ALEXANDER THE GREAT

The Hellenistic Age

Phillip Of Macedonia Lead the

Macedonians in the dominance over the Greek Peninsula

Found rich gold deposits in his province that allowed him to fund his Army

Crushes the Greek city-states at the Battle of Chaeronea

Alexander – Path to Glory Born in Greek

Province of Macedonia

Son of Phillip II and Olympia

18 yrs when he lead his fathers cavalry at Chaeronea

Inherits the throne after his father’s assassination

Alexander’s Siege weapons

Greek Phalanx Military formation

usually 8 rows deep Shields protect the left

side while a spear or sword protected the right

Alexander’s used the Sarissa (16 foot spear)

He used cavalry and loosely mobile infantry on the wings

Invasion of Persia Kills all his rivals Destroys Thebes Begins his invasion

of the Persian Empire

His military expedition would last 11 years and would expand his empire all the way to India

Alexander’s Legacy Alexander dies in 323 bce His Empire would be divided among his 3

generals Ptolemy = Egypt Seleucus = Syria and Iran Antigonus = Anatolia (Turkey) Rome would eventually bring their dynasties

to an end (Augustus Ceasar will defeat the armies of Cleopatra and Mark Antony

The Hellenistic Age Alexander’s invasion of Persia would open up the

Persian Culture to the Greeks At the same time Greeks traded as far away as

India. This fostered a growth in the Greek Economy

Greek Pottery, Greek art and Greek architecture would flourish during this Time period

Greeks became exposed to the know how of the Egyptians, and Mesopotamians. This lead to improvements in math, physics, medicine and technology

Hellenistic Thinkers Euclid – systematized geometry Archimedes – theoretical physics Aristarchus – earth moved around the sun. Stoicism – people should always do what is

right despite your pain and suffering Hipparchus – moon takes 29 days, 12 hours

and 44 minutes to travel around the earth Figured out the length of the year within 6

minutes and 26 seconds