The wars of Alexander the Great were fought by King Alexander III of Macedon, first against the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Darius III, against local chieftains and warlords as far east as Punjab, India. By the time of his death, he had conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks. However, he failed to conquer South Asia. Although being successful as a military commander, he failed to provide any stable alternative to the Achaemenid Empire—his untimely death threw the vast territories he conquered into civil war. Alexander assumed the kingship of Macedonia following the death of his father Philip II, who had unified most of the city-states of mainland Greece under Macedonian hegemony in a federation called the Hellenic League. After reconfirming Macedonian rule by quashing a rebellion of southern Greek city-states and staging a short but bloody excursion against Macedon's northern neighbors, Alexander set out east against the Achaemenid Persian Empire, under its "King of Kings", Darius III, which he defeated and overthrew.

His conquests included Anatolia, Phoenicia, Gaza, Mesopotamia and Bactria, he extended the boundaries of his own empire as far as Taxila, India. Alexander had made more plans prior to his death for military and mercantile expansions into the Arabian Peninsula, after which he was to turn his armies to the west. However, Alexander's diadochi abandoned these grandiose plans after his death. Instead, within a few years of Alexander's death, the diadochi began fighting with each other, dividing up the Empire between themselves, triggering 40 years of warfare. Philip II was assassinated by the captain of Pausanias. Philip's son, designated heir, Alexander was proclaimed king by the Macedonian noblemen and army. News of Philip's death roused many states into revolt including Thebes, Athens and the Thracian tribes to the north of Macedon; when news of the revolt reached Alexander he responded quickly. Though his advisers counseled him to use diplomacy, Alexander mustered the Macedonian cavalry of 3,000 men and rode south towards Thessaly, Macedon's immediate neighbor to the south.

When he found the Thessalian army occupying the pass between Mount Olympus and Mount Ossa, he had the men ride over Mount Ossa and, when the Thessalians awoke, they found Alexander at their rear. The Thessalians surrendered and added their cavalry to Alexander's force as he rode down towards the Peloponnese. Alexander stopped at Thermopylae, where he was recognized as the leader of the Sacred League before heading south to Corinth. Athens sued for peace and Alexander received the envoy and pardoned anyone involved with the uprising. At Corinth, he was given the title'Hegemon' of the Greek forces against the Persians. Whilst at Corinth, he heard the news of a Thracian uprising in the north. Before crossing to Asia, Alexander wanted to safeguard his northern borders and, in the spring of 335 BC, he advanced into Thrace to deal with the revolt, led by the Illyrians and Triballi. At Mount Haemus, the Macedonian army defeated a Thracian garrison manning the heights; the Macedonians were attacked in the rear by the Triballi, who were crushed in turn.

Alexander advanced on to the Danube, encountering the Getae tribe on the opposite shore. The Getae army retreated after the first cavalry skirmish, leaving their town to the Macedonian army. News reached Alexander that Cleitus, King of Illyria, King Glaukias of the Taulantii were in open revolt against Macedonian authority. Alexander defeated each in turn, forcing Cleitus and Glaukias to flee with their armies, leaving Alexander's northern frontier secure. While he was triumphantly campaigning north, the Thebans and Athenians rebelled once more. Alexander reacted but, while the other cities once again hesitated, Thebes decided to resist with the utmost vigor; this resistance was useless, however, as the city was razed to the ground amid great bloodshed and its territory divided between the other Boeotian cities. The end of Thebes cowed Athens into submission, leaving all of Greece at least outwardly at peace with Alexander. In 334 BC, Alexander crossed the Hellespont into Asia, it took over one hundred triremes to transport the entire Macedonian army, but the Persians decided to ignore the movement.

