Alexander’s Great Empire

Conquest of Greece Greece became a land of conflict & distrust following

Peloponnesian War

City states formed alliances

City states put their interests above the common good of Greece

Macedonia

Land north of Greece

King Philip II came to the throne

Brought his people together under one rule & wanted to do the same in Greece

Philip II had spent part of his life in Greece and learned the culture

Alexander

Son of Philip II

Learned how to be a fearless warrior

At 13 was taught by Aristotle

Learned to appreciate the cultures of other people

Philip’s Macedonian soldiers

Well trained & fearless

Spartans could not even stop them

338 B.C. Philip controlled most of the Greek peninsula, including Athens

Did not conquer to destroy Greece (Philip did not want to make great changes to the lives of those he conquered)

City states became free to manage themselves

Did make a law that Greeks could not fight one another

Greece was at peace, united by an outsider

Building An Empire 336 B.C. Alexander followed in his fathers footsteps

after he died

Wanted to rule not only Greece, but the whole world

Eastern Europe, northern Africa, & western Asia

Began by conquering the Persians

334 B.C. Alexander & 35,000 soldiers went from Greece to Asia Minor

Seized Greek colonies under the control of the Persians

Alexander the Great

Built new cities & helped spread Greek culture

Cities became centers of learning

Named each city after himself

Alexandria, Egypt became center of Greek culture

People throughout empire learned to speak Greek & worshiped Greek gods

Time of Alexander’s rule became known as the Hellenistic Age

Alexander conquests made him a ruler of a multicultural empire

Adopted customs of conquered people & introduced Greek culture to them

331 B.C.

Empire stretched from Danube River in Europe to the Nile River in Africa & east to Asia

Alexander had conquered Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, & Persian Empire (Without losing a single major battle)

The Breakup of the Empire Alexander still wanted more land

Wanted to lead soldiers to India

Soldiers refused to follow

323 B.C.

Alexander became ill with a fever & died

Before his death Alexander told his soldiers that the rule of the empire should go to the strongest

No leader proved strong enough to replace Alexander & the empire quickly broke up after his death

Split into 3 parts: Macedonia, Syria, & Egypt

Often at war with each other & destroyed much of what Alexander created

Alexander’s Legacy Empire did not last, but Hellenistic culture did

Great thinkers shaped later cultures during Hellenistic Age

Euclid: studied line & angles & began the study of geometry

Archimedes: used math to build useful machines

Aristarchus: used math to discover that the Earth and the other planets move around the sun

Scientists: built on the knowledge of medicine

Alexandria, Egypt became center for study of medicine & surgery

Romans 146 B.C.

Romans had grown strong enough to gain control of the Mediterranean world

Romans borrowed religion, the art, architecture, philosophy, & language from the Greeks to build their own civilization