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?
I think he was special in the beginning but later on he got too greedy. I also think he was too barbaric when he destroyed the city of Thebes and took 6,000 lives because they rebelled. I understand that he wanted to show them that he had power but I think that was too much. He was special because he was a great general and conqueror; he was also a pharaoh and governer. So, in the beginning he was special but I think he got too greedy when he conquered all of that land. He should have slowed down and let other people own land too.
Macedonia
Geography
- Rough terrain and a cold climate
- People lived mostly in mountain villages instead city states like Athens
Not Seeing Eye to Eye
- Most of the Macedonian nobles referred to themselves as Greeks
- Once again, the Greeks thought that the Macedonians were barbaric and not as civilized as the Greeks
- What other civilization did the Greeks treat this way? Spartan
Changes
- After the Peloponnesian War, several Greek city-states were very weak, economically and militaristically
- When there is weakness or a struggle there is usually a predator or someone else to take advantage of the opportunity - in this case, it was Macedonia
Macedonian Leadership
- Phillip II was the king of Macedonia around 360 BC
- Only 23 when he became king
- Brilliant general
- Was able to train peasants into warriors
- His dream was to take over Greece and avenge the Persian Invasion of Greece
Phillip's Tactics
- Phillip organized his army into phalanxes of 16 men across by 16 men deep
- All 256 men had to work together for this formation to work correctly
- After the phalanx had broken through the enemy's line, he would then send in cavalry to crush the disorganized or retreating opponents
Conquest for Greece
- An Athenian orator named Demosthenes tried to warn the Greeks of the threat of Phillip and hold them to prepare an army
- However, the city-states of Greece couldn't come up with united response
- Finally, Athens and Thebes decide to stand up to Phillip but it was too late
- Greek independence was lost to King Phillip of Macedonia
New leader
- Next on Phillip's agenda was to invade Persia
- However, he was never able to do this
- At his daughter's wedding, he was stabbed to death by one of his former guardsman
- His son immediately proclaimed himself the king of Macedonia - his name was Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great
- Taught by Aristotle
- Spread Hellenistic culture
- Very intellectual, kept a copy of the Iliad under his pillow to remind him of the heroic of Achilles in the Trojan War
- Alexander wanted to show his power early, and when the people of Thebes rebelled, he destroyed their city and took 6,000 lives
- The survivors were sold into slavery, only the priests were not put into slavery
Invasion of Persia
- Alexander was now ready to invade Persia now that Greece was secure
- Alexander matched with 35,000 men to attack Persia
- Persian rushed 40,000 men to meet Alexander
- That victory alarmed the Persian King, Darius III
- His response was to raise a huge army ranging between 50,000 to 75,000 men
- Alexander knew he was outnumbered so he called for a surprise attack with his best troops and ordered them to go straight to the Persian King
- The Persian King fled and so did his army
Peace?
- After two major battles lost, Darius III was ready to give up land in hopes that Alexander would stop his conquest
- The Macedonian advisers to Alexander told him to take the offer, but Alexander refused
- Alexander's goal was to conquer all of the Persian empire
Alexander in Egypt
- Alexander was welcomed into Egypt as a liberator even though Egypt was Persian territory
- He was even crowned a pharaoh
- Alexander names the city Alexandria after himself which was very common for him to do
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 bad he was bad at governing the land he conquered
- He eventually found King Darius dead - one of his own men had killed him
- Many thought that once Darius was dead, Alexander might stop the conquest but they were wrong
- He invaded certain areas of India and successfully defeated them there as well
- Only problem Alexander struggled with was the low morale of his army - they had fought for 11 years and marched 11,000 miles in bad conditions like deserts and even monsoon rains
- Very disappointed, Alexander agreed to return home
Governor?
- When Alexander had reached Babylon, he announced that he wanted to unite his empire by building new cities, roads and harbors and conquer Arabia
- What happens after big promises or vows in this time era?
- He became seriously ill with a fever and died at the age of 32
Legacy
- Married a Persian Princess
- He even wore Persian dress and presided over a mass marriage of 80 of his men to Persian women
- Very interesting cultural impact - spreading Hellenistic culture
- At the time of his death, Alexander had conquered a vast amount of land
- Generals fought over who got 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 the democratic approach with him, the rulers had all the power, not the people
Hellenistic Culture
- Hellenistic Culture - Greek culture blended with Egyptian, Persian, and Indian influences
- The language that was used was called Koine meaning "common" in Greek
- The common language was very important as it allowed people throughout all of Macedonian Empire to communicate in some fashion
- Alexandria was the center of the Hellenistic culture
- Located on the western edge of Nile delta
- Easy for people throughout the Macedonian Empire to get to by ship
- Booming economy due to all the different customs and items that came to Alexandria
- Some similarities to Ellis Island
- Appearance - the rulers spent a lot of money and time into making the city of Alexandria attractive
- Two greatest attractions were the museum and library
- It was said that Alexander founded those buildings because Aristotle had given him a love for learning
- The library was the first true research library, it was used for a gifted group of scholars to do their work
Science and Technology
- Much of the scientific research that was done in Alexandria was very influential
- Until the turn of the 16th and 17th century, Alexandrian scholars provided most of the scientific information to the west
Astronomy
- The museum contained a small observatory where astronomers could study the stars and planets
- Astronomer names Aristarchus made two very important conclusions
- The sun was bigger than Greece, stating it was 300 times bigger than the earth - it is actually 1.3 million times bigger
- The planets revolve around the sun - unfortunately, no one supported this theory and another philosopher stated that Earth was the center and that theory was supported for the next 14 centuries
- The sun was bigger than Greece, stating it was 300 times bigger than the earth - it is actually 1.3 million times bigger
Math and Physics
- Euclid - well known mathematician, also wrote a book - known for writing proofs
- Archimedes - came up with the value of pi and also explained the law of a lever - he created a pulley to pull heavy objects as well
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