Alexander the Great(336-323) was one of the greatest known conquerors at the time. He carved a swathe of land from Greece to India, defeating Illyrians, Persians, Sakae and Indians on the way. With his indomitable army he made his way to the Hyphasis river, where he turned back to Babylonia. He was still a relatively young king at the age of 33 when he died in Babylon and his kingdom would be swallowed up by internecine dynastic wars and a hitherto insignificant latin state. But what if he didn’t die. What if he survived and took his empire to greater heights.

Alexander died in 323 bc of unknown causes. Poison being the most likely. While he was alive he had made plans to expand further with his eyes turning west. His uncle/namesake, Alexander of Epirus (342-331) had attempted to lead an expedition westwards before being drawn into an ambush ignominiously being stabbed to death by a Lucanian soldier. According to Livy, as he lay dying he said that his nephew waged war against women. The Persians were the most powerful empire in the world at that time and this whether anachronistic or not can not be said to be true.

Turning a bit closer to home Alexander at that time wished to lead an expedition into Arabia. Arabia while being relatively underdeveloped at the time with cities only being there around the fertile coast was home to many rich kingdoms and powerful nomad Bedouin warriors.

He has ordered the training of thousands of young, Persian boys, but it would take some time for this new, multinational army to assemble. In the mean time he would have most probably led an expedition north against the Caucasus mountain kingdoms that had not submitted to him. While the more powerful kingdoms like Armenia and Cappadocia might resist the others would surely submit, allowing Alexander to establish a bulwark for his empire to the north.

By this time, the boy known in OTL as Alexander IV would have been born and Alexander would have held great celebrations to endorse this. The army Alexander has assembled to take Arabia would be ready and by 321 bc Alexander would finally march. He would split the army in two groups. One which would come down the eastern route near the Arabian sea and the other down the west coast by the Red sea. While Alexander would probably lead the western detachment which would be to conquer the Nabateans, Ma’in and Saba kingdoms (the Sabeans being ruled by Karab’il Watar VI), the eastern detachement which would be led by either Selucus, Ptolemy or even Antipater would have to conquer the kingdoms of the Gerrhae and Muscat.

The western corps would be faced by each king individually and in hard desert fighting, Alexander would sustain heavy losses but he would capture Petra and take over the Nabateans. After this, awed by Macedonian strength, the kingdoms of Ma’in and Saba would submit to Alexander.

The eastern detachments would have a harder time of it as the Gerrhae and Muscat were powerful tribes who didn’t have any internecine rivalry and would have probably allied against the Macedonians. This time the Macedonians would also have to fight in the mountains and it might be possible that they might have suffered some defeats, however minor.

At the end however, the eastern corps would be successful and the southern kingdoms of Arabia would be left to the mercy of both armies. These kingdoms would submit to Alexander.

The next target would be Carthage and Alexander would probably amass another huge army which wouldoutnumber the Carthaginians, however there is no need to count the Carthaginians out just yet. The could amass a fearsome mercenary and national force for defence. Alexander would need allies to take on probably his most powerful opponent since the Achaemenids.

He would turn to the states of Sicily, ruled by the descendants of Greek colonists and use that to expand his army to around 100-120,000 men. In the First Punic war Carthage could field 50,000 men at the Battle of Akragas in 262bc and could field 16,000 troops 5 years later so a number around 70,000 should be enough. While Carthage would send this army to defend their side of Sicily and Lilybaeum they would mostly try to face Alexander on the sea.

Alexander would have capable commanders like Agathocles who in OTL launched his own invasion of Africa in 310bc. He would have advanced west into Sicily in order to capture Lilybaeum but would have been stopped by Carthaginian armies. They would have fortified mountain passes, harried Alexander’s army and would have tried to cut off his supply routes. Alexander would have faced them and in a fearsome battle, most likely outside Lilybaeum would have defeated them with a 60,000 strong army. The rest of them would invade Carthaginian North Africa. A titanic naval battle would have been fought in the Mediterranean Sea where with the help of experienced admirals like Nearchus, Alexander would triumph. Meeting up with the second corps outside Carthage, Alexander would have besieged the city in 310 bc and captured it, beating yet another Carthaginian army.

At this point Alexander would have been ruler of most of the known world but he was not done yet. Advancing into Iberia he would have beaten warlike Celto-Iberian tribes like the Lusitani, Astures and the Cantabri. He would most probably take the submission of Greek and Punic cities. Marching over the Alps into Italy, he would have fought with the warlike Etruscans. Rome, little more than a regional power at the time would have surrendered and become a vassal of Alexander. Alexander would establish many more satrapies and would have placed it under locals, Macedeonians and Persians alike.

Marching towards Macedonia through Illyria, he would have conquered the Illyrians and reached Hellas. He would build a new Alexandria and build a great tomb for his father, Phillip.

Marching back east in 300 bc his son would by now be a grown man. Alexander now would set his eyes east. While an advance to China was one of Alexander’s ambitions, the distance and his other plans might not have been enough. He planned to invade India and Scythia in OTL so with Scythia being closer to Greek he would choose to invade Scythia. With his new found vassal in the Bosphoran kingdom, Spartokos III he would have an advantage over the Scythians.

He had experience fighting the Scythians before, as well as their hit and run warfare so he would have triumphed, before swinging south to attack the Dahae, Massagetae and Sakas. He would by 290 extend his border to the Aral and vassalize the Scythian tribes in the Russian steppes. At this point Alexander would be 66 so he could die in 285bc.

He would be succeeded by his son Alexander IV who would build the city of Alexandria. The city in Egypt would be named Alexandria in Egypt. Alexandria would be in the place of OTL Antioch. Alexander IV would now invade India, under the rule of Bindusara. With experienced generals, Alexander IV would conquer the Mauryan Empire and secure a glorius future for Hellas.