He was taught by the philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle taught him literature, and introduced him to science, philosophy, and medicine which he became interested in. His favorite work of literature was The Iliad, by Homer. He slept with this book and a dagger every night under his pillow (Townson 3). Phillip was assassinated in July 336BC on the way to the theater with his brother-in-law, Alexander of Epirus, by a Macedonian soldier, (Popovic death of Phillip). This even really tested Alexander on what he learned and how he would use it. After this event, when Alexander turned twenty, he quickly and firmly took charge of his father's army, faster than anyone had ever thought possible (Popovic death of Phillip). Alexander took no time in executing all of his enemies and people that had any chance of claiming the thrown. Among these were Attulus, a general who claimed that his nephew was the rightful heir, Phillip's other wife and child (There are stories that Olympia, Alexander's mother tortured them to death) (Wepman 37). The only road left was to earn the support of Greece.
When Greece saw how the strength of Alexander's army he gained their support. With the support of Greece, Alexander didn't waste any time to finish what his father had begun. When Phillip died he left his land far in debt. Alexander's plan was to conquer more land to get the money to pay off the debts his father had amassed (Townson 4). He would begin by marching to the Danube River. During his journey, Alexander's army encountered Thracian tribes. Alexander understood that they would try to crush the Macedonian phalanx by pushing their wagons down the slope at them. Alexander told his men to quickly open up the phalanx so that the wagons would roll harmlessly by. The Tracians only had weak weapons to defend their selves with. After the wagons past Alexander's army, they easily conquered them and took the pass through the Balkans (Wepman 44).
