World History Ch. 5 Section 4 Notes

Classical Greece Section 4

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

Alexander the Great and His Legacy


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?

Main Idea

1. 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.

Alexander the Great and His Legacy


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

Alexander the Great


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

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


• 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

• 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

Empire Building


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


• 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

• 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

End of the Empire


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.


2. 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

The Hellenistic World


Center of Culture

• 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

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

Center of Learning

• Library of Alexandria contained works on philosophy, literature, history, sciences

• Alexandria remained center of culture, learning long after Hellenistic period

Alexandria and Beyond


• 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

• 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

Life in the Hellenistic World


Explain

How did society change in the Hellenistic age?

Answer(s): different cultures blended; government changed; women gained more rights


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.

• 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

Hellenistic Achievements

• 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


Art and Literature

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


• 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

3. 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


Video

The Impact of the Greek Scholars

Click above to play the video.

World History Ch. 5 Section 4 Notes

Education

Transcript of World History Ch. 5 Section 4 Notes