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Motivating my troops would become one of my greatest skills. I am thus indebted to all three teachers for this skill. Leonidas taught me how to motivate through my actions, Lysimachus taught me how to motivate by appealing to the emotions. Last but certainly not least, Aristotle taught me how to motivate through rhetoric and eristics.

While their lessons were helping shape my vision of a Great Empire, my father’s military prowess shaped my fighting abilities that proved fundamental to my rapid development.

In 340 BC, Philip went to Byzantium to take on rebels, leaving me – sixteen years old at the time – in charge of Macedonia as regent with authority to rule in his absence.

During his absence, I traveled to crush a Maedi revolt in Northern Macedonia. I captured the city, pushed the survivors to the northern outskirts, colonized the city as a Greek colony and named it, what else, Alexandroupolis. Whatever points I scored with my father by crushing the rebellion, I lost by naming the city after myself. I think this might have scared off my father. I learned not to wear my ambition and drive on my sleeve.

But I was unimpressed with such mortal acts. I longed to learn more and recognized that I could only do so by reaching beyond Macedonia and the Greek city-states. My sights were set on the big prize: Persia.

But to get to Persia, I would have to go through Egypt.

But as things stood, it would be my father – and not me – who stood to cross into Asia.

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