In these early months, Darius still refused to take Alexander or mount a serious challenge to Alexander's movements. Memnon of Rhodes, the Greek mercenary who aligned himself with the Persians, advocated a scorched earth strategy, he wanted the Persians to destroy the land in front of Alexander, which he hoped would force Alexander's army to starve, to turn back. The satraps in Anatolia rejected this advice. With Alexander advancing deeper into Persian territory, Darius ordered all five satraps of the Anatolian provinces to pool their military resources together and confront Alexander; this army was guided by Memnon. The Battle of the Granicus River in May 334 BC was fought in Northwestern Asia Minor, near the site of Troy. After crossing the Hellespont, Alexander advanced up the road to the capital of the Satrapy of Phrygia; the various satraps of the Persian empire gathered their forces at the town of Zelea and offered battle on the banks of the Granicus River. Alexander fought many of his battles on a river bank.

By doing so, he was able to minimize the advantage. In addition, the deadly Persian chariots were useless on a muddy river bank. Arrian and Plutarch all

"The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons' twenty-first season and the 457th episode overall. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 28, 2010. In this episode, the Simpsons vacation in Jerusalem with Ned Flanders, but Homer does not appreciate the city's religious importance—until he gets lost in the desert, in a severe state of dehydration, believes himself to be the Messiah; the episode was written by Kevin Curran and directed by Michael Polcino and guest stars Sacha Baron Cohen as the Israeli tour guide Jakob and Yael Naim as his niece Dorit. “The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" received a 2.7/8 Nielsen Rating in the 18-49 demographic and mixed reviews from critics. Ned Flanders becomes frustrated when Homer disrupts his Bible study group, Reverend Lovejoy recommends that Ned invites the Simpson family to join the group on their tour of Jerusalem. Homer is skeptical. Upon arrival in Jerusalem, they are joined by Krusty the Clown, making a Jewish pilgrimage.

Passing the Western Wall, they meet a talkative, pushy tour guide named Jakob and his niece Dorit, who doubles as his security guard and pummels Bart into submission using her knowledge of Krav Maga. At first and the other tourists show more interest in the hotel's buffet than they do in seeing the city, much to Ned's dismay; when they arrive at King David's tomb, Ned implores Homer to show some respect. Homer, continues to goof off and Ned becomes impatient with him, their next stop is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Ned prays that Homer finds some meaning in the tour. But when he discovers Homer taking a nap on Jesus' tomb, he yells at Homer. Ned is banned for life from visiting the site. Ned subsequently scolds Homer, telling him that his soul is "not worth saving", storms off. Homer rushes after Ned to make amends, but loses sight of him and believes that Ned is lost in the desert, while Ned got a glass of water to calm his anger and went to see a movie. Homer takes a camel and rides off to find Ned, but soon becomes lost in a sandstorm and starts to feel the effects of dehydration.

Homer drinks some of the salty water, further dehydrating himself. He hallucinates a visit from a pickle and tomato from VeggieTales, who tell him that he is the new Messiah. After Homer is rescued by Marge and a security guard, Dr. Hibbert diagnoses him with Jerusalem syndrome, whose sufferers possess religiously-themed obsessive ideas. Homer ends up at the Dome of the Rock. Marge, the Simpson children, Dr. Hibbert chase after him, only to hear him preach that the similarities of different religions outweigh their differences, that all should search for a common ground for a joint new religion, the so-called "Chrismujews". Ned witnesses Homer's speech and is profoundly moved, but the effect is lost on the crowd as nearly all of the other tour group members have developed Jerusalem syndrome as well. On the flight back to Springfield and Homer reconcile. In its original airing, "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" was viewed by 5.698 million viewers and got a Nielsen Rating of 2.7, with an 8 share of the audience.

It came second in the "Animation Domination" lineup. The episode received positive reviews. Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 7.3, calling it was "Decent" and adding, "I was underwhelmed with Sacha Baron Cohen's voice work as the group's tour guide. He was like a sped up Borat and was a bit difficult to understand at times; the few jokes that did get through were only okay." Canning stated that "It's difficult to keep your expectations in check when you hear about an upcoming guest star, that affected my perception of this episode. But that it is what it is. Subsequent viewings will find me enjoying this more, but for now, "Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" was just this side of good."Emily VanDerWerff of The A. V. Club gave the episode a B+ and said "there were jokes here that went on way too long, like that whole krav maga thing. But, for the most part, this was a funny vacation episode, the show hasn't done one of those in a while."Jason Hughes of TV Squad gave the episode a negative review saying "I don't expect'The Simpsons' to have that sharp edge of wit it used to in its earlier, more subversive days, but I do expect it to be able to create situations for humor from time to time.

