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THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL

Back when I began to capture Persian positions in modern day Turkey, some Greek cities in Asia Minor opened their gates to me. But I did have to treat the Persian cities I was overtaking slightly differently. As a result, I decided to accept and embrace some Persian mores and systems, something that I learned from Cyrus anyway.

Those who showed loyalty to me were allowed to live fairly autonomously.

Repeatedly I sought to balance my royal edicts with local self-governance. Nowhere was this more symbolic than in the city I founded in Egypt in 331 BC. After having moved in through Egypt and sailed the Nile, I found a location I deemed perfect for a city. There, I founded Alexandria. I went on to establish seventeen cities named Alexander across my empire.

In all, I founded dozens of cities. Historians have only managed to trace about seventy to me, though only sixteen of which they are certain. Many did vanish over the years and six remain to this day: my beloved Alexandria in Egypt, Herat in Aria (modern day Afghanistan), Ghazni in Arachosia (modern day Afghanistan), Margiane in Merv, Termez on the Oxus river (modern day Amudarja River) and Chodjend in Jaxartes. Seven more lasted for centuries: Susiana, Prophthasia, Alexandria-ad-Caucasum and Bucephala, which I established and named after my beloved horse, Bucephalus.

The cities were influenced by Greek patterns: in each city I would have a market square, a school, some offices, shops, a temple, a theater, gymnasium and ideally, a fountain.

Foundation cities were built at the crossroads of important roads to accelerate trade. To foster interaction, the cities were designed to be close enough to existing towns and villages. To provide some security and avoid total assimilation, they were far enough to allow the newly placed Macedonian and Greek settlers to maintain their own ways. Not only would the elder fighters and wounded be able to colonize and settle in the new lands, but this expansion solved many ailments back home. Unemployment was squelched. Farming and agriculture were introduced to mountainous people. Inter-culture marriages were encouraged.

I introduced two seals to represent my empire, one for administrative use back home, one to be used in Persia.

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