[Video] Today in History- The Death of Alexander the Great & the Shattered Empire 6.11.323BC

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Today in History:

The Death of Alexander the Great and the Shattered Empire
6.11.323BC

On June 11, 323 BC, Alexander the Great—the brilliant general who had conquered the Persian Empire and stretched his rule from Greece to India—died in Babylon at just 32 years old. Feverish and weakened, lying in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, he whispered his final, cryptic words when asked who should inherit his vast empire: “To the strongest.” And with that, the world he built began to unravel.

There was no clear successor. His only son had not yet been born, and his half-brother was mentally unfit to rule. The unity of his empire had existed solely through his will. When that vanished, his generals—each ambitious and battle-hardened—turned against one another in a brutal scramble for power.

The empire fractured into pieces. Ptolemy seized Egypt and declared himself pharaoh. Seleucus carved out the Persian heartlands and built the Seleucid Empire. Antigonus took Asia Minor and the Levant, and Cassander claimed Macedonia and Greece. For the next three centuries, these successor kingdoms clashed endlessly, each trying—and failing—to rebuild what Alexander had forged.

And yet, even in fragmentation, his legacy endured. The Hellenistic Era was born, a time when Greek art, science, and language spread across continents. Alexandria became a beacon of knowledge, and Greek influence stretched deep into Asia. But it was also an age of war, dynastic intrigue, and oppression.

Alexander’s empire died with him—but his legend would shape the ambitions of conquerors for centuries to come.