1. Ancient Greece Part 6 – Alexander the Great

2. Macedonia Conquers Greece
Macedonia – located just north of Greece. Greeks thought they were unimportant and considered them barbarians because they lived in small villages and spoke a strange form of the Greek language.
In 359 BC Phillip II became king of Macedonia.
He spent a year fighting off invaders who wanted to take over his kingdom. Once they were defeated, he decided to launch invasions of his own, starting with Greece.
Leaders of Athens call for all Greeks to join together, but few people responded, and Athens and their ally Thebes were easily defeated.
Seeing this defeat, the rest of the Greeks agreed to make Philip their leader.

3. Philip II Brilliant military strategist
Borrowed and improved upon many Greek strategies such as the phalanx, a group of warriors who stood close together in a square. Each soldier held a spear pointed outward to fight off enemies. As soldiers in the front lines were killed, others stepped up from behind to fill their spots. Philip improved upon this idea by using longer spears and sending cavalry and archers into battle to support the phalanx.
Blind in one eye from being shot with an arrow. Walked with a limp due to a severe leg injure.
Had 7 wives
After conquering Greece, he planned to march east and conquer Persia, be never made it.
At age 46, he was assassinated by one of his body guards while leading a procession.
His throne passed to his son, Alexander.
Engineering Empire Philip II

4. Alexander the Great
At Philip’s death, the people in the Greek city of Thebes rebelled. Alexander was only 20, and they didn’t think he would be strong enough to keep the kingdom together.
Alexander quickly put down the revolt, destroyed Thebes, and enslaved the Theban people, using them as an example to other Greeks.
Confident that the Greeks would not rebel again, he set out to build an empire that made him one of history’s greatest conquerors and earned him the name Alexander the Great.

5. Alexander Builds an Empire
Brilliant commander; when attacked much larger Persian army, his well trained troops repeatedly won.
According to legend, Alexander visited a town called Gordium in Asia Minor while fighting the Persians. There he heard an ancient tale about a knot tied by an ancient king. The tale said that whoever untied the knot would rule all of Asia. Alexander pulled out his sword and cut right through the knot. Taking this as a good sign, he and his army set out again.

6. Alexander Builds an Empire
After defeating the Persians near the town of Issus, Alexander went to Egypt (part of Persian Empire). The governor had heard of his skill in battle, surrendered without a fight, and crowned Alexander pharaoh.
After a short stay in Egypt, he set out attain. Near the town of Gaugamela, he defeated the Persian army for the last time. After the battle, the Persian king led. The king soon died, killed by one of his nobles. With the king’s death, Alexander became the ruler of what had been the Persian Empire.

7. Alexander Dies
Still intent on building his empire, Alexander led his army through Central Asia. In 327 BC he crossed the Indus River and wanted to push deeper into India. His exhausted soldiers refused to go any farther. Disappointed, Alexander began the long march home.
Alexander left India in 325 BC, but he never made it back to Greece. In 323 BC, on his way back, Alexander visited the city of Babylon and got sick. He died a few days later at age 33. After he died, Alexander’s body was taken to Egypt and buried in a gold coffin.
Top 10 Facts

8. Spreading Greek Culture
Alexander had created the largest empire the world had ever seen.
He admired Greek culture and spread Greek influence throughout his empire
Modeled new cities after Greek cities.
Named many Alexandria, after himself.
Built temples and theaters like those in Greece.
Encouraged Greek settlers to move to the new cities.
Greek language, art, literature, and science spread.

9. Hellenistic Kingdoms
Alexander supported spread of Greek culture, but also encouraged conquered people to keep their own customs and tradition.
This resulted in a blended culture that combined elements of Persian, Egyptian, Syrian, and other cultures with Greek ideas. Historians refer to this new Hellenistic, or Greek-like, because it had lots of Greek influence, but wasn’t purely Greek.

10. The Empire Crumbles
When Alexander died, he didn’t have a clear heir to take over the kingdom. Three powerful generals divided the empire into three parts:
Macedonia – the most Greek, but had the weakest government because they had had to put down many Greek revolts. Weakened by this, they couldn’t defend themselves when the Romans invaded in the mid 100s BC.
Syria – Most of the former Persian Empire, so home to many different peoples with different customs who rebelled against their leaders. Weakened by years of fighting, the kingdom slowly broke apart and eventually was conquered by the Romans.

11. The Empire Crumbles
Egypt – Leaders encouraged the growth of Greek culture, built the ancient world’s largest library in the city of Alexandria as well as a Museum (place for scholars and artists to meet). Alexandria became a great center of culture and learning. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse at Alexandria, was located here. In the end, the Egyptian kingdom lasted longer than the other Hellenistic kingdoms, but in 30 BC was also conquered by Rome.