Classical Greece
Section 4
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
Classical Greece
Section 4
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?
Section 4
Classical Greece
Alexander the Great
Macedonia rose to power and took control of Greece in the years that
followed the Peloponnesian War.
The Rise of Macedonia
• 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
Army Reorganization
• 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
Classical Greece
Section 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
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Classical Greece
Empire Building
Empire
Campaigns
• With Greece under control,
Alexander decided to build
empire
• Within year Alexander’s army
had won victory against
Persians in Asia Minor
• 334 BC, led army into Asia to
take on Persians
• Moved south to Phoenicia,
Egypt; welcomed as liberator,
named new pharaoh
• Army relatively small, but well
trained, fiercely loyal
• Persian army huge,
disorganized
• Next destroyed Persian army
near Gaugamela, in what is
now Iraq; caused Emperor
Darius III to flee
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Classical Greece
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
Classical Greece
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Classical Greece
End of the Empire
Death at Early Age
Power Struggle
• Alexander’s empire largest
world had ever seen
• Generals fought each other for
power
• Did not rule very long
• In the end, the empire was
divided among three most
powerful generals
• 323 BC, Alexander fell ill while
in Babylon
• Died a few days later at age 33
• Alexander died without naming
heir
• Called themselves kings
– Antigonus became king of
Macedonia and Greece
– Seleucus ruled Persian
Empire
– Ptolemy ruled Egypt
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Classical Greece
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.
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Classical Greece
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.
Blending Cultures
• Alexander made
conscious effort to
bring people, ideas
together
• Married two Persian
princesses
• Encouraged soldiers
to marry Persians as
well
New Cities
• 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
Most Famous City
• Alexandria, Egypt
• Located at mouth of
Nile, where it met
Mediterranean
• Ideal location for
trade
• Harbor once busiest
in world
Classical Greece
Section 4
Alexandria and Beyond
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
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
Classical Greece
Section 4
Life in the Hellenistic World
Drastic Changes
Life for Women
• Shift from Hellenic Greece to
Hellenistic world brought drastic
changes to lives
• Lives of women also changed
significantly in Hellenistic
Period
• Most obvious change, how
people were governed
• Women had few rights in earlier
Greek city-states
• City-state no longer main
political unit, replaced by
kingdom
• Lives began to improve after
Alexander, though women still
not equal to men
• Traditional Greek democracy
gave way to monarchy
• Gained rights to receive
education, own property
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Classical Greece
Explain
How did society change in the Hellenistic
age?
Answer(s): different cultures blended;
government changed; women gained more rights
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Classical Greece
Hellenistic Achievements
• Blending of cultures brought significant changes
• Exchange of ideas from different cultures
• New advances in philosophy, literature and science
Philosophy
• New schools of philosophy
developed in Alexander’s empire
• One called Cynicism; students
rejected pleasure, wealth, social
responsibility
• People live according to nature
Epicureans
• People should seek pleasure,
considered good; try to avoid pain,
considered evil
• To find pleasure, develop close
friendships with people who share
similar ideas
The most influential new school was Stoicism, with emphasis on reason, selfdiscipline, emotional control and personal morality. Stoics believed people
should find their proper role in society and fulfill it.
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Classical Greece
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
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Classical Greece
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
Inventors
• 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
Mechanics
• 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
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Classical Greece
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
Classical Greece
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Section 4
Classical Greece
Video
The Impact of the Greek Scholars
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