Original subtitles

(triumphant music)

Alexander the Great.

The Shining Light of ancient Greece.

The prince from remote Macedonia

would become the greatest conqueror of all time.

(speaking foreign language)

No one would have thought

that someone would try to conquer the whole world,

and that he would almost succeed.

At the age of 16,

his father made him co-regent,

these were troubled times,

and assassination made him King,

and his allies made Alexander

the most powerful man in Greece.

His campaign against King Darius of Persia

resembled the battle between David and Goliath,

but like Achilles, his hero from the legend,

Alexander was determined to bring victory to the Greeks.

(speaking in foreign language)

Only a very few people

had as much influence on history

as Alexander the Great.

(birds squawking)

It was spring when Alexander passed the strait

between Europe and today's Turkey,

together with 37,000 soldiers from all over Greece.

The Macedonian had a clear mission,

he and his men were to free the Greek colonies

from the Persians.

First, Alexander went to Troy,

at Achilles grave, he had his weapons blessed,

and he brought a sacrifice.

Since childhood,

the Iliad's hero had been Alexander's role model.

He wanted to live up to Achilles glory,

and even exceed his deeds.

This war of liberation was his chance,

but he also needed protection from the gods.

With their blessing, his retaliation campaign

became a holy war.

But thus far, no one had managed to bring Persia,

the World Empire, to its knees.

(horses neighing)

In their advance into occupied territory,

the Persian army tried to stop them,

to no avail.

In 334 B.C.,

Alexander won the battle at the river Granicus.

Apparently, the Persian court had underestimated

the Macedonian King.

They hadn't sent their imperial army,

but a troop of professional soldiers.

King Darius had relied on them,

a mistake, as it turned out.

Your majesty, I'm sorry for the bad news I have to bear;

Alexander won the battle.

How is that possible?

Alexander has got fewer soldiers,

but his tactics are clever,

not only on the battlefield.

Explain.

He promises a democratic constitution,

modeled after Athens,

for those cities that surrendered without a fight.

And he promises everyone they don't have to pay you tribute.

Is that true?

(scoffs) I heard that he rules like a king in Macedonia.

The governance of the people is nonsense.

What does he really want?

The Greek want to take revenge

for the destruction of Athens

and the occupation of Anatolia,

but Alexander wants more.

What does he want?

Power.

He wants my throne.

That's right.

The defense of your country shouldn't be left to vassals,

who could lead our army better than you?

He will regret that he ever left his mother's lap.

Gather our troops

and tell them their king will go to war.

The Persian Empire reached

from the Greek borders and Egypt,

all the way to the east,

over the Hindu Kush to India,

the end of the known world.

The Empire stretched across three continents,

and at its heart was Persepolis,

in the south of what is Iran today.

Persepolis was also the religious center of Persia.

Even 2,000 years later,

the palaces and temples still convey the empire's power.

Reliefs showed the many nationalities of the giant empire;

28 peoples in total.

Among them; Syrians, Egyptians, Babylonians,

Greeks, Indians, and Arabs,

they all gather to offer presents

to the King on New Year's Day.

The Persians were role models.

They implemented the political order

that allowed peaceful coexistence of the Nations.

But there was also resistance from the Greek colonies,

almost all of them saw Alexander as a liberator.

The Macedonian conquered the big coastal cities

within a few months,

and he had large parts of Turkey under his control.

When he chose Gordion to be his winter quarters,

in the temple,

he discovered Phrygian King Gordius's famous cart.

And this is supposed to be a cart for a king?

It belonged to Gordius, king of Phrygia.

When the Phrygians look for a king,

the oracle told them to choose

the first man they saw on a cart. (scoffs)

And by chance that was Gordius,

is that how quickly you can become king here.

(laughs) Yes, but that's not the whole story.

Do you see this knot?

What about it it?

It says,

"Whoever can untie this knot will reign the Persian Empire."

(patting shoulder)

The knot doesn't seem to have a beginning or an end.

(sword slashes)

The story of the Gordian knot is just a legend

and it was clever propaganda.

(speaking in foreign language)

To cut the knot with a sword says

Alexander does things his own way,

everyone failed and he showed them how to do it.

But liberating the Greek colonies

wasn't the end.

Alexander wanted to knock Darius off his throne.

Darius gathered his army in the borderland

between Turkey and Syria.

Alexander also moved his troops,

but the two armies passed each other without noticing.

Suddenly the Persians were behind them

and blocked the exit route.

The land battle took place at Issos.

