Alexander-Empire BuilderMain Idea: Alexander the Great conquered Persia and Egypt and extended his

empire to the Indus River in northwest India

SO WHAT?!: Alexander’s empire extended across three continents that today consist of many nations and diverse cultures.

I. Philip Builds Macedonia’s Power- A. Philip: King of Macedonia (359BC)

Peloponnesian War and continuous fighting weakened Greek city-states

-left them vulnerable to attack

B. Conquest of Greece 1. Athens and Thebes

a. confronted Philip in 338BC at battle of Chaeronea

i. Alexander led the cavalry in battle

b. Philip won but city-states of Greece retained self-government

2. Persia

a. Philip never got the chance

b. Died at daughter’s wedding in 336BC-killed by former guardsman

II. Alexander Defeats Persia-20 years old, well read, studied under Aristotle

-Thebes rebelled, 6000 were killed

A. Invasion of Persia

1. The Battle at the Granicus River (334BC)

a. Alexander led his 35k troops across the river directly into awaiting force!

b. …..and won!!

2. Victory alarmed Darius IIIa. organized 50-75K troops

3. Battle of Issus

a. outnumbered, Alexander ordered finest troops to lead battle

b. charged directly at Darius III, causing him to flee (cowardly)

c. Victory gave Alexander control of Anatolia (Turkey)

B. Alexander’s Ambitions Grow1. Darius offers peace settlement

a. Alexander responds: you cannot bargain with what is mine.

2. The siege of Tyre

3. Alexander marches into Egypt

a. welcomed as a liberator

b. crowned himself pharoah

c. founded Alexandria (one of at least a dozen)

Luxor, Temple of Amun - Alexander the Great before Amun. About 320 BC.

The Siege of Tyre

C. Conquering the Persian Empire1. Mesopotamia

a. Darius has army of 250K

2. Battle of Gaugamela (331BC)

a. Darius flees again

b. Alexander now ruler of Persia

c. takes Susa, Babylon, and Persepolis

i. Persepolis burnt to the ground

ii. Speculation-revenge for Athens 150 years earlier

III. Alexander’s Other ConquestsA. Alexander in India

1. Battle of Hydaspes (327BC)a. Faces Indian army with ~200 elephantsb. Fierce fight-Alexander wins

2. Men march another 200 milesa. 11 years, 11,000 milesb. Men want to go homec. Alexander finally agrees

3. Return Homea. Desert or Sea?

i. Choose desert, many die of heat, lack of water

b. 323 return to Babylonc. Alexander becomes ill

i. Theories-Poisoned, Drinking, malariad. Dies one month short of 33rd Birthday

4. Who will succeed Alexander? “The strongest”

What is the problem with leaving the kingdom to ‘the strongest’?

Alexander’s Route

B. Alexander’s Legacy1. Empire split into 3 areas

a. Macedonia-Antigonus

b. Egypt-Ptolemy

c. Persia-Seleucusi. all ruled with totalitarianism

5-5 The Spread of Hellenistic CultureMain Idea: Hellenistic culture, a blend of Greek and other influences, flourished

throughout Greece, Egypt, and Asia.SO WHAT?!: Western Civilization today continues to be influenced by diverse cultures.

I. Hellenistic Culture in Alexandria-After Alexander’s death, trade, culture, and language united the Hellenistic worldA. Trade and Cultural Diversity

1. Koine- Greek for commona. Language spoken throughout Hellenistic world

2. Alexandriaa. Center of commerceb. 3rd century—over ½ million peoplec. Multicultural (Cosmopolitan)

i. Africanii. Jewishiii. Indianiv. Persianv. Greek

B. Alexandria’s Greatest Attractions1. Broad streets, city blocks (who else plotted out cities?), Alexander’s glass tomb2. Lighthouse of Alexandria

a. 400 ft tallb. One of 7 wonders of the world

3. Museums (named after muses, Greek goddesses of arts & sciences)a. Art galleries, zoo, gardens, and dining hall

4. Alexandrian Librarya. ½ million papyrus scrollsb. First research library in the world

Lighthouse of Alexandria

II. Science and Technology-most advancement in science and technology until 16th and 17 th

century

A. Astronomy 1. Aristarchus of Samos

a. Sun 300 times larger than Earthi. underestimated true size but

proved sun was larger than Greece (sun actually 1.3 million times larger)b. Proposed Earth and other planets

revolve around Sun!i. Ptolemy incorrectly placed

Earth at centerii. A belief that was held for 14

centuries 2. Eratosthenes

a. Computed Earth’s circumference at 24,662 milesi. Actually 24,860 miles Ptolemy

Astronomy

Hipparchus- -invented longitude and latitude

Ptolemy’s view of the Universe (Earth centered)

B. Mathematics1. Euclid

a. Complied 465 geometry propositions that scholars used well into 1900sb. Still basis for Geometry today

2. Archimedesa. Estimated the value of pi – (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to it’s diameter)--- 3.14….How many places do you

know? …1592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609433057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548074462379962749567351885752724891227938183011949129833673362440656643086021394946395224737190702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132000568127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960518707211349999998372978049951 and on and on to more than 200 MILLION places !!!!!!

b. Law of the lever and compound pulley“Archimedes took a…ship…which had just been dragged up on land with great labor and many men; in this he placed her usual complement of men

and cargo, and then sitting at some distance, without any trouble, by gently pulling with his hand the end of a system of pulleys, he dragged it towards him with as smooth and even a motion as if it were passing over the sea.”

-Plutarch, Marcellus i. Archimedes screw, catapult, pumps, steam engine!!

ii. “Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough and I will move the world”

--Archimedes, 220 BC

III. PHILOSOPHY AND ART-New schools developed off of the old ideas of Plato and Aristotle

A. Stoicism and Epicureanism1. Stoicism –founded by Zeno (335-263 b.c.)

a. Believed in a divine power who controlled the universeb. Live a virtuous life in harmony with natural lawsc. Vices such as human desire, power, wealth were distractions

and should be controlledd. Ethical doctrine appealed to many people from different

backgrounds

2. Epicureanism—founded by Epicurusa. Universe composed of atoms and ruled by gods who had no

interest in humansb. Only real objects were ones that the 5 senses perceivedc. Virtuous conduct and absence of pain were ideald. Today epicurean means to pursue human pleasure, but

Epicurus advocated moderation in all things

B. Realism in Sculpture 1. Colossus at Rhodes (100 ft high)

a. One of seven wonders of the world

b. Destroyed in earthquake

Hellenistic World in DeclineAround 150 b.c. a new power was on the rise…….the Roman Empire