1. Alexander the Great and His Legacy
Preview
Main Idea / Reading Focus
Alexander the Great
Map: Alexander’s Empire
The Hellenistic World
Hellenistic Achievements
Visual Study Guide / Quick Facts
Video: The Impact of the Greek Scholars

2. Alexander the Great and His Legacy
Main Idea
Alexander the Great formed a huge empire, spread Greek culture into Egypt and many parts of Asia, and paved the way for a new civilization to develop in those areas.
Reading Focus
How did Alexander the Great rise to power?
What was life like in the culture called the Hellenistic world that developed after Alexander’s death?
What were some significant Hellenistic achievements?

3. Alexander the Great The Rise of Macedonia Army Reorganization
Macedonia rose to power and took control of Greece in the years that followed the Peloponnesian War.
Most Greeks considered Macedonians backward
Lived in villages, not cities
Spoke form of Greek unintelligible to other Greeks
359 BC, Macedonia’s fortune changed when Philip II took throne
The Rise of Macedonia
One of Philip’s first actions as king
Adopted phalanx system, but gave soldiers longer spears
Included larger bodies of cavalry and more archers
Set out to conquer Greece
Faced little opposition
Quickly crushed armies
Conquered all but Sparta
Army Reorganization

4. Alexander Becomes King
Philip’s conquests might have continued, but he was assassinated
Title, plans for conquests fell to son, Alexander the Great
Alexander only 20, but had been trained to rule almost from birth
Learned warfare and politics from father, mother, and Aristotle
Alexander’s Conquests
Alexander faced almost immediately with revolts in Greece
Set out to reestablish control
Used harsh measures to show rebellion not tolerated
Crushed Theban army and sold people into slavery, burned city

5. Empire Building Empire Campaigns
With Greece under control, Alexander decided to build empire
334 BC, led army into Asia to take on Persians
Army relatively small, but well trained, fiercely loyal
Persian army huge, disorganized
Empire
Within year Alexander’s army had won victory against Persians in Asia Minor
Moved south to Phoenicia, Egypt; welcomed as liberator, named new pharaoh
Next destroyed Persian army near Gaugamela, in what is now Iraq; caused Emperor Darius III to flee
Campaigns

6. With defeat of Darius, Alexander the master of Persian world
Expanding the Empire
With defeat of Darius, Alexander the master of Persian world
Troops marched to Persepolis, a Persian capital, burned it to ground as sign of victory
But Alexander not satisfied with size of empire
Led army deeper into Asia, winning more victories
Led army to the Indus, perhaps to conquer India
Soldiers had had enough, refused to proceed farther from home
Alexander forced to turn back to west

8. End of the Empire Death at Early Age Power Struggle
Alexander’s empire largest world had ever seen
Did not rule very long
323 BC, Alexander fell ill while in Babylon
Died a few days later at age 33
Alexander died without naming heir
Death at Early Age
Generals fought each other for power
In the end, the empire was divided among three most powerful generals
Called themselves kings
Antigonus became king of Macedonia and Greece
Seleucus ruled Persian Empire
Ptolemy ruled Egypt
Power Struggle

9. Why did Alexander’s empire break apart after his death?
Summarize
Why did Alexander’s empire break apart after his death?
Answer(s): He did not name an heir, so the empire was divided among three powerful generals.

10. The Hellenistic World
By bringing together a number of diverse peoples in his empire, Alexander helped create a new type of culture. It was no longer purely Greek, or Hellenic, but Hellenistic, or Greeklike.
Alexander made conscious effort to bring people, ideas together
Married two Persian princesses
Encouraged soldiers to marry Persians as well
Blending Cultures
Appointed officials from various cultures to help rule
Built dozens of new cities, encouraged Greek settlers to move into them
Most new cities named Alexandria
New Cities
Alexandria, Egypt
Located at mouth of Nile, where it met Mediterranean
Ideal location for trade
Harbor once busiest in world
Most Famous City

11. Alexandria and Beyond Center of Culture Center of Learning
With trade money, Alexandrians built great palaces, streets lined with monuments; city was home to centers of culture, learning
The Museum, temple to spirit of creativity, home to many works of art
Center of Learning
Library of Alexandria contained works on philosophy, literature, history, sciences
Alexandria remained center of culture, learning long after Hellenistic period
Trading Centers
Alexandria one of largest trading centers, but not only one in Hellenistic world
Cities in Egypt, Persia, Central Asia trading centers for Africa, Arabia, India
Traders brought back goods, new ideas like teachings of Judaism

12. Life in the Hellenistic World
Shift from Hellenic Greece to Hellenistic world brought drastic changes to lives
Most obvious change, how people were governed
City-state no longer main political unit, replaced by kingdom
Traditional Greek democracy gave way to monarchy
Drastic Changes
Lives of women also changed significantly in Hellenistic Period
Women had few rights in earlier Greek city-states
Lives began to improve after Alexander, though women still not equal to men
Gained rights to receive education, own property
Life for Women

13. How did society change in the Hellenistic age?
Explain
How did society change in the Hellenistic age?
Answer(s): different cultures blended; government changed; women gained more rights

14. Hellenistic Achievements
Blending of cultures brought significant changes
Exchange of ideas from different cultures
New advances in philosophy, literature and science
New schools of philosophy developed in Alexander’s empire
One called Cynicism; students rejected pleasure, wealth, social responsibility
People live according to nature
Philosophy
People should seek pleasure, considered good; try to avoid pain, considered evil
To find pleasure, develop close friendships with people who share similar ideas
Epicureans
The most influential new school was Stoicism, with emphasis on reason, self-discipline, emotional control and personal morality. Stoics believed people should find their proper role in society and fulfill it.

15. Art and literature also changed during Hellenistic Period
Hellenistic artists learned to convey emotion, movement in works, especially sculpture
Women became much more common as subject of art, literature
Most earlier Greek statues had depicted men
Love stories became popular form for first time
Earlier literature dealt with actions of gods
Hellenistic writings focused on common events in people’s everyday lives

16. Science and Technology
Tremendous advances in science, technology during this period
Among great Egyptian scholars, Euclid formulated many ideas about geometry we still learn about today
Egypt also home of Eratosthenes, who calculated size of the world
Other Hellenistic scientists studied the movement of the stars; the makeup and inner workings of the human body
Archimedes, one of world’s greatest inventors, used knowledge of math, physics to create devices
Developed compound pulley to lift heavy loads; also invented mechanical screw to draw water out of ship’s hold, out of deep well
Inventors
Other inventors not as ambitious as Archimedes, but clever in own right
One built tiny steam engine, used to power mechanical toys
Such devices representative of Hellenistic fascination with mechanics, technology
Mechanics

17. What advances did Hellenistic scholars make in science and technology?
Analyze
What advances did Hellenistic scholars make in science and technology?
Answer(s): geometry; calculating the circumference of the globe; study of the movement of the stars; study of the human body; new inventions

19. Video The Impact of the Greek Scholars
Click above to play the video.