Philip II of Macedon united the Greek city-states and built a powerful army. His son, Alexander the Great, seized power at age 20 after Philip's assassination. Alexander then conquered the vast Persian Empire and pushed his armies as far as India. However, his troops grew weary and he died of illness at age 32, leaving his generals to divide his empire among themselves. The Hellenistic period that followed saw the flowering of Greek culture and science throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East.

2.  King of Macedon, father of Alexander
the Great
 Brilliant general and ruthless politician
 Built up a professional army using the
Greek phalanx
 Infighting among Greek city-states for a
half-century after the Peloponnesian
War
 United Greek city-states under his rule
 Asked the conquered Greek city-states
to join the League of Corinth
 Main Goal: Conquer Persia

3.  Alexander’s Youth
 As a child, Alexander studied
under Aristotle
 Under his father’s leadership,
trained for battle
 Phillip II assassinated in 336 BC
 His son Alexander seized power
at the age of 20
 With Greek city-states unified
under his rule, he set out to
conquer Persia
 Main Goal: Conquer the known
world

4.  Stretched from the Nile to the Indus Rivers
 Included Persia, Egypt, Greece, and India
 Cultures Blended=Hellenistic
 Greatest lasting legacy/accomplishment

5.  Reached Indus River in 327 BC
 His army had been fighting for seven years, more than
11,00 miles
 His soldiers refused to go any further
 On way back to Greece, he became ill
 Died from a fever, at age 32
 Never “ruled” his great empire

6.  Divided between his leading generals:
 Antigonus- Controlled Macedon
 Ptolemy- Egypt
 Seleucus- Asia Minor and the Fertile Crescent

7.  Center of Hellenistic
culture at Alexandria,
Egypt
 Greek architecture,
statues, etc.
 Museum & Library
 Over 500,000 papyrus
scrolls of literature

8.  Philosopher- literally means “lover of wisdom”
 New philosophies coming out of the Hellenistic world
 Stoic philosophy- Established by Zeno
 Divine reason directs the world
 Every person should accept their fate
 Epicurean philosophy- Established by Epicurus
 Aim of life to seek pleasure and avoid pain

9.  Euclid
 Important to the
development of the field
of geometry
 Wrote Elements
 Archimedes
 Calculated the value of pi
 Levers and pulleys

10.  Aristarchus
 Concluded that the
earth and other
planets revolved
around the sun
 Eratosthenes
 Calculated the
distance around the
earth