The Macedonian King against Darius,

the most powerful man in the world,

and against more than 70,000 warriors.

The enemy

stands between us and our home!

We will triumph or die!

Retreat is impossible.

Don't be blinded by the glamour and size of our enemy.

I see what you see,

but none of you can see it with my eyes.

(excited chatter and cheers)

The great king underestimates us,

be brave because this is not the first time

we have faced superior numbers

and it will not be the last time.

We will triumph!

(cheers and triumphant music)

King Darius believed

it would be an easy victory.

He relied on the superior numbers of his army.

The Macedonian leader was brave and relied on his cavalry.

(excited roars in battle)

The Battle of Issos, 333 B.C.

The battle is depicted on the famous Alexander sarcophagus.

The Macedonian King is the hero in the scene.

The Persians who were superior in numbers,

dominated at first,

but then Alexander managed to push through enemy lines.

(screaming and swords clanging)

Darius's life was in danger

as Alexander attacked the elite troops around the king.

(screaming and swords clanging)

In the end, Darius could only flee.

This sealed the Persian defeat.

(speaking in foreign language)

Alexander's success is partly due to the fact

that he acted unexpectedly,

it's almost like in football,

the team that doesn't play with a predictable strategy

scores more goals,

and Alexander's strategy

was very risky

from a military point of view,

seemingly heedless.

He attacked the enemy at their strongest point.

But the war wasn't won yet.

Darius was still free, he escaped into the desert.

The Macedonians rushed to the south.

The inhabitants of Tyre went to war,

but like everyone who rose against Alexander,

they faced grave consequences.

But most of Persia's allies

celebrated Alexander as a liberator.

The Egyptians greeted him with open arms.

Their feud with the empire had lasted for too long.

(marching troop stomps on ground)

Like all Greeks, Alexander admired high culture.

Rule over pharaonic Egypt

would be highly regarded back home.

After taking power, he offered sacrifices to the gods,

and consulted the oracle.

He got what he had hoped for,

Alexander was made a God-like pharaoh.

His portrait was even carved into stone

as an acknowledgment that he was the rightful son

of the highest God, Amun-Re.

Shortly after, the new Pharaoh set aside.

He founded Alexandria, modeled on Greek cities.

It was a symbol of his passion

for establishing his own culture

in the conquered territories.

All-in-all, Alexander founded at least

10 cities with his name,

but the metropolis by the Mediterranean

was the most important one.

(speaking in foreign language)

The fact that Alexander

founded cities has special meaning

because it shows that he

didn't only want to conquer territories,

but he wanted to establish lasting sovereignty.

We can see that very clearly

with the foundation of Alexandria.

He had the vast resources in mind

that Egypt and the Middle East offered.

Economic resources, he planned a big seaport

that would connect to Egypt with the Mediterranean,

like a hub.

In the spring of 331 B.C.,

the Macedonians moved to the Euphrates in today's Iraq.

Alexander couldn't be stopped in his advance,

he didn't want to agree on a peace pact with the Persians.

Alexander's army crossed the Euphrates.

So, he didn't take my offer.

How many soldiers does he have?

We estimate about 40,000.

40,000.

We are by far superior in numbers.

We've got more than twice as many.

In September, Alexander's troops

crossed the Tigris as well.

Darius awaited him at Gaugamela.

The Persian king had carefully chosen the battleground.

There were wide plains on which his army could march.

The Persian army exceeded anything Alexander had ever seen.

They were over a 100,000 men,

why didn't you make peace with Darius?

What did he offer you?

All territories west of Euphrates

and 10,000 talents.

No more than we had already taken ourselves.

It's easy to offer something you don't own.

I would have taken him up on his offer

instead of risking everything now.

If I had been you, Parmenion, I might have done so,

but there are no two suns in the sky,

and there can't be two kings ruling Persia.

(sighs) And I thought we took revenge

for their attacks on Greece,

but it is not about that anymore.

You want to surpass your late father.

You want to surpass everyone!

And even if?

So far, we've only liberated territories

the Persians had conquered,

now we are on their territory and we will conquer them!

Let's surprise them and start the attack tonight.

That would be cowardly.

I don't want to steal the victory.

I want to fight honorably,

eye for an eye at dawn!

You've heard it.

Set up camp.

We will face a challenge.

(horses galloping and battle cries)

Darius's super army

extended across five kilometers.

A frontal attack would have been pointless,

Alexander started a diversionary maneuver.

At first, he moved parallel to the Persian's front.

Simultaneously, his infantry attacked the center.

