alexander was born in late July of 356 BC in Pella, Macedonia and he would g