played at an early age extraordinary competitiveness and capacity for leadership and courage which he displayed in 338 when he led the decisive cavalry charge at Chaeronea. He was also thoroughly grounded in Greek poetry, philosophy and politics by his tutor, Aristotle. Hammond said "the influence of Aristotle on Alexander was profound. . . Above all he learnt from Aristotle to put faith in the intellect" (5). His mother and Philip's third wife, Olympias, was descended from Priam, the King of Troy, and from the Greek hero Achilles, who was believed to be the son of the goddess Thetis. Hammond said that Alexander always had "a profound belief in the Olympian gods," [whom] "he hoped to rival or even surpass" (7).
Alexander became King of Macedonia in 337 after Philip was assassinated. He spent the next two years eliminating opposition to his rule within palace circles and quelling revolts in the Balkans. After Chaeronea, Philip succeeded imposing an uneasy peace on all the Greek city-states other than Sparta and induced them to join a
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