World History Ch. 5 Section 4 Notes

1. 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

2. Classical Greece Section 4
Alexander the Great and His Legacy
Main Idea
1. 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?

3. Classical Greece Section 4
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

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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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Empire Building
Campaigns
• Within year Alexander’s army
had won victory against
Persians in Asia Minor
• Moved south to Phoenicia,
Egypt; welcomed as liberator,
named new pharaoh
• Next destroyed Persian army
near Gaugamela, in what is
now Iraq; caused Emperor
Darius III to flee
Empire
• With Greece under control,
Alexander decided to build
empire
• 334 BC, led army into Asia to
take on Persians
• Army relatively small, but well
trained, fiercely loyal
• Persian army huge,
disorganized

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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

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8. Classical Greece Section 4
End of the Empire
Power Struggle
• Generals fought each other for
power
• In the end, the empire was
divided among three most
powerful generals
• Called themselves kings
– Antigonus became king of
Macedonia and Greece
– Seleucus ruled Persian
Empire
– Ptolemy ruled Egypt
Death at Early Age
• Alexander’s empire largest
world had ever seen
• Did not rule very long
• 323 BC, Alexander fell ill while
in Babylon
• Died a few days later at age 33
• Alexander died without naming
heir

9. Classical Greece Section 4
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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The Hellenistic World
2. 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

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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

12. Classical Greece Section 4
Life in the Hellenistic World
Life for Women
• Lives of women also changed
significantly in Hellenistic
Period
• Women had few rights in earlier
Greek city-states
• Lives began to improve after
Alexander, though women still
not equal to men
• Gained rights to receive
education, own property
Drastic Changes
• Shift from Hellenic Greece to
Hellenistic world brought drastic
changes to lives
• Most obvious change, how
people were governed
• City-state no longer main
political unit, replaced by
kingdom
• Traditional Greek democracy
gave way to monarchy

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Explain
How did society change in the Hellenistic
age?
Answer(s): different cultures blended;
government changed; women gained more rights

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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
• 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, self-discipline,
emotional control and personal morality. Stoics believed people
should find their proper role in society and fulfill it.
Epicureans

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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

16. Classical Greece Section 4
3. 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

17. Classical Greece Section 4
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

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Video
The Impact of the Greek Scholars
Click above to play the video.