2. Conquest of Greece
Greece became a land of conflict & distrust following
Peloponnesian War
City states formed alliances
City states put their interests above the common good of
Greece
Macedonia
Land north of Greece
King Philip II came to the throne
Brought his people together under one rule & wanted to do
the same in Greece
Philip II had spent part of his life in Greece and learned the culture
3. Alexander
Son of Philip II
Learned how to be a fearless warrior
At 13 was taught by Aristotle
Learned to appreciate the cultures of other people
Philip’s Macedonian soldiers
Well trained & fearless
Spartans could not even stop them
338 B.C. Philip controlled most of the Greek peninsula, including
Athens
Did not conquer to destroy Greece (Philip did not want to make
great changes to the lives of those he conquered)
City states became free to manage themselves
Did make a law that Greeks could not fight one another
Greece was at peace, united by an outsider
4. Building An Empire
336 B.C. Alexander followed in his fathers footsteps
after he died
Wanted to rule not only Greece, but the whole world
Eastern Europe, northern Africa, & western Asia
Began by conquering the Persians
334 B.C. Alexander & 35,000 soldiers went from Greece
to Asia Minor
Seized Greek colonies under the control of the Persians
Alexander the Great
Built new cities & helped spread Greek culture
Cities became centers of learning
5. Named each city after himself
Alexandria, Egypt became center of Greek culture
People throughout empire learned to speak Greek & worshiped Greek
gods
Time of Alexander’s rule became known as the Hellenistic Age
Alexander conquests made him a ruler of a multicultural empire
Adopted customs of conquered people & introduced Greek
culture to them
331 B.C.
Empire stretched from Danube River in Europe to the Nile River in
Africa & east to Asia
Alexander had conquered Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia,
& Persian Empire (Without losing a single major battle)
6. The Breakup of the Empire
Alexander still wanted more land
Wanted to lead soldiers to India
Soldiers refused to follow
323 B.C.
Alexander became ill with a fever & died
Before his death Alexander told his soldiers that the rule
of the empire should go to the strongest
No leader proved strong enough to replace Alexander & the
empire quickly broke up after his death
Split into 3 parts: Macedonia, Syria, & Egypt
Often at war with each other & destroyed much of what
Alexander created
7. Alexander’s Legacy
Empire did not last, but Hellenistic culture did
Great thinkers shaped later cultures during Hellenistic
Age
Euclid: studied line & angles & began the study of
geometry
Archimedes: used math to build useful machines
Aristarchus: used math to discover that the Earth and
the other planets move around the sun
Scientists: built on the knowledge of medicine
Alexandria, Egypt became center for study of medicine &
surgery
8. Romans
146 B.C.
Romans had grown strong enough to gain control of the
Mediterranean world
Romans borrowed religion, the art, architecture,
philosophy, & language from the Greeks to build their
own civilization
