Alexander the Great

Fill the void and then some

Macedonia

• A mountainous kingdom north of Greece

• Macedonians had their own language and identity

King Phillip II 359 BCE

Three Objectives:

1. Create an unbeatable army

2. Unify Greece

3. Roach the Persians

Amazing Progress 338 BCE

• Greece never recovered from Peloponnesian War

• Forcefully unified the Greeks and ready to turn east

• Promptly died!

Enter Young Alexander

• As a 16-year-old, he commanded the Macedonian army

• Now as a 20-year-old he was king

Alexander on a Roll Phase One 334-333 BCE

• Liberates Ionia• Then goes on to

conquer all of Asia Minor

• Turns south and takes Syria, Palestine, and Egypt

Egyptian Pharaoh

• The Egyptians were so impressed, they named him pharaoh

• He founded a city named Alexandria and created the world’s most spectacular library

Alexander on a Roll Phase Two 331-327 BCE

• Now, Alexander struck east into the heart of Persia

• First, he roached Mesopotamia, then Persia (Iran), before reaching all the way to the Indus River (Pakistan)

A New Kind of Conqueror

• His goal was assimilation• He wanted those he

conquered to embrace Hellenistic culture

• He made his capital Babylon to encourage good relations

• Those conquered by Alexander experienced a higher standard of living

A Short-Lived Empire

• Alexander died at just 33 in 323 BCE

• His amazing personality was the force that held the empire together

• When he died it broke apart

Amazing Example

• The next great empire would be the Romans

• They borrowed heavily from Alexander’s example

• They would incorporate those they conquered