Alexander of Macedon: “Global” Empire with a Surfeit of “Alexandrias”

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Alexander the Great in his short lifetime (356–323 BC) conquered a very large slice of what was then the known world (according to ancient Europeans – see below). Though unprecedented in its breadth—stretching from south-eastern Europe to South Asia and Egypt—and a colossal military achievement, its important to note that Alexander took control of massive areas of land as a result of defeating other imperial powers in the east, especially the Persian Empire. As Pierre Briant argues, the foundation for the Macedonian king’s great conquest was the pre-existing vast empire of the Achaemenid rulers…the empire he won, was already an organised, centralised empire, pacified and controlled by the Persians, which made Alexander’s task of administering and maintaining order in the various regions and satrapies significantly easier than had those advantageous preconditions not prevailed (Pierre Briant, Alexander the Great and His Empire: A Short Introduction, (2012)). 

The ancient Greeks’ concept of the world map

As Alexander relentlessly added to his empire in piecemeal fashion, he founded approximately 70 new cities, his network of Hellenised poleis (ancient Greek city-states) in Asia and Africa, encompassing a host of modern-day states including Türkiye, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Libya,Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of these 70 or so cities founded by Alexander in an expanding empire, not a few were eponymous. The exact number of “Alexandrias” is unknown because the ancient sources provide conflicting and contradictory accounts of them, but we can verify a number of them that either still exist or did exist at one time and have been lost to history. The most famous of course is Alexandria in Egypt, famed as one of the antiquity’s learned seats of culture and wisdom, revolving around its iconic grand library. Others include Alexandria Troas (near the site of ancient Troy), Alexandria in Margiana (Turkmenistan), Alexandria in Arachosia (Kandahar, Afghanistan), Alexandria Eschate (Tajikistan, the northern outpost of Alexander’s empire in Central Asia), and there were more.

Why did Alexander name so many of his cities after himself? The explanation that most people would reach for is that this was a manifestation of the great Macedonian emperor’s overweening vainglory, and of course the hyper-mythologised Alexander’s unsurprisingly oversized ego was part of the motivation. He was honouring his glorious achievements which were without equal, a way of imprinting his personal and lasting legacy across the empire. If we draw on a modern comparison from the world of retailing, it was a kind of branding of the “Alexander product”. The eponymous nomenclature also complimented the Hellenising mission of Alexander and his Macedonian successors, the goal of spreading Greek culture, language and ideas throughout the length and breadth of the burgeoning empire. Having multiple “Alexandrias” across the territories also gave a unifying impulse to the Alexandrian empire, the cities were strategic locations, on important trade routes or defensive positions, chosen to function as key centres for commerce, military control and administration. 

A map of Alexander the Great’s land holdings dotted with “Alexandrias”