Section 3: Alexander the Great The Greek World Section 3: Alexander the Great

Macedonia Conquers Greece Phillip II – King of Macedonia Phillip’s Military Strength He defeated the Greeks because he was a brilliant military leader He borrowed and improved many of the strategies Greek armies used in battle Phalanx – a group of warriors who stood close together in a square When Philip died, his throne was left to his son, Alexander

Alexander Builds an Empire Controlling the Greeks Alexander destroyed Thebes and enslaved the Theban people Used them as an example to other Greeks of what would happen if they turned against him His efforts to build an empire made him one of the greatest conquerors in history This earned him the name – Alexander the Great Building a New Empire His army defeated the Persians Became ruler of the Persian Empire after the battle at Gaugamela Was crowned pharaoh in Egypt without a fight Marching Home Never made it back to Greece Got sick and died after visiting Babylon Buried in Egypt in a golden coffin

Spreading Greek Culture Alexander’s empire was the largest the world had ever seen Worked to spread Greek influence throughout his empire by founding cities in the lands he conquered Modeled new cities after the cities of Greece Named many of them Alexandria Built temples and theaters like those in Greece Encouraged Greek settlers to move to the new cities He still encouraged conquered people to keep their own customs and traditions New blended culture developed as a result Historians call it Hellenistic, or Greek-like

Hellenistic Kingdoms After Alexander died, there was a fight between his generals for power Three powerful generals divided the empire among themselves One, king of Macedonia and Greece One ruled Syria The third claimed Egypt Hellenistic Macedonia Had the weakest government Many revolts took place Damaged by the revolts, Macedonia couldn’t defend itself against the Italian Peninsula and Rome’s armies Hellenistic Syria Home to many different people with many different customs People rebelled against their leaders because of being unhappy with the Hellenistic rule Romans marched in and took over Syria after slowly being broken apart from years of fighting and revolts

Hellenistic Egypt Rulers encouraged the growth of Greek culture Built the ancient world’s largest library in the city of Alexandria Built the Museum in Alexandria A place for scholars and artists to meet Alexandria became a great center of culture and learning The Egyptian kingdom lasted longer than the other Hellenistic kingdoms It too was eventually conquered by Rome