The Persians thought he would attack the wings,

but he made them follow him

until their front broke apart.

(battle cries)

Then he suddenly turned his cavalry around.

(horses galloping) (triumphant music)

He pressed into the gap in the center,

in order to attack the Persian king directly.

(horses galloping and battle cries)

He applied the strategy he used at Issos again.

(triumphant music)

(screaming and swords clanging)

Tirelessly, he attacked the troops around the Persian king.

(screaming and swords clanging)

Alexander wanted a final decision,

in a fight of man against man.

Darius!

(screams)

(spear pierces body)

Move!

Darius abandoned his troop.

They fought to the bitter end.

Alexander! We need you at the left flank,

or the Persians will storm our camp!

I don't believe it, the old fool!

Darius!

Darius's escape

sealed the Persians' second big defeat.

It was the last chapter of his reign.

Still on the battlefield,

Alexander proclaimed himself the new king.

His reputation as bearer of peace went before him.

(triumphant music)

(speaking in foreign language) His victory at

Gaugamela showed the Persian people

that Persian military power wasn't reliable anymore.

Alexander didn't have to conquer a big city;

Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana,

they all open their gates,

come in, have our treasures.

Alexander entered Babylon as a world ruler.

His arrival turned into a triumphal procession.

Babylon had been in Persian hands for 200 years.

They had made the biggest and most beautiful Oriental City,

their second seat of government.

Unbelievable!

Even Athens would pale in comparison to Babylon.

It's size, splendor,

and luxury were not of this world,

claims the legend of Babylon's foundation.

Not Kings, but the gods themselves had built it.

The Macedonians had only known this legendary city

from stories told by Aristotle.

He didn't hold it in high regard,

but Alexander was impressed.

He wanted to make it even more glamorous,

and he wanted to reside in Babylon

like his predecessor Darius.

The king of ostracized Macedonia

had made his dreams come true.

He avenged Greece, and achieved victory.

He achieved sovereignty

over the biggest empire in the world.

Aristotle called the Babylonians barbarians?

Probably because he never saw their city.

If barbarians can perform such miracles,

I'm happy to be their king.

Soon after, Alexander moved

via Susa to Persepolis,

the Persian capital held the treasury

that he desperately needed.

The war chest was almost empty

and the soldiers had to be paid.

Most of them thought Persepolis would be their last stop,

the retaliation campaign was supposed to end here.

(laughing)

We took our revenge on the battlefield,

let's complete our work with a torch!

Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! ...

Alexander!

What are you doing?

You are King of Persia now,

why would you want to burn your own Palace down?

Maybe he's right.

What kind of men are you?

We are not allowed to abuse their women,

and now we are being denied a bonfire?

Is that what your revenge looks like?

Let it be.

We have completed our mission,

we should finally return to Greece.

Never!

Not before Darius kneels in front of me in the dust,

all of this is worth nothing as long as he's free.

(crash and fire swooshes)

The feast ended in catastrophe.

The palace burned down almost entirely,

what the flames spared, the soldiers carried away.

There has been much speculation over it, until today,

it's unclear whether Alexander only acted on impulse.

(speaking in foreign language)

There is one possible reason

often missed in literature.

Alexander wanted to make Babylon the capital,

not Persepolis.

A second center bore the danger of growing opposition.

He wanted to make Babylon the center

and that's why he destroyed Persepolis.

A little later, the day came,

he sent home large parts of his troop.

First of all, the soldiers of the Greek allies.

He was left with Macedonians and Greek mercenaries,

he went looking for Darius with them,

but the pursuit of the Persian king took an unexpected turn.

We have found them.

(ominous music)

After Alexander's victory,

Darius not only lost his empire,

but also his support.

He was betrayed, ambushed, and killed by his own men.

He is dead.

Now you've got what you wanted.

Time to return.

A king needs to die at the hands of a king!

His assassins question my authority also,

they have to be punished.

Enough, Alexander.

You're the king of Persia.

What else do you what?

If you and your father had been braver at Gaugamela,

I could have killed Darius!

You wouldn't have made it that far.

If you don't stop, you'll end up like Darius in the dust.

Are you threatening me?

Alexander!

Shut up or I'll forget myself!

Enough!

No one questions me, neither friend nor foe.

It is not the first time Philotas is against me

Philo--

This time he went too far!

Philotas is hard headed!

He didn't even tell me that my soldiers are against me.

And now I know why.

He is the instigator of this conspiracy,

but it won't help him.

I will preempt him.

Alexander! We're childhood friends.

