Alexander the Great and Hellenism

Agenda Bell Ringer: What makes a civilization “Classical”? 1.Brief Lecture on Hellenism and Alexander the Great. 2.Overview of DBQ, Question session. 3.Document-Based Question on Greek Politics and Culture. (50 minutes)

Philip of Macedon Greece weakened by constant warfare. 359 B.C. Philip II of Macedon becomes King. He begins taking Colonies allied with Athens. 338 B.C. – Philip defeats Thebes and Athens and the battle of Chaeronea, then he unites Greece. – Demosthenes felt that it threatened Athenian freedom.

Alexander Enters 336 B.C. Philip II is assassinated. 20 year old Alexander takes over. 331 B.C. – Persia completely destroyed. He wanted to bring the world under one empire. 326 B.C. – They reach the Indus River Valley

His conquests, and ultimate failure Divides troops in half, and some go by sea home, while others go with Alexander. – Two years, and a trek through the desert, most of his troops die. 323 B.C. – Discontent goes through the empire. – Alexander becomes ill in Babylon, and dies at the age of 33.

Why is Alexander so great? Married his Macedonian troops with Persians to promote unity in the empire. Hellenistic – Greek like. Ruler-worship – role of the polis is replaced with one of a monarch. These looked to for guidance.

??? Greek language, art, and culture spread throughout the Middle East. Fusion of several cultures. – Some claim that Alexander was attempting to create a monarchy based on this merged cultural ideal. – His successors would only allow Greek and Macedonian administrators.

Document-Based Question You will have 50 minutes to read the documents and write an essay based on those documents. Two large groupings are given to you, but within Politics and Culture there can be smaller sub-groupings.

DBQ Rubric and Format Rubric 1- Thesis 1- Three Groupings 1- Use all documents 2- Relevance to Thesis 1- POV from two documents 1- Additional Document Omitted from this essay. Format Introduction – Thesis Grouping/Map Point 1 – Docs, Relevance (this document proves) – POV (optional) Grouping/Map Point 2 Grouping/Map Point 3 Conclusion – You would usually place additional document here.