Philip II of Macedon built a powerful professional army and used it to conquer the disunited city-states of Greece in the late 4th century BC. After defeating Athens and Sparta, Philip formed the Corinthian League to unite Greece and prepare to invade the Persian Empire. However, Philip was assassinated in 336 BC, allowing his son Alexander to become king of Macedonia and complete Philip's plans by conquering the entire Persian Empire between 334-323 BC, spreading Greek culture across Western Asia and into India.

1. Alexander’s
Empire
Chapter 5, Section 4

2. PHILIP BUILDS MACEDONIAN
POWER
 Macedonia
 Macedonia—Kingdom of mountain villages north of
Greece
 King Philip II—ruler, brilliant general; dreams of
controlling Greece
 Macedonians call themselves Greek; rest of Greece
does not
 Philip’s Army
 Philip creates well-trained professional army; plans
to invade Greece

3. PHILIP BUILDS MACEDONIAN
POWER
 Conquest of Greece
 Itwas easy because “more than one Greek city felt
ambivalent about fighting back.” (Bauer, p. 579)
 Some Greek cities invited Philip to invade
 Athens asked Sparta for help against invasion, but
Sparta declined
 At the Battle of Chaeronea one thousand Athenians
were killed.
 338 B.C. Macedonians defeat Greece

4. PHILIP BUILDS MACEDONIAN
POWER (CONT.)
 After the Battle of Chaeronea, Philip
changes his strategy and treats Athens
with great respect, releasing Athenian
prisoners of war.
 As a result the Athenians then “chose to
pretend that Philip was now a friend of
Athens.” (Bauer, p. 580)
 Philip makes a speech at Corinth
suggesting Greek submission to his
kingship would be good for Greece.
 The Corinthian League is formed, led by
King Philip, with the intent of attacking
the Persians.

5. MURDER OF PHILIP
 Philip married again, for a fifth time, a
Macedonian woman.
 His son Alexander was legitimate, but half
Greek.
 This marriage gave Attalus, one of Philip’s
generals, occasion to call into question the
legitimacy of a half-Greek prince inheriting the
Macedonian throne.

6. MURDER OF PHILIP (CONT.)
 Greek historian Diodorus tells us that Philip was
killed by his ex-lover Pausonius (who was one of
his guards) because Philip rejected him.
 Some suspect, however, that Alexander was
behind the murder.
 The 2004 film Alexander directed by Oliver Stone
puts the lays the blame at the feet of Olympias,
Alexander’s mother so that her own son would
become king and there would be no full-blood
Macedonian heir. The film depicts Alexander was
an innocent bystander.
 This occurs in 336 B.C.
 His son named king of Macedonia and becomes
Alexander the Great

7. ALEXANDER DEFEATS PERSIA
 Alexander’s Early Life
 Tutored by Aristotle
 Inspired by the Iliad
 Military training
 Becomes king when 20 years old
 Destroys Thebes to curb rebellion

8. ALEXANDER DEFEATS PERSIA
 Invasion of Persia
 334 B.C. Alexander invades Persia with a quick
victory at Granicus River.
 Darius III, King of Persia, assembles an army of
50,000-75,000 men.
 Alexander defeats Persians again, forces King of
Persia to flee.

9. ALEXANDER DEFEATS PERSIA
 Conquering the Persian Empire
 Alexander marches into Egypt and is crowned
Pharaoh in 332 B.C.
 At Gaugamela in Mesopotamia, Alexander
defeats the Persians again.
 Alexander captures cities of Babylon, Susa,
and Persepolis
 Persepolis, the Persian capitol is burned to the
ground.
 Ashes of Persepolis signal total destruction of
the Persian Empire

10. ALEXANDER’S OTHER CONQUESTS
 Alexander in India
 Alexander fights his way across the deserts of
Central Asia to India
 Alexander conquers Indus Valley area in 326 B.C.
 Reluctantly returns to Babylon and dies in 323 B.C.

11. ALEXANDER’S LEGACY
 Alexander melds Greek and Persian cultures.
 He takes a Persian wife.
 Empire becomes three kingdoms
 Macedonia, Greek city-states
 Egypt
 Old Persia, also known as the Seleucid kingdom