Ruler
Alexander the Great
King of Macedon who ended Persian rule in Egypt
356 – 323 BCE
Lifespan; he entered Egypt in 332 BCE.
Biography
He entered Egypt in 332 BCE almost unopposed, visited the oracle of Amun at Siwa Oasis and founded Alexandria. He left Egypt after a few months and died in Babylon in 323 BCE; his body was later brought to Egypt.
Key facts
Certainty: Established
Alexander visited the oracle of Amun at Siwa in the winter of 332–331 BCE; what he was told is known only from later Greek accounts.
- Arrian “Anabasis of Alexander (2nd century CE)”, III.3–4
- Günther Hölbl (2001) “A History of the Ptolemaic Empire” Routledge