Alexander, was born on or around July 20, 356 B.C.E. The exact date may have been created after the fact to match the date of the burning of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Regardless, Alexander was a Leo. Alexander is supposed to have been fair skinned, with a ruddy tinge to his face and chest. Plutarch stated that he had a pleasing scent. Like all Macedonians, Alexander liked his liquor; his fondness for wine also caused some of his outbursts of rage. Alexander liked drama, the flute and the lyre, poetry and hunting. What he truly wanted in his life was glory and valor, rather than easy living and riches. He was not fond of athletic contests, according to Plutarch.
             To say the least, young Alexander matured early. A famous anecdote describes Alexander skillfully receiving Persian envoys in Philip's court while Philip was out inspecting his troops. Alexander is said to have impressed the envoys more than Philip would have. This incident would have happened when Alexander was about five or six.
             Alexander's formal education came about when Philip and Olympias saw the potential for greatness in the boy and arranged for his education. His first teacher was the harsh Leonidas, a relative of Olympias, perhaps her uncle. Leonidas was a strict disciplinaria n who instilled in Alexander his ascetic nature which became famous during his Persian and Indian expeditions, where he would live simply, very much like his troops. Leonidas was replaced with Lysimachus, who curried the favor of the king by calling him Peleus, Alexander Achilles, and himself Phoinix, the name of Achilles' tutor. Lysimachus taught Alexander to play the lyre, and taught him an appreciation for the fin e arts of music, poetry, and drama.
             Philip and Olympias wanted nothing less than the best for their son, so when he was 13, his parents hired Aristotle from Athens to be his personal tutor. The two of them spent time at Mieza, a temple about 20 miles from the pa...