Bellringer: 12/4 and 12/7
• Identify an accomplishment of the following
with relation to Greek culture WITHOUT looking
at your notes:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Pericles
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Euclid
Pythagoras
Hippocrates
Homer
After quiz:
• Make these Table of Contents Updates:
– 69: Quiz: Greek Culture
– 70: Notes: Alexander the Great and Hellenism
– 71: Study Guide: Greece Unit Test
• Work on the “reading check” worksheet in the
back (not graded) as a review of your HW
reading. Do this from memory, don’t use your
notes. See what you can recall.
Homework:
• Review study guide and begin studying for
your Greece Unit Test!
– Thursday (12/10) for 3rd Block
– Friday (12/11) for 5th/8th Blocks
• We will have a review day NEXT CLASS. Make
sure you’ve reviewed your study guide so you
have questions to ask if necessary and so you
can do well on the review games!
Alexander the
Great and
Hellenism
Macedonia
Setting the Stage: Philip II
• Ruled Macedonia from 359336 B.C. and transformed it
into a powerful military
machine
• Moved into northern Greece
and met little resistance due
to residual effects of
Peloponnesian War
– By 338 he had Greece under
his control
Movement of Philip II
Alexander the Great Takes
Power
• Philip intended to use Greece as a launching
pad to invade Persia, but he was assassinated
before he could begin his plan
• Instead the invasion of Persia would be left for
Philip’s son Alexander who was just 20 when
Philip was assassinated
– “Alexander inherited from his father the most perfectly
organized, trained, and equipped army of ancient
times.”
• J.F.C. Fuller, The Generalship of Alexander the Great
Conquests of Alexander
• Ionia and Anatolia
• Syria, Palestine, Egypt
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mesopotamia
Persepolis (Iraq)
King of Persia
India
Returns to Susa
Dies (age 33)
333
332
331
331
330
327
324
323
Warfare in the Age of Alexander
• Phalanx: A formation of infantry carrying
overlapping shields and long spears
– Adopted by Philip and Alexander
– Greek in origin
Warfare in the Age of Alexander
• Hoplite
– The main warrior of
the Macedonian army.
– Worked mainly in the
tight phalanx
formation, creating
impregnable lines that
often left the enemy
demoralized.
Hoplites in Action
Warfare in the Age of Alexander
• Sieges = surrounding
and blockading of a town
or fortress by an army
trying to capture it.
• A variety of weapons
were built to hurl
projectiles over city walls,
scale or batter the walls,
and transport soldiers
over them.
Tyre
• Old city in the Eastern
Mediterranean that was
abandoned
• New city built on an
island two miles long and
separated from the coast
by a half mile channel
– Walls were 150 feet
high
Tyrian Fire Ship Burns the
Towers
Tyre
• Alexander collected a
fleet of over 200 ships
and maneuvered them
into moorings off the
harbors
• Blockaded the Tyrian
fleet in its harbors lays it
under siege
– Will use his siege engines
to overpower the city’s
walls
No. of ships
Origin
80
Sidon, Aradus, and
Byblus
10
Rhodes
3
Soli and Mallus
10
Lycia
1
Macedon
120
Cyprus
Tyre
• After a seven month
siege, Tyre fell
• 8,000 Tyrians were
killed in the fighting
– 2,000 more were hung
afterwards
• Only 400
Macedonians were
killed in the siege and
just 20 in the assault
Battle at Gaugamela
• Darius III had assembled
a huge army from all the
Persian nationalities
– Estimates range from
200,000 to a million infantry
and 45,000 to 100,000
cavalry
– 200 scythed chariots
– 15 elephants
• Alexander had about
40,000 men
Darius III, King of Persia
336-330 B.C.
Gaugamela (Arbela)
• Alexander advanced and
camped within sight of Darius’s
army on Sept 30, 331 B.C.E.
• In the opening moves of the
battle, the Persians tried to
outflank Alexander; will then
retreat
– Larger force had given them
this capability
• Alexander pursued for 70
miles to Arbela (modern day
Arbil) but couldn’t catch Darius
• Result:
– Macedonian (Hellenic) victory
– The Persians lost 40,000 to 90,000
– The Macedonians only 500
After Gaugamela
• Darius’s escape frustrated Alexander
because it prevented him from full
claim to being king of Persia
• Eventually Darius’s followers
assassinated him
• As Alexander continued to advance
east, he took on an increasingly
Eastern attitude
– Worries his fellow Macedonians
The End of the Empire
• Alexander…
– Married an “Eastern” woman
– Adopted Eastern dress and
habits
– Publicly insisted upon his descent
from the gods
– Began giving key positions to
Persians
• The Macedonians resented the
changes in Alexander’s
behavior  want to mutiny
• Alexander died in June 323
BCE
– Poisoned? Typhus? Meningitis?
"The Marriage of
Alexander the Great
and Roxanna" by
Ishmail Parbury
After Alexander
• After Alexander died, his
generals jockeyed for
power and by 275 they
had divided up his
kingdom into three large
states
– 1. Greece and
Macedonia
(Antigonus)
– 2. Egypt (Ptolemy)
– 3. Persia (Seleuces)
– The period of
Alexander and his
successors is called
the Hellenistic period
to reflect the broad
influence of Greek
culture beyond
Greece’s borders
HELLENISM
Background Information
• Hellenism/Hellenistic culture - The blending
of Greek cultures with those of Persia, Egypt,
and Central Asia following the conquests of
Alexander the Great.
• Accomplished through:
– Best way to encourage cultural exchange is
through marriage.
– Another great way to gain cultural exchange is
through trade and education.
Hellenistic Culture:
Architecture and
Sculpture
• Architecture & Sculpture
– The founding of new cities
presented new opportunities
for architects & sculptors
– EX: Alexandria in Egypt
– Characteristics: Emotional,
exaggeration, sensationalism
in art and sculpture (a
departure from classical Greek
styles)
– Emotional
Hellenistic Culture: Literature
• Writing = held in high esteem
• Popular genres: comedy, poetry, prose
– Appolonius  famous Hellenistic epic poet
– Polybius  scientific historian
– Very few tragedies written, mostly comedies
– Naturalism over satire
Hellenistic Culture: Science
and Mathematics
• Archimedes
– Discovered specific gravity by observing the water
he displaced in his bath
• Aristarchus
– Proposes Heliocentric Universe (Sun at center of
universe)  won’t be proven until the Scientific
Revolution of the 15th century CE
• Eratosthenes
– Determined the earth was round.
– Calculated the Earth’s circumference to be 24,675
miles…he wasn’t very far off!
Hellenistic Culture: Philosophy
– Cynicism
• Rejected the ideas of pleasure, wealth, Instead, they should live
according to nature. Withdrew from society.
• Followers gave away possessions and became vagrants or
wanderers. They were like homeless people in today’s society.
– Epicureans
• Sought out pleasure, developed close friendships with those that
shared similar beliefs
• Pleasure- Good
• Pain- Bad or Evil
– Stoicism
• Placed emphasis on reason, self-discipline, emotional control, and
personal morality.