ANCIENT EGYPTIAN HISTORY – CLASS 5 – YEAR 5 – THE LAST THOUSAND YEARS – THE GREEKSGulf Coast Encore ProgramAdjunct Professor Joe Boisvert

Writing Development in the Ancient World

Alexander the Great

Born: BC 356, PellaDied: June 323 BC, BabylonChildren: Alexander IV of Macedon, HeraclesNicknames: Hegemon of the Hellenic League, King of Macedon, Lord of Asia, Pharaoh of Egypt, Shahanshah of PersiaSiblings: Philip III of Macedon, Cleopatra of MacedoniaParents: Philip

Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, a king of Macedon, a state in northern ancient Greece. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16.

Alexander the Great (The Movie)

Died Young

Alexander the Great (Greek: λέξανδρος Μέγας or Μέγας λέξανδρος, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20, 356 BC – June 10 or June 11, 323 BC), also known as Alexander III of Macedon (λέξανδρος Γ' Μακεδών) was an ancient Greek king (basileus) of Macedon (336–323 BC).

He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle. By the time of his death, he had conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks.

Kingship of Macedon Alexander assumed the kingship of Macedon

following the death of his father Philip II, who had unified most of the city-states of mainland Greece under Macedonian hegemony in a federation called the League of Corinth.

After reconfirming Macedonian rule by quashing a rebellion of southern Greek city-states and staging a short but bloody excursion against Macedon's northern neighbors,

Alexander set out east against the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which he defeated and overthrew.

His conquests included Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Bactria and Mesopotamia, and he extended the boundaries of his own empire as far as Punjab, India.

Plan to Conquer the World

Alexander had already made plans prior to his death for military and mercantile expansions into the Arabian peninsula, after which he was to turn his armies to the west (Carthage, Rome and the Iberian Peninsula).

His original vision, however, had been to the east, to the ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea, as is described by his boyhood tutor and mentor Aristotle.

Alexander Had His Soldiers Marry Foreigners

Alexander integrated many foreigners into his army, leading some scholars to credit him with a "policy of fusion". He also encouraged marriages between his soldiers and foreigners, and he himself went on to marry two foreign princesses.

Alexander Died After Only Twelve Years of War

Alexander died after twelve years of constant military campaigning, possibly a result of malaria, poisoning, typhoid fever, viral encephalitis or the consequences of alcoholism. His legacy and conquests lived on long after him and ushered in centuries of Greek settlement and cultural influence over distant areas. This period is known as the Hellenistic period, which featured a combination of Greek, Middle Eastern and Indian culture. Alexander himself featured prominently in the history and myth of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. His exploits inspired a literary tradition in which he appeared as a legendary hero in the tradition of Achilles.

Alexander the Great in Bible Prophecy

In the Bible, Daniel Chapter 8 makes detailed prophecies about a future Greek leader.

Three hundred years later, Alexander the Great would fulfill these prophecies to the letter.

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Prophecy: A future Greek leader will advance rapidly from the west.

And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat [the Greek Empire] came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground [this indicates fantastic speed]; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes [Alexander the Great]. — Daniel 8:5

Fulfillment: Alexander the Great advanced so rapidly from the west, that military analysts to this day marvel at the speed and efficiency with which he moved his forces. Later on in Chapter 8, Daniel specifically identifies the goat as Greece– a remarkable prophecy made 300 years before Greece would rise to power.

Prophecy: Alexander the Great would attack and destroy the Media-Persian Empire, the dominant empire in the world.

Then he came to the ram that had two horns [one horn is Media, one is Persia, this ram is the Media-Persian Empire], which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power [Alexander's forces attacked the Media-Persian Empire]. And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand [the Media-Persian Empire was annihilated by Alexander the Great]. — Daniel 8:5-7

Fulfillment: Alexander destroyed the Media-Persian Empire.

Prophecy:

Prophecy: His empire will be divided into four smaller empires, none of which would be as powerful as Alexander’s empire.

…and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven… — Daniel 8:8

The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power. — Daniel 8:20-22

Fulfillment: Alexander’s empire was divided among four of his generals: Lysimachus, Cassandra, Seleucus, & Ptolemy. None of these empires ever equaled Alexander’s empire in power.

Alexander's Death

Buried in Alexandria, Egypt The conqueror's body was laid in a golden

coffin, and carried in state to Alexandria, the city he had founded at the mouth of the Nile. Here a fine tomb was built by order of Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, who said that his dead master also should be worshiped as a god.

Ptolemy wanted the body to remain in Egypt because an oracle had said that he who buried Alexander would be master of his kingdom.

The Ptolemaic Dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty was founded by Ptolemy son of Lagus, a general of Alexander the Great. On Alexander's death in 323 he was appointed satrap of Egypt, and eventually declared himself king in 304. The dynasty lasted until the death of Cleopatra VII and the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30, an episode which is still one of the best-known chapters of ancient history.

The intervening period is one which is, by comparison to most of pharaonic Egypt, very well, if not fully coherently, documented. While Ptolemy I and Cleopatra VII are perhaps the best-known rulers, most of the Ptolemaic kings and queens emerge as distinctive and interesting (if not necessarily attractive) individuals.

Ptolemaic Egypt was one of the two great powers of the Hellenistic East

Ptolemaic Egypt was one of the two great powers of the Hellenistic East for most of its existence. During this period Egyptian armies ranged further east and further north than at any other time in Egyptian history. Alexandria was the center of the Hellenistic intellectual world. The period also saw the final flowering of pharaonic Egyptian art and architecture. Many of the great temples we see today, at Edfu, Esna, Kom Ombo, Dendera, Philae and elsewhere, are basically Ptolemaic monuments.

The Ptolemaic era is unjustly neglected. Both Egyptophiles and Hellenists have traditionally seen it as decadent

Alexandria: The Ptolemaic Dynasty

The achievements of the Greeks in the ancient world, by no means few, may have reached their peak in the city of Alexandria. No less a ruler than its namesake, Alexander III of Macedonia (Alexander the Great), Alexandria dominated the eastern Mediterranean world culturally, politically, and economically for more than nine hundred years, the latter three hundred of which it competed with even the eastern capital of the Byzantine Empire, the famous Constantinople. Few cities in the world can claim success of this magnitude for close to millennium, and even fewer still flourish to this day.

Alexandria: The Ptolemaic Dynasty

Alexandria’s Success

Part of the reason for Alexandria's success was its location, both geographically as well as politically. Situated on the coast of the Mediterranean, it was the true bridge between Europe and Africa while still being a world all to itself. It was largely separate from the political upheavals of the Hellenistic kingdoms, and then later shaded by the Pax Romanum, as well as being quite far from the chaos of the barbarian invasions that contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. Freed from many of the fetters that chafed against its peers, and enriched by both maritime trade and its Greek intellectual tradition, Alexandria soon earned the title "Queen of the Mediterranean."

Alexandria Power

Part of Alexandria's power and majesty came from its status as the new capital of Egypt.

In 320 BC it replaced Memphis as the seat of ruler ship for the Ptolemaic dynasty and it remained so throughout the Byzantine period.

The rest was largely due to its monopoly on the papyrus industry for the entire Mediterranean world, as well as its hold on the manufacture and export of medicines, perfumes, jewelry, and art.

Additionally, many materials and goods prized by the ancient world from the east came into Alexandria and were exported from there

Ptolemy Rule

To gain recognition by the native Egyptian populace, they named themselves the successors to the Pharaohs. The later Ptolemy's took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life.

Ptolemaic Egypt

Military of Ptolemy's in Egypt

Many Faces of Cleopatra

CLEOPATRA IN THE MOVIES

The End Class 5