3. Greece After the Golden Age
• Greece entered a time of struggle.
• Competition between the city-states
(Polis) weakened Greece.
4. Macedonia
• Macedon was a rising Kingdom north of
Greece.
• Macedonians were strong warlike people.
• They lived in villages. Each was led by a
local noble.
• Kings could rule only with the support of
the nobles.
• Nobles would supply troops for the army.
5. Philip II of Macedon
• When Philip was young he was held as a
hostage in Thebes (Greece) for 3 years.
**He greatly admired Greece and learned
about the organization of the Greek army.
• 359bc Philip became king of Macedon.
• Philip didn’t want to rely on the nobles so
he raised his own army. He copied the
use of phalanx from the Greeks.
Best-disciplined army in
• Macedonian history.
6. Philip of Macedon continued…
• First Philip restored order in Macedon.
• Then Philip took control of several Athenian
colonies in Northern Greece.
• Then he wanted to take mainland Greece.
• Some thought he was a savior to unify Greece,
others were scared for their freedom.
• In 338bc he defeated Thebes and Athens uniting
Greece under his rule.
• He organized Greece cities and planned to
invade Persia. He was assassinated first in
336bc.
7.
8. Alexander the Great
• Alexander the Great was Philip’s
20yr. old son.
• Alex was a well educated and army
trained man. He was a student of Aristotle.
• He was prepared to be a great leader when his
father, Philip, died.
• His courage and strength in battle won him the
loyalty of his troops.
• After his father’s death he crushed rebellions in
Greece and sought to take over the world!
9. Alexander the Great continued…
• Alex conquers… Persia, Asia Minor, Syria,
Egypt, and Mesopotamia.
• He hoped to bring all lands under one
Empire.
• For four years his troops pushed East. All
the way to the Indus River. There, his
troops had enough of fighting and refused
to go any farther. Alex begged them; they
said no.
10. Alexander the Great continued…
• Alex led the army to the India Ocean and split
the army into 2. 1– went back by Sea exploring
the Persian Gulf. 2 – Alex led the others back
through the desert where many died from
exposure & no food or water.
• Throughout his empire Alex spread Hellenistic
Culture. (Greek + Asian). Women and the
middle class benefited the most from it.
• Alex got sick when he was in Babylon. He died
in 323bc at age 32. His Generals fought over
and split up his empire.
