1. ALEXANDER
GREAT
THE
An Introduction

2. ALEXANDER
GREAT
THE
“I am persuaded that there is no nation, city or people then in being where his name did not reach; for which reason, whatever origin he might boast of, or claim to himself, there seems to me to have been some divine hand presiding over both his birth and his actions, inasmuch as no mortal on earth either excelled or equalled him.”
- Alexander’s biographer Arrian

3. Parentage Philip, King of Macedonia Olympias of Epirus The God Zeus?
Alexander (one day to be called ‘the Great’)
Born 356BC

4. Teachers and Heroes
Leonidas, Lysimachus + the very famous philosopher Aristotle
Achilles, the Greek Hero (ancestor through Olympias)
Heracles [Hercules], the very strong demi-god, (ancestor through Philip)

5. MacedoniA
And the
Greek
States

6. PHILLIP’S AIMS AND POLICIES
Increase Macedonian territory (north and south)
Rule Greek states
Invade Asia Minor
BUT
Asia Minor was ruled by the mighty Persian Empire SO
He needed the armies and money of the Greeks
THEREFORE
Resolved to use diplomacy rather than force to convince Greeks to fight with him against Persia
HOW
A religious war, a war of revenge

7. Conquering Greece
By 338BC, Philip of Macedonia controlled almost all of Greece.
Started in northern and central Greece Paeonia, Thrace and Thessaly.
Turned his army into full-time professionals.
Moved southward.
Defeated an army of allied Greeks at Chaeroneia in 338BC.
Set up the League of Corinth.
A reconstruction of Philip’s face. (
The Macedonian Phalanx

8. Conquering Greece
“Philip inherited you when you were resourceless vagabonds, the majority of you dressed in skins and pasturing a few sheep in the mountains and fighting on their behalf, feebly, against Illyrians, Triballians and the Thracians on your borders. He gave you cloaks to wear instead of skins. He brought you down from the mountains to the plains. He made you capable of fighting worthily against the neighbouring barbarians, so that you no longer put your trust I the natural strength of your mountain strongholds to preserve you, but rather in your own manly valour. He made you city-dwellers. He civilised you through the establishment of good laws and practices.”
- Alexander to the Macedonians, 324BC (Arrian)
“Philip inherited you when you were resourceless vagabonds, the majority of you dressed in skins and pasturing a few sheep in the mountains and fighting on their behalf, feebly, against Illyrians, Triballians and the Thracians on your borders. He gave you cloaks to wear instead of skins. He brought you down from the mountains to the plains. He made you capable of fighting worthily against the neighbouring barbarians, so that you no longer put your trust in the natural strength of your mountain strongholds to preserve you, but rather in your own manly valour. He made you city-dwellers. He civilised you through the establishment of good laws and practices.”
- Alexander to the Macedonians, 324BC (Arrian)
A reconstruction of Philip’s face. (
The Macedonian Phalanx

9. The Persian Empire
Some interesting facts on the Persians from Tom Holland’s Persian Fire:
When fighting, the King’s Palace was brought to the battlefield. Ground would be levelled, a massive tent erected and luxurious palace accommodation created.
Persian communications were extremely quick – a message could get from the Aegean to Persepolis in two weeks non-stop.
They mostly used a system of controlled roads, but also fire beacons. In mountainous regions, aural relay was possible – Persians were noted for the loudest voices in the world.

10. The Persian Empire
The Persians had invaded Greece twice before Alexander’s time:
490BC. King Darius was defeated at Marathon.
480BC. King Xerxes attacked. Athens was sacked and its temples desecrated and destroyed. Athens then won a major naval victory at Salamis to repel the Persians.
Greeks in Alexander’s time remembered the ‘war crimes’ of the Persians 140 years ago. This was a motive for Philip and Alexander’s ‘war of revenge’ against the Persians.

11. Alexander and Philip
Alexander and Philip did not always see eye to eye. Relations between them were strained for the following reasons:
1. The ill-feeling between Olympias and Philip. Alexander was caught in the middle, loyal to both at different times.
Philip’s relationship with Attalus’ young niece Eurydice/Cleopatra. This was a threat to Alex, because if there was a son from this marriage, his right to succession may be threatened, especially as Cleopatra was a full-blooded Macedonian.
[Read about and summarise the incident at their wedding – Hamilton pg.40]

12. Alexander and Philip
Alexander and Philip did not always see eye to eye. Relations between them were strained for the following reasons:
1. The ill-feeling between Olympias and Philip. Alexander was caught in the middle, loyal to both at different times.
Philip’s relationship with Attalus’ young niece Eurydice/Cleopatra. This was a threat to Alex, because if there was a son from this marriage, his right to succession may be threatened, especially as Cleopatra was a full-blooded Macedonian.
[Read about and summarise the incident at their wedding – Hamilton pg.40]
3. The Pixodarus affair.
[Find out what this was about – summarise – carries on from last episode]

13. The Murder of Philip
In 336BC, on the eve of his invasion of Persia, Philip attended a wedding between his daughter Cleopatra and Olympias’ brother Alexander. As he was walking into the theatre where the wedding was held, he was fatally stabbed by a man called Pausanias. Why?

14. The Murder of Philip Why? Pausanias was a jealous ex-lover.
Alexander and/or Olympais put Pausanias up to it.
There was a conspiracy against Philip involving the Lyncestis brothers (a notable Macedonian family)
Antipater, a leading politician in Macedonia, organised the killing.
Demosthenes of Athens paid Pausanias to do it.
The Persian King Darius paid Pausanias to do it.
Some combination of the above…

15. King Alexander
After Alexander was proclaimed King, he had a number of immediate problems to solve, first inside Macedonia, then in the rest of Greece:
He killed all rivals to the throne, including 2 of the 3 Lyncestian brothers (see Artus, pg.16) and Amyntas (son of Philip’s elder brother). Attalus was also killed.
All Greece was in revolt. He first went south, where he outwitted the Thessalians to gain their support. Athens and the other southern states acclaimed him as Philip’s successor.
He then needed to go north, to deal with revolts in Illyria.
While in the north, there were rumours that he had been killed. Thebes again revolted, with support from Athens.
Alexander laid siege to Thebes and defeated it. (see next slide)

16. The Sack of Thebes
One of Alexander’s first ‘Acts of Cruelty’. Use Hamilton (p.48-49) to note:
The reasons why Thebes decided to revolt
What happened before Alexander attacked the city.
What happened at the end of the battle.
How and why the League of Corinth dealt with Thebes.
Why Hamilton calls this “a calculated act of terrorism”. (Is this fair?)