1. 4.5 Alexander and the Hellenistic Age

3. FQ: November 5 Read pages 139-140, “Cultures Combine.”
5 bullet point notes
1 sentence summary

4. Phillip II Conquers Greece
Becomes king of Macedonia in 359 B.C.
Phillip dreams of conquering Greece
Through threats, bribery, and diplomacy he forms alliances w/ Greek city-states
Others he conquered
Defeats Athens and Thebes in 338 B.C.
Has dreams of conquering Persia
Assassinated at his daughters wedding
Alexander becomes king at 20

5. Alexander takes Persia
Persia was weaker under Darius III
Takes Persia, Palestine, and Egypt

6. Alexander Advances into India
Alex crossed the Hindu Kush into Northern India
Faces soldiers on war elephants
His soldiers are tired and refuse to go further east
Alex goes back to Babylon
Gets a fever, dies at 32
No leader was strong enough to take over
3 of his generals split his empire

8. Legacy of Alexander
Most lasting achievement is the spreading of Greek culture.

9. Cultures Combine
Across his empire, Alex founded many cities, naming them after himself
Greek soldiers, artisans, citizens settled in these cities
From Egypt to the borders of India, the built Greek temples, filled them with Greek statues, and held athletic events as they had in Greece
Local people assimilated Greek ways and customs, Greeks absorbed theirs

10. Cultures Combine
Alexander encouraged the blending of western and eastern ideas
He married a Persian woman and encouraged his generals to do the same
The Hellenistic culture that emerged was a blending of Greek, Persian, Egyptian and Indian influences

11. Alexandria, Egypt: The Cultural Capital
Its market had Greek marble, Arabian spices, East African ivory—much variety b/c of its location
Almost 1 million people
Famous lighthouse—Pharos—440 ft. high
He and his successors built a great museum as a center of learning. Its library had 1000s of scrolls representing the accumulated knowledge of the ancient world

13. Ruins of Pharos

14. Hellenistic Arts and Sciences
Their temples, palaces and other buildings were much larger than those of classical Greece
This reflected the desire of Hellenistic rulers to glorify themselves as godlike

15. New Philosophies
Stoicism: founded by Zeno—urged people to avoid desires and disappointments by calmly accepting whatever life brought
Preached high moral standards: like protecting the rights of all humans
Taught that all humans were morally equal b/c they had the power of reason—even though women and slaves were not equal in society

16. Advances in Math and Astronomy
Pythagoras: formula to determine the relationship btwn sides of a right triangle
Euclid: developed the basis of geometry
Aristarchus: astronomer, Earth turns on its axis and revolves around the sun, Heliocentric or sun-centered theory won’t be accepted for 2000 years
Eratosthenes: showed the Earth was round and accurately calculated its circumference

17. Advances in Math and Astronomy
Archimedes: most famous Hellenistic scientist
Applied principles of physics to make practical inventions
Mastered the use of the lever and pulley—pulled a ship across land

18. Medical Practice
Hippocrates: studied the causes of illnesses and looked for cures
Hippocratic oath: set ethical standards for doctors
1st do no harm