We have to stick together!

Do you want me to wait until he kills me?

He's threatened to kill me!

That's treason,

punishable by death.

(knife scrapes on sheath)

Alexander didn't hesitate.

He had his general, and friend,

tortured and executed as a warning.

Whether they were soldiers or confidants,

this message got across.

(ominous music)

The Macedonian could only stay in power

if he was cold and calculating,

that's why he ordered a second execution.

(speaking in foreign language) Then Alexander

sent his death squad to Ecbatana

to kill his friend's father also.

These were the rules of the time.

Alexander knew that revenge was paramount in this case.

The father would have had to take revenge for his son,

and with the possibilities he had

in the western part of the empire,

it’s easy to see what would have happened.

Following Alexander's wishes,

Darius was buried honorably.

He was entombed in the Persian royal burial ground.

His murderer, however, had to be executed.

When Alexander set off to today's Afghanistan,

his army was over 50,000 men strong.

Among them, many tribes from the Persian Empire.

The Macedonian needed them

to crush the pockets of resistance

in the remote areas of his empire.

But there was no end to the bloody battles.

Time and again, Alexander had to deal with defeat,

but then, a young princess fell into the general's hands,

and he captured her.

It is said that Alexander immediately fell in love with her,

her name was Roxana, Little Star.

Alexander officially made her his wife.

(peaceful music)

But this marriage was also about politics.

It served to establish peace

and a Persian-Greek dynasty.

(speaking in foreign language) Of course,

marriages between Greeks and Persians had existed before,

but not among royals.

It was extraordinary that Alexander

didn't choose a Greek to be his wife,

which he could have done,

and was expected to.

His father married a Greek in his second marriage.

He made a statement in marrying a Persian princess,

so that everyone could see he was the new Persian king.

Alexander adopted Persian culture

without hesitation.

He also expected genuflection and hand-kissing,

even from his own people.

But it wasn't delusions of grandeur,

it was the calculus of a ruler.

The Persians would have despised him

if he had not adopted the rituals of the people he ruled.

For his friends, however, they were an imposition.

They were used to different behavior.

Clietus, who had saved Alexander's life before,

refused this gesture of submission.

Don't you want to pay respect to me?

I do.

But I only kneel before the gods.

I am of divine descent.

My deeds are greater than those of Heracles and Achilles.

And even if they were,

you are just human, like we all are.

We fought side-by-side and succeeded together,

and now you ask us to kneel in front of you.

I am the great king.

I demand the respect I'm entitled to.

You treat us like Persian barbarians!

You forget who your friends are.

I gave you more fame and wealth

than you could have dreamt of!

Fame! (scoffs)

The fame that we've all earned,

should be only yours now?

Quiet!

And your gold!

Is not enough to buy back the respect you've lost!

Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! I said be quiet!

No!

(spear pierces flesh) (grunts)

(gasps)

(mournful music)

A crime of passion.

It happened at one of the Macedonians'

infamous drinking bouts.

In a dispute about rank and honor,

Alexander and Clietus went for each other's throats.

They were probably drunk.

(speaking in foreign language)

I actually believe

that the murder of Clietus was an emotional act.

They were close friends.

Clietus was one of his best friends,

and I think Alexander killed Clietus in a rage,

which he later, once sobered up,

deeply regretted,

but the man was dead.

Just a few weeks later,

this seems to have been forgotten.

Soon after, the emperor went on a scouting expedition.

He heard about an old mountain pass,

often used by merchants.

Alexander planned to extend his empire to the east.

The route was supposed to lead across Afghan borders.

He demanded that his people would follow him

to the end of the world,

to a place where no Greek had ever been.

(light music)

The route followed the Hindu Kush

at a height of 1,000 meters.

Beyond, laid a land that had never been conquered.

Do you remember what Aristotle once told us

about these mountains?

No, I can't remember.

(sighs)

He called them "Peaks no eagle could pass,"

and beyond them is the end of the world.

No Greek has ever seen it.

(sighs) I will give the order

to leave at dawn.

At about midday, we should have conquered the first pass.

After many bloody battles

and enormous hardship,

Alexander tempted fate again.

(light music)

(speaking in foreign language)

After having conquered the Persian Empire,

one could say that Greece had got its revenge.

But it is interesting

that Alexander didn't stop and return at this point.

His contemporaries couldn't understand it.

They thought it was pothos,

a longing that drove Alexander forward.

At that time,

the end of the known world was believed to be in India.

The exotic country was said to border the world ocean

that surrounded the globe,

but the Earth is larger than ancient scholars suspected.

