Alexander the great and his empire
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Transcript Alexander the great and his empire
SS.6.W.3.6
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
AND HIS EMPIRE
The Peloponnesian War
In 431 B.C.E., Sparta
declared war on Athens
This conflict was called
the Peloponnesian War
After 27 years of fighting,
Sparta finally won.
Meanwhile, a new
danger was growing to
the north, in Macedonia.
Philip II Unifies Greece
A Macedonian king, Philip II,
saw that constant wars had
left the Greeks divided and
weak.
He seized the chance and
brought Greece under his
control.
By 338 B.C.E., he had
conquered most of mainland
Greece, although he allowed
the city-states to keep many
of their freedoms.
Philip wanted to attack Persia
next, but in 336 B.C.E., he was
murdered.
Alexander Takes the Throne
After Philip’s death, his
son, Alexander, became
the new Macedonian
king.
Like his father, he
wanted to invade Persia
for its great wealth, but
he also recognized that
fighting Persia would
help to unite the Greeks
by giving them a
common enemy.
Alexander’s Method
Alexander planned to use
both terror and kindness to
conquer an empire.
The towns and cities that
resisted him would be
burned to the ground and
their people sold into
slavery.
The towns and cities that
surrendered would keep
their government officials,
and Alexander would help
them rebuild their
damaged property.
Alexander’s Goals
Alexander wanted all the
people he conquered to
accept him as their ruler.
He also wanted to spread
Greek culture, but at the
same time, he did not
want to destroy every
local custom in his
empire.
His goal was to bring
people of very different
cultures together under a
single government.
Alexander Spreads Greek Ideas
Alexander greatly
admired Greek culture
and wanted to spread
Greek ideas throughout
his empire.
One way he did this was
by building Greek-style
cities.
Most of these new cities
contained an agora
(marketplace), temple,
theater, law courts, and a
gymnasium.
Alexandria
The most famous of the
new cities was called
Alexandria, and was
located in Egypt.
In time, it became an
important center for trade
and learning.
Alexandra had all of the
amenities a great Greek
city should, but the most
impressive part was the
library which contained
more than half a million
books!
Alexander’s Use of Religion
Alexander used religion in
2 ways to inspire loyalty
among the people he
conquered.
First, he honored Egyptian
and Persian gods and
treated them as equal to
Greek gods.
Second, Alexander
encouraged the idea that
he himself was a god.
Later, he would even
require all Greeks to accept
him as the son of Zeus!
Alexander Adapts
Alexander’s plan was to
show respect for the
cultural practices of the
people he conquered, and
he did this by adopting
some of their practices
himself.
Although he allowed many
local governors to run the
day-to-day business of
their lands, he made sure it
was Macedonians who led
the army and controlled
taxes.
Walk Like A...Persian?
Alexander borrowed many
Persian customs in particular.
He wore Persian-style clothes
and received visitors in a
luxurious tent, the way a
Persian king would.
Visitors had to kneel in front
of the throne and bend over
until their head touched the
ground.
Alexander then raised his
visitor to his feet, kissed him,
and called him “Kinsman,”
meaning family.
The Empire Crumbles
After stretching his
empire all the way to
India, Alexander caught a
disease (probably
malaria) and died at the
age of 33.
After his death, the
empire crumbled.
Settlers left the cities he
had constructed, and
they fell to ruin.
His generals fought each
other for control.
So, then what??
In the end, Alexander’s
vast realm was divided
into 3 separate
kingdoms: Egypt, Asia,
and Greece.
In the centuries to
come, Greek power
would slowly fade
away, but Greek
culture would continue
to influence the world.