s stay in Egypt, he made a dangerous trip across the desert to visit the oracle of the temple of a Zeus Ammon. As usually, everything was going his way with abundant rain and the story tells that he was guided across the desert by ravens. What Alexander spoke to the oracle is unclear, but many speculate that the priest told him he was the son of Zeus Ammon and was destined to rule the world. The Egyptians, who despised living under Persian rule, voluntarily made him pharaoh. He and Darius exchanged letters during this time, and Alexander was even offered a truce with a gift of several western provinces of the Persian Empire. He refused for it was the whole empire or battle that he wanted. He believed he was destined to rule the world and was a son of a god and would not settle for anything less. He left Egypt in the middle of 331 B.C. in pursuit of Darius. Alexander conquered the lands between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and found the Persian army on the plains of Gaugamela. The Macedonians spotted the campfires of the Persian army, and encouraged Alexander to lead his attack under the cover of darkness. He refused this action because he wanted to defeat Darius in an equally matched battle, so that the Darius would never again raise an army against the Macedonians. This leads back to Alexander's theme of being invincible and godlike, because he was a fool not to take advantage of this situation. The two armies met on the battlefield the next morning and the Persians were slaughtered. Darius escaped again, but Alexander was named King of Asia. He sent letters to all of the Greek cities saying that he had abolished tyranny from Asia. This leads back to his being a Greek hero just like Achilles and defending the civilized world of the Greeks from the savage world of the Persians. He did this to unite the Greek people behind him, and also to give reason to keep conquering these lands. He turned south and obtained the surrenders of Babyl...
