Book 3 Summary and Analysis

Alexander's next destination is Egypt, which he enters with no resistance. The former Persian governor of Egypt had been killed at Issus. He orders his fleet to sail up the Nile to Memphis while he marches to Heliopolis. All of Egypt surrenders without a fight. The games that Alexander offers in celebration attract the best performers from Greece. He returns to the Nile delta area and founds the city of Alexandria, which is known as the Pearl of the Mediterranean today.

News of further Macedonian good fortune arrives. Several island and mainland cities have voluntarily come over to the Macedonian side. Flush with victory, Alexander decides to visit the oracle of Ammon in Libya, having been crowned a Pharaoh in Thebes. Pharaohs are considered to be sons of Ammon, originally a tribal god depicted as a ram and later as a...