World History Section Five Alexander and the Hellenistic Age

Alexander the Great Athens fell to the Macedonians losing their independence Greek culture survived and was spread by Alexander the Great

Macedonia Greeks saw the Macedonians as Barbaroi Thought they were backwards people and uncivilized Macedonians were of Greek ancestry and had many of the same values Philip II – Macedonian King – admired Greece and hired Aristotle to tutor Alexander

Philip II Wanted to conquer Greece built an large and well trained army He threatened, bribed, made alliances with Greek city-states to bring them under his control Athens and Thebes were against Philip II but he defeated them – Greece was under his control

Philip II Philip II wanted to continue his campaign of conquering land and take control of the Persian Empire He was assassinated at his daughters wedding by one of his own bodyguards – not really sure why but think that Philips father-in-law had offended him The assassin was killed by other bodyguards

Alexander Alexander’s mother was the Queen of Macedonia and made sure Alexander took the throne Alexander was twenty when he became king and continued his fathers push into Persia Gathered troops and crossed the Dardanelles strait Persia was now weak and an easy target for a strong Macedonian/Greek army

Alexander First victory over the Persians was at Granicus River Continued to march around the Persian Empire winning battle after battle in Palestine, Egypt, and Babylon He was trying to capture Darius III – Darius III was murdered by his bodyguards instead of letting him be captured by Alexander

Alexander in India Crossed the Hindu-Kush mountains and pushed into India Alexander fought war elephants in India for the first time pushed all the way to the Indus river – troops were tired and wanted to go home Alexander agreed and they went to Babylon Alexander started creating a new plan of conquest

Alexander’s Death Before he could leave on another campaign of conquest, Alexander caught a fever and died at the age of 32 Commanders asked him before he died who will take control – he said “To the strongest” No one general was strong enough to take full control Empire was split up into three pieces among the three generals – Macedonia and Greece, Egypt, and the rest of Persia

Legacy Spread Greek culture to all the places that he captured Founded many new cities, most of them were named after him Greek soldiers, artisans, merchants and traders left Greece for these new cities From Egypt to India they built temples and statues Greek ideas were assimilated into the rest of society and Greeks took one local customs

Alexandria Located in Egypt Trading city, port city, goods such as – Greek marble, Arabian spices, African ivory Greek architecture was used to build the city – about 1 million people lived there Pharos – 440 tall lighthouse Museum was built as a center for learning Had laboratories, lecture halls, and a zoo Library had thousands of scrolls from all over the ancient world – destroyed in fire

Role of Women How do we know what women’s roles were? From paintings, statues, written laws show that women had more rights during the Hellenistic period Women learned to read and write Some became philosophers or poets Women also helped their husbands rule their kingdoms

Hellenistic Arts and Sciences New Philosophy – Stoicism by Zeno Zeno – urged people to avoid desires and disappointments by accepting whatever life brought to them High moral standards Protect fellow humans Taught that everyone was morally equal because we have the power of reason – even women and slaves – even though they were unequal in society

Math and Science Scholars built on Greek, Babylonian, and Egyptian knowledge Pythagoras – made theory to find the relationship between the sides of a triangle Euclid – wrote Elements, became the basis for modern geometry and was used for hundreds of years Aristarchus – Earth rotated on an axis or orbited the sun – heliocentric – sun centered solar system This theory was not accepted until 2,000 years later Eratosthenes – showed the earth was round and calculated its circumference

Science Archimedes – most famous Hellenistic scientist Used physics to make practical inventions Mastered the lever and pulley system “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand on and I can move the world” Showed how right he was when he used a pulley system to pick up a boat and move it over dry land

Medical Hippocrates – studied illnesses and looked for cures Hippocratic oath attributed to him – set standards for physicians Greece will fall to the Romans but their influence still is felt all around the world today