The earth turned on its axis the day Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) died. Notorious for his unrestrained aggressivity and hard drinking, it should have come as no surprise to the Greeks that Alexander the Great would not live to see old age. Yet when the warrior king died at the age of thirty-two, it left a power vacuum the likes of which the ancient world had never seen, resulting in widespread unrest and turmoil throughout Alexander’s vast empire. His son, Alexander IV, by Roxane, his first wife, was born posthumously; thus, at the time of Alexander’s death, his gender was unknown, and Alexander’s half-brother—Arrihidaeus—was cognitively impaired, therefore permanently considered a minor and his next closest male heir. Read moreSection: Ancient WritingsNewsGeneralEuropeHistoryAncient TraditionsFamous PeoplePremiumPreviewRead Later