The TV Fanatic gave the episode a 3/5 saying "It manages to combine jokes, while still showing positive messages such as Homer showing genuine care after Flanders, his supposed enemy, takes off into the desert. Or Homer's positive message of re-uniting all faiths."Writer Kevin Curran was nominated for a Humanitas Award for his script. The episode was used on a report on Jerusalem syndrome by CNN. While searching for Ned in the desert, Homer complains of his hunger and libido to the tune of the theme from Lawrence of Arabia. "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" on IMDb "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" at Tv.com "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" at The Simpsons Archive

In North Korea, the Constitution guarantees "freedom of religious beliefs". However, in reality there is no freedom of religion in the country. According to one report at least 200,000 Christians have gone missing since 1953. Christians in North Korea are said to be the most persecuted in the world; the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is an atheist state, but government policy continues to interfere with the individual's ability to choose and to manifest a religious belief. The regime continues to repress the religious activities of unauthorized religious groups. Recent refugee, defector and nongovernmental organizations reports indicate that religious persons engaging in proselytizing in the country, those who have ties to overseas evangelical groups operating across the border in the People's Republic of China, those repatriated from China and found to have been in contact with foreigners or missionaries, have been arrested and subjected to harsh penalties. People found with Christian Bibles, which are considered to be a symbol of the West, can be executed or tortured.

Refugees and defectors continued to allege that they witnessed the arrests and execution of members of underground Christian churches by the regime in prior years. Due to the country's inaccessibility and the inability to gain timely information, this activity remains difficult to verify. Traditionally, religion in North Korea consists of Buddhism and Confucianism and to a lesser extent Korean shamanism and syncretic Chondogyo. Since the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century, there is a Christian minority. According to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the government sponsors religious groups only to create an illusion of religious freedom. North Korea sees organised religious activity, except that, supervised by recognized groups linked to the Government, as a potential pretext to challenging the leadership and social order. Religion many times is practiced in secret. Genuine religious freedom does not exist; the government deals harshly with all opponents, those engaged in unsanctioned religious activities face the harshest of treatment.

In particular, those of Christian faith are persecuted the most, North Korea is ranked as the worst country in the world in terms of Christian persecution by international Catholic aid organization Aid to the Church in Need. As of 2012, an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 persons are believed to be held in political prison camps in remote areas, many for religious and political reasons; the number of Christians in prison camps is estimated at tens of thousands. Family members of believers are sent to labor camps or prisons. Punishable religious activities include propagating religion, possessing religious items, singing hymns, having contact with religious persons. In March 2006 the Government sentenced Son Jong-nam to death for espionage. However, some NGOs claimed that the sentence against Son was based on his contacts with Christian groups in China, his proselytizing activities, alleged sharing of information with his brother in South Korea. Son's brother reported that information indicated that Son was alive as of spring 2007.

Because the country bars outside observers from investigating such reports, it was not possible to verify the Government's claims about Son Jong-nam's activities or determine whether he had been executed. A fellow inmate of the Pyongyang prison where Son was held states that he died there in December 2008. In 2013, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported that North Koreans in Wonsan discovered in possession of a Bible were among a group of 80 North Koreans killed in a wave of mass executions in the country. Others in the group were executed for other "relatively light transgressions such as watching South Korean movies or distributing pornography." However, others have testified in interviews that North Korean citizens have full rights to own and use religious texts and worship at church, although there may not be many young believers. Religion in North Korea Human rights in North Korea Research On Religion | Darren Slade on Missionizing North Korea 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, U.

S. Department of State