In the month of Hekatombion in the Attic calendar (July/August in the modern Gregorian calendar), in the year 356 BCE, an heir was born to the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his favorite wife, Olympias. That heir was Alexander III, best known as Alexander the Great. In his short life (he died in 323 BCE at the age of thirty-two) he became ruler of Macedon, conqueror of the Persians, and founder of one of the greatest empires in world history.