Alexander The Great Hypothesis – That the Greeks success and development as an empire was due mainly to their great war general, Alexander the great, who was a revolutionary ‘leadership’ figure. Alexander the Great was born in 356 BC, and was the son of Philip II, king of Macedonia. He grew up with the example of Philip and the tutelage of Isocrates, Aristotle, and others. From an early age he had been associated with the king, his father, in conducting religious ceremonies, and he was imbued with the many ideas of orthodox religion and of ecstatic mysteries. He believed he was descended from Zeus and Heracles and was destined to be king. Alexander "was acclaimed 'son of Zeus'