first and most famous one was an Egyptian city, which later (a century) became the center of the Hellenistic world. As his empire grew Alexander saw that Asia could not be administered simply as a colony of Greece. Somehow he had to bring Persians and Greeks together into a single unit. In 327 B.C., partly for political reasons, Alexander married a Sogdian Princess, Roxanne. Three years later he married the elder daughter of Darius in a purely political union. This wedding was a communal affair: at the same time, on Alexander_s order, 80 of his top-ranking officers married 80 Persian girls of noble birth. Further to consolidate his empire Alexander drafted Persian cavalry into his own army and ordered 30,000 Persian boys to be trained in Macedonian combat techniques. He adopted Persian dress for himself and for a time even tried to get his soldiers to follow the Persian custom of prostration before the king. His Macedonian captains did not take well to this as this custom was implying worship, and Alexander was not a god in the eyes of his soldiers. All of these changes brought his newly conquered empire together. Alexander mainly wanted his Persian captains to feel that they were the equals of the Macedonians and wanted the Macedonians to accept this equality. Most of Alexander_s ideas for consolidating the Greek and Persian peoples made little impression on his Macedonian companions. They were soldiers, not political scientists. His concept of empire did not fit their own crude ambitions and they had no sympathy for his desire to govern responsibly. Basically they felt that he was setting himself above them, spoiling the old comradeship-in-arms which was a well defined characteristic of the Macedonian army. Realizing that his soldiers were doubtful in following his authority, Alexander himself began to change. His soldiers reported that he became more violent in times of explanation; meaning he became upset if someone couldn_t see so...