(light music)

Allegedly 135,000 volunteer soldiers

dared to make the journey

across the dangerous Khyber Pass to India.

The core army was more than twice as large

as it was at the beginning of the conquest.

(light music)

In the spring of 326 B.C.,

they reached the Indus Valley in today's Pakistan.

The army fought heat and humidity.

The fauna was exotic and full of mosquitoes.

The monsoon had turn the soil into impassable marshland,

but nature wasn't the only challenge.

At the river Hydaspes,

the Indian King Porus attacked Alexander

(elephants trumpeting)

with an equally strong army and with war elephants.

(screaming and swords clanging)

It was a bloody battle,

evenly balanced for long periods.

But in the end, the conquerors from the west succeeded.

It was the last big battle they fought.

Alexander's army was at the end of its forces,

and it is said that he faced the greatest loss of his life.

Bucephalus, his beloved horse, died from exhaustion.

His death allegedly broke Alexander's heart.

(peaceful music)

But despite the setbacks, he wanted to move on.

After eight years and 18,000 kilometers, however,

his men were tired of war.

They became mutinous and wanted to return to Greece.

And?

Have you made a decision?

We've almost reached our destination.

We will be able to see the end of the world.

It's a heroic act that no one will ever outdo,

our names will be immortal!

I understand you, Alexander.

And you know I was a loyal companion.

But I can only tell you

that you won't convince your men to carry on.

They will oppose you if you coerce them.

They would rather die here at your hand

than follow you to the end of the world.

Do you remember Achilles and Patroclus?

We wanted to be like them,

we were like them,

we even surpassed them!

They died in battle, it was their fate!

And they'd asked for it!

And us? What awaits us?

A life at royal court?

Surrounded by flatterers and boot-lickers,

in the lap of beautiful women,

and on boring hunting excursions?

That's what awaits us back home.

Do you really want that?

Alexander!

You conquered a World Empire from the back of your horse,

but you can't rule it from the back of your horse.

If you want to be at war forever,

your empire will not last.

So close to the fulfillment of his dream,

Alexander felt let down,

but eventually he gave the order to return home.

(speaking in foreign language) After 70 days

of rain,

you don't want to walk any further.

Alexander then had the ingenious idea

of locking himself in his tent.

He was sulking and went into a sit-in,

but as the people wouldn't give in,

he consulted the gods.

The gods were consulted by the priests,

and the priests knew what they wanted and said,

"We're really sorry, but the gods opposed."

And Alexander said, "If the gods opposed, I have to return."

But he returned on a different route.

He sailed with a fleet down the Indus to the Indian Ocean.

So he reached the end of the world after all,

then he split his forces.

The ships explored the sea route to Persia,

and Alexander went over land with his troops.

The soldiers had to cross

one of the most forbidden places on Earth.

The march through the Gedrosian Desert became a death march.

When Alexander finally arrived in Babylon,

he had lost more men than in any battle.

(mournful music)

And the setbacks didn't stop.

Hephaestion, his closest friend, fell severely ill.

It was probably malaria.

You can't leave me alone just now.

We've still got so much to do.

I am Patroclus …

and you are Achilles.

I have to die before you my friend.

(sighs)

(light sobbing)

It is written in the Iliad.

But unlike the poem,

Hephaestion didn't die on the battlefield.

Their shared dream of fame

through heroic death didn't come true.

Alexander mourned his friend on an overwhelming scale.

For three days, he held funeral games in Babylon,

just like Achilles did for Patroclus.

(light music)

Just a half year later,

Alexander also fell ill

during the preparations for a new campaign to Arabia.

Some say there was poison involved,

but he probably had malaria as well.

The emperor was closer to death than life.

(light suspenseful music)

The court worried about the future of the empire.

Roxana was pregnant with his son,

but Alexander didn't name a successor.

Alexander,

who is supposed to rule your empire?

The most powerful one of you.

Alexander the Great,

died on June 10th, 323 B.C.

In Greece, a bitter fight about his succession started.

The empire he founded broke apart within just a few decades.

But he spread Greek culture over three continents,

all the way to India,

and he was the first European world ruler in history.

He was buried in Alexandria,

in the city that carried his name.

The exact location fell into oblivion.

(horse neighing)

He formed the image of Alexander the Heroic Conqueror,

but the honorary title The Great

was given to him only by the Romans.

Others continued to tell his legend

across generations and borders.

What remains is the fascination with the man

who changed the world.

(harmonizing music)