- After two major battles lost, Darius III was ready to give up some land in hope that Alexander would stop his conquest.
- The Macedonian advisers to Alexander told him to take the offer, but Alexander refused.
- His goal was to conquer all of the Persian empire.
Alexander in Egypt
- Alexander was welcomed into Egypt as a liberator, even though Egypt was a Persian Territory.
- He was even crowned a pharaoh.
- Alexander named a city Alexandria, after himself, which was very common for him.
Continuing the Conquest
- Alexander still wanted to kill King Darius III of Persia, so he pursued him.
- This pursuit made him a great conqueror, but he was bad at governing the land he conquered.
- He eventually found King Darius, dead. One of his own men had killed him.
Are We There Yet?
- Many thought that once Darius was dead, Alexander might stop the conquest. LOL. They are dumb. He definitely didn't stop.
- He invaded certain areas of India and had successful victories there.
- The only problem Alexander struggled with was the low morale of his army.
Low Morale
- Alexander's troops had been fighting for a very long time and traveled very far.
- They had fought for 11 years.
- Had marched 11,000 miles.
- In bad conditions, deserts, and even monsoon rains.
- He was very disappointed in his army, but agreed to return home.
Governor?
- When Alexander had reached Babylon, he announced that he wanted to unite his empire by building new cities, roads, harbors, and conquer Arabia.
- He became seriously ill with a fever and died at the age of 32.
Legacy
- Married a Persian Princess
- He wore Persian dress and presided over a mass marriage of eighty of his men to Persian women.
- It was a very interesting cultural impact- spreading Hellenistic culture.
- At the time of his death, Alexander conquered a vast amount of land.
- With his death, his Generals fought over who go the power of the empire.
Generals
- Eventually these three generals of Alexander got control of his conquered land.
- Antigonus became the king of Macedonia and took control of the Greek city-states.
- Ptolemy seized Egypt, took the title of Pharaoh, and began a dynasty.
- Seleucid got control over the old Persian Empire. He didn't take up the democratic approach with him. He and the other rulers got all the power, not the people.
Daily blog
- What is your overall opinion of Alexander the Great? Was he really that special or just a barbaric person who allowed greed to get the best of him??
- Alexander the Great is not so great at all. A selfish brute, he completely ignored his army's morale for eleven years! It wasn't until they had grown so weary that he agreed to finally go home. And even after that he had to conquer yet more land, unite more of his conquered and forgotten land. When he received what he wanted, it wasn't enough. Death had to be his role to play. Greed and anger and selfishness is what I see in Alexander. He may have been brilliant in some ways, but in others, he seems to be the idiot.
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