More than 23 centuries after he unexpectedly died in distant Babylon, Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) still seems to be a name that comes easily to many people’s lips – from young children first learning to tell jokes (“What’s purple and conquered the world?” “Alexander the Grape!”) to historians, anthropologists, linguists and opportunistic politicians striving even today to come to grips with the Macedonian commander’s stunning military achievements, to trace his cultural influence or to exploit his universal fame and appeal.

Alexander III was, and is, ancient Macedonia’s greatest native son, a brilliant, hugely confident, remarkably skilled young man, who grew up surrounded by royal luxury, hard-fighting, hard-drinking military men, self-serving, often murderous palace intrigue and especially the examples set through the relentless ambitions of his dynamic parents, Philip II and Olympias. Thanks to a slew of biographers both ancient and modern, including Theopompus, Plutarch, Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, Polyaenus and more recently Robin Lane Fox and Peter Green, we know much about Alexander, his character and his ambitions.

Alexander was born at Pella, then a prosperous coastal emporium that lay at the heart of a kingdom his father was already in the midst of expanding and consolidating into a powerful regional empire. He was the latest scion in the Argead Dynasty, which claimed descent from the divine hero Heracles. On his mother’s side, who hailed from wild Epirus, he was said to be related to the great warrior Achilles, a revered figure that played a formative role in Alexander’s thinking, self-image and actions right down to the end of his life. As a youth, he pushed himself to excel in fighting, to achieve great feats and to stand above the crowd. When he invaded Asia in 334 BC, he first stopped at Troy, where, accompanied by his closest, life-long friend Hephaestion, he paid his respects at the tomb of Achilles and ran a race naked in honor of his dead hero. In the end, eight months before his own death, Alexander was inconsolable at the passing of Hephaestion, much as Achilles had mourned his beloved Patroclus, and buried him in a similar (although far more extravagant) ceremonial style.

Despite occasional bad blood, Philip looked after his son’s education and appears to have admired him. Alexander’s most influential teachers were Leonidas, a relative of Olympias, and especially the philosopher Aristotle. Leonidas taught him to be tough, to endure all-night marches and forced deprivations of food, while Aristotle cultivated his mind. Alexander occupied his days at Pella with reading, writing, swordplay, archery, horse-riding and learning to play the lyre.

Another memorable incident reveals several lasting character traits in Alexander: his tendency not to forget a slight and to welcome opportunities for vengeance; his sometimes exaggerated generosity; and his clever verbal agility. Leonidas had sternly chastised Alexander as a boy not to waste incense at sacrifices. Long afterward, in 332 BC, when Alexander had seized Gaza, the main Levantine spice emporium, he shipped back to the now-elderly Leonidas a potential fortune of 18 tons of frankincense and myrrh, as a remembrance of old lessons learned together.

Physically, Alexander was below average height, muscular, a fast runner, with wild blonde hair like a lion’s mane. He was fair-skinned and said to have different colored eyes (grey-blue, dark brown), sharply pointed teeth, a high-pitched, sometimes harsh voice and a quick, nervous gait. His head he held characteristically high, with his neck twisted slightly to the left. Alexander’s biographers mention something almost girlish, with a sense of suppressed tension, about his early portraits. He is remembered as intelligent, calculating and perceptive, but also impulsive, stubborn and violent-tempered.

Alexander was a gifted leader, diplomat and propagandist, who presented himself to his Asian subjects as a god, son of Zeus-Ammon. In his inspired quest to meld East with West, he adopted Persian ways, brought conquered local officials into his imperial administration and encouraged his officers to intermarry with his newfound subjects. He himself married a Persian princess, Roxana, and spawned an ill-fated son, Alexander IV. In the end, he proved all too human, finally succumbing to disease, overdrinking or poison. He left behind an army in disarray and a host of squabbling successors. Nevertheless, his legend flourished. Today, Alexander’s legacy as an ambassador of Greek civilization survives in linguistic, religious and other cultural traces still evident in distant corners of Asia. His memory still sparks political wrangling and enriches the present-day cultural scene. Above all, his dynamic, undefeated military record will stand forever as one of the greatest achievements of ancient Greek history.