`  Source that indicates that Alexander the Great was not a king of Ancient Greece but him as his father conquered ancient Greece ( and not only .. )  and originally was not Greek….    * Philip II of Macedonia ruled from 359-336 B.C.E. Without the military and political efforts of Philip, Alexander would never have been as successful as he was. According to Bosworth, Philip's work with the Macedonian army and establishment of alliances with the Balkan peoples gave both himself and Alexander the resources necessary to carry out such conquests.   * Philip's military zenith was at the battle at Chaeronea in August of 338 B.C.E. Philip's army was greatly outnumbered by the Athenian and Theban forces, yet his phalanxes overwhelmed the Athenians and Thebans. Athens and Thebes were forced to become subjects of Philip and Macedonia, leaving Sparta as the only Greek state not under Macedonian control.   * The area from which Olympias came was considered barbaric, and her practice of Dionysian rituals did little to convince Philip and other Macedonians otherwise…..Alexander then moved Olympias back to Epirus, and he went to Illyria.   * The next day, Alexander's general, Perdiccas, attacked the gates. Arrian claims that he did so before Alexander gave a signal; Diodorus says that the signal had been given. Regardless, the battle had begun. Perdiccas broke through and into the city, an d Alexander moved the rest of his force in behind to prevent the Thebans from cutting Perdiccas off from the rest. The Macedonians then stormed the city, killing almost everyone in sight, women and children included. They plundered, sacked, burned and r azed Thebes, as an example to the rest of Greece.  *By making the military a full-time occupation, Philip was able to drill his men regularly, building unity and cohesion within the army. Alexander fought with the finest military machine that Asia or Greece had ever seen, primarily because of the amount of time and effort spent on maneuvers.  Link suggested  by ``Alexander the Great`` World Encyclopedia. Philip's, 2005. Oxford Reference Online `