Alexander the Great



Alexander III of Macedon (Born::July 20 356 BC – Died::June 10 323 BC), better known as Alexander the Great, was an Ancient Greek King of Macedon. Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II of Macedon after a successful assassination attempt, and starting roughly 336 BC Alexander the Great ruled for 13 years dying at the young age of 32. He unified the warring and divided city states of Greece and conquered Persia, Egypt and a number of other kingdoms, all the way to the borders of India, creating one of the largest empires in ancient history. He was the son of King Philip II of Macedon and the infamous Epirote princess Olympias, in Pella, Macedon. Alexander and his empire was predicted in the Old Testament prophecies of Daniel, in addition to several references of him in the Apocrypha Book of Maccabees.

A main primary source of historical knowledge regarding Alexander the Great and of Phillip II of Macedon is by the first century ancient biography written by Plutarch. Within his work called Lives Plutarch covered the lives of famous and noble Greeks and Romans.

Prophetic Fulfillment
During the conquests of Alexander the Great roughly around 330 BC he moved South-East and then West towards the region of Palestine and eventually Jerusalem. When Alexander marched on Jerusalem he became confronted by a multitude of Jews and specifically their high priest, whom the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans were determined to harm and subjugate. The manner in which the Jews acted towards Alexander initially stunned him and his surrounding commanders. During this astonishment Parmenio, the high priest, approached Alexander and showed him the book of Daniel, widely considered to be chapter 7. Parmenio also quite likely highlighted Daniel 8, which is the contextual interpretation of chapter 7 and states;

This particular Intertestamental period historical event, was actual prophetic fulfillment. We can determine that Alexander the Great met the high priest Parmenio through extra biblical, and in this case non-Christian writings. Flavius Josephus (37 to 100 AD) an ancient historian and Hellenistic Jew attests to the event in, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI. After being shown the Book of Daniel, Josephus writes of Alexander determining his prophetic importance; And when the Book of Daniel was showed him wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended.

Dragon
In 330 BC, after Alexander the Great invaded India, he brought back reports of seeing a great hissing dragon living in a cave, which people were worshiping as a god. One of Alexander the Great's lieutenants (Onesicritus) stated that the Indian king Abisarus kept serpents that were 120 and 210 feet long. Subsequent Greek rulers are said to have brought dragons back alive from Ethiopia.