{"id":111503,"date":"2020-02-26T10:57:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T16:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=111503"},"modified":"2026-09-12T22:10:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T03:10:25","slug":"alexander-the-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #588: The Audacious Command of Alexander the Great"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexander the Great became king of Macedonia at age 19. By age 30 he controlled an empire that spanned from Greece to India. In the two thousand years after his early death, his influence has persisted. Military leaders from Caesar to Napoleon studied his campaigns and imitated his strategies and tactics, and without Alexander, the influence of Greek culture on the world wouldn’t have been the same. <\/p>\n

My guest today has written a very readable, yet academically authoritative biography of this legendary king, commander, and conqueror. His name is Philip Freeman<\/a>, and he’s a classics professor and the author of Alexander the Great<\/em><\/a>. Today on the show, Philip takes us on an engaging tour of Alexander’s life, beginning with the myths surrounding his birth, and his education under the great philosopher Aristotle. Philip then explains the cloak and dagger intrigue of Macedonian politics and why Alexander’s father was assassinated. We then dig into Alexander’s political reign and military command and highlight the most famous battles during his decade-long campaign to conquer the ancient world. Along the way, Philip shares the leadership lessons we can learn from Alexander.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander the Great became king of Macedonia at age 19. By age 30 he controlled an empire that spanned from Greece to India. In the two thousand years after his early death, his influence has persisted. Military leaders from Caesar to Napoleon studied his campaigns and imitated his strategies and tactics, and without Alexander, the influence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":195091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42376,42385,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-history","category-podcast"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Real Story of Alexander the Great | Art of Manliness Podcast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alexander the Great became king of Macedonia at age 19. By age 30 he controlled a vast empire. 2,000 years later, his influence has persisted.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #588: The Audacious Command of Alexander the Great | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alexander the Great became king of Macedonia at age 19. By age 30 he controlled a vast empire. 2,000 years later, his influence has persisted.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-26T16:57:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-13T03:10:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\"},\"headline\":\"Podcast #588: The Audacious Command of Alexander the Great\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-26T16:57:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-13T03:10:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":204,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/588.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\",\"History\",\"Podcast\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Real Story of Alexander the Great | Art of Manliness Podcast\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/588.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-26T16:57:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-13T03:10:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\"},\"description\":\"Alexander the Great became king of Macedonia at age 19. By age 30 he controlled a vast empire. 2,000 years later, his influence has persisted.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/588.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/588.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/alexander-the-great\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Podcast #588: The Audacious Command of Alexander the Great\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Manliness\",\"description\":\"Men's Interest and Lifestyle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\",\"name\":\"Brett\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/artofmanliness.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/author\\\/brett\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Real Story of Alexander the Great | Art of Manliness Podcast","description":"Alexander the Great became king of Macedonia at age 19. By age 30 he controlled a vast empire. 2,000 years later, his influence has persisted.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Podcast #588: The Audacious Command of Alexander the Great | The Art of Manliness","og_description":"Alexander the Great became king of Macedonia at age 19. By age 30 he controlled a vast empire. 2,000 years later, his influence has persisted.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/","og_site_name":"The Art of Manliness","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness","article_published_time":"2020-02-26T16:57:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-13T03:10:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Brett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@artofmanliness","twitter_site":"@artofmanliness","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brett","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/"},"author":{"name":"Brett","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832"},"headline":"Podcast #588: The Audacious Command of Alexander the Great","datePublished":"2020-02-26T16:57:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-13T03:10:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/"},"wordCount":204,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588.png","articleSection":["Culture","History","Podcast"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/","name":"The Real Story of Alexander the Great | Art of Manliness Podcast","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588.png","datePublished":"2020-02-26T16:57:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-13T03:10:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832"},"description":"Alexander the Great became king of Macedonia at age 19. By age 30 he controlled a vast empire. 2,000 years later, his influence has persisted.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/588.png","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/alexander-the-great\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Podcast #588: The Audacious Command of Alexander the Great"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/","name":"The Art of Manliness","description":"Men's Interest and Lifestyle","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832","name":"Brett","sameAs":["http:\/\/artofmanliness.com"],"url":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/author\/brett\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}