I. Philip II Philip II was ruler of Macedonia The Macedonians were a warrior people, famous for fighting off horseback Philip II wanted to conquer all of Greece and then invade the Persian Empire.

Philip created a strong army that used the Greek formation, the phalanx, to conquer Greek city-states. As his strength grew more city-states joined him or were defeated by his army. During the year 356 B.C. Philip had a son named Alexander. As Philip continued his consolidation of Greek city-states, some people in Athens began to worry.

Demosthenes, an Athenian lawyer and public speaker, tried to convince the people of Athens to go to war with Philip before he became too powerful. The Athenian government refused because Athens was still weak from fighting the Peloponnesian War. Many farms had been destroyed and the population had declined because of the War. The Athenian gov’t did not want to start another war with Macedonia.

II. Alexander the Great

Alexander became king of Macedonia around 336 B.C. In 334 B.C. Alexander began his invasion of the Persian Empire. He recaptured the old Greek colonies in Asia Minor. Then turned south and invaded Egypt. From here he turned east and began his march across the Persian Empire.

After defeating the Persians, Alexander moved his army into India. In 326 B.C. after several more battles, Alexander’s soldiers refused to go any further. Alexander was forced to return to Babylon. 323 B.C., Alexander began planning a new invasion of southern Arabia.

Before the new invasion could begin, Alexander became very sick. He never recovered. Alexander died at the age of 32. His men wanted to know who would rule if Alexander did not survive.

Alexander’s Legacy Establishes largest empire in the world up to that point Great leader Alexander’s empire began the Hellenistic Era

III. Philosophers and Scientists Epicurus founded a philosophy called Epicureanism taught that happiness was the goal of life to Epicurus, pleasure was spending time with friends and learning not to worry about things His followers usually stayed out of politics and public service

Important Hellenistic Scientists Aristarchus – claimed the sun was the center of the universe Eratosthenes - figured out that the earth was round Euclid – wrote the book “Elements” that describes plane geometry Archimedes – established the science of physics, figured the value of pi, and explained the lever and compound pulley