Ch 8 Sec 3 Alexander the Great

Chapter 8 Section 3

• Key Terms:
• Legacy
• What a person leaves
behind when he or she dies
• Hellenistic Era
• Period when the Greek
language and Greek ideas
spread to the non-Greek
peoples of southwest Asia
• Key People:
• Philip II
• Alexander the Great
• Key Places:
• Macedonia
• Chaeronea
• Syria
• Alexandria

• Macedonians
• Raised sheep and horses
• Grew crops in river valleys
• Warrior people: fought on horseback
• 400 B.C., became a powerful kingdom

• 359 B.C., became king of Macedonia
• Lived in Greece as a young man
• Admired Greeks
• Art
• Ideas
• Armies
• Wanted a kingdom strong enough to defeat Persian Empire
• Needed to unite Greek city-states and Macedonia

• Military Methods:
• Established a professional
army
• Full-time
• Well-paid
• Highly skilled
• New battle formations
• Improved Phalanx
• New Weapons
• Catapults
• Wheeled battering rams

• Using his military, he took over city-states:
• Force
• Bribed to surrender
• Some united voluntarily
• Demosthenes: Athenian lawyer
• Warned Athenians about Philip
• Peloponnesian War had left Greeks weak and divided
• Many young Greeks joined Persian army
• 338 B.C., Macedonians defeat Greeks at Battle of Chaeronea
• Philip controls most of Greece

• Gather with your 2 nd Base Partner
• Turn to Page 399
• Read “Demonsthenes’ Warning”
• Answer the Document-Based Question (DBQ)
• Which line of Demosthenes’ speech tells what he thinks will happen if
the Greeks ignore Philip?
• “ . . . unless we are willing to fight him there we shall be forced to fight
here. . . .”

• What did Philip train to help him take over the Greek citystates
one-by-one?
• Philip trained a vast army of foot soldiers to take over the Greek citystates
one-by-one.
• Why did Philip II invade Greece?
• He wanted to unite all of Greece under Macedonia in order to defeat
Persia.
• Who urged the Greek city-states to join together to fight Philip
II?
• Demosthenes, an Athenian lawyer and great public speaker, urged the
Greek city-states to join together to fight Philip II.

• Son of King Philip
• Came to power at age
20 in 336 B.C.
• Father was murdered
• Put down revolts
• Goal was to expand his
empire
• Alexander the Great

• 334 B.C., invaded Asia Minor
with
• 37,000 foot soldiers
• 5,000 mounted warriors
• Defeated Persian satraps at
Battle of Granicus
• 332 B.C., Captured
• Syria
• Egypt
• Built city of Alexandria
• City of business and trade
• 331 B.C., headed east and
defeated Persians at
Gaugamela
• After this battle, easily
conquered rest of Persian
Empire
• 326 B.C., Crossed Indus River
into India
• Stopped his army there
• 323 B.C., returned to
Babylon
• Planned to invade southern
Arabia
• Died of Malaria/High Fever at
age 32

• Gave Alexander
additional:
• Land
• Power
• Wealth
• Extended empire into:
• North Africa:
• Egypt
• Libya
• Asia:
• Persia
• Syria
• India

• Established colonies
• Modeled conquered lands
after Greek cities
• Left behind Greeks to rule
• Assured consistency and
unification throughout the
empire

• Great military leader:
• Brave and reckless
• Often rode ahead of his
soldiers into battle
• Risked his own life
• Inspired his armies to
march into unknown lands
• Key to courage: Childhood
education
• Hero: Achilles from Illiad.
• Helped extend Greek/
Macedonian rule over a vast
region
• Greek armies spread Greek
• Art
• Ideas
• Language
• Architecture
• Brought back ideas from Asia
and Africa
• Beginning of Hellenistic Era
• Greek language and ideas
spread to non-Greeks

• How do you think a person living in a country conquered by and
under the rule of Alexander the Great would describe him as a
ruler?
• How was the world changed by the conquests of Alexander the
Great?

• Alexander hoped that
Greek rule was not alien
• Did not want rebellions
• Alexander wore Persian
clothing
• Brought Persian soldiers
into his army

• Results:
• People did not rebel
• Conquered people:
• Learned Greek language
• Worshiped Greek gods
• Read Greek literature
• Today, some people in
Central Asia proudly claim
the Greeks as their
ancestors

• Brought something other
than destruction to
conquered people:
• Citadels of Greek
government and culture
• Ensuring that conquered
lands could be controlled
• By naming after himself,
left a trail of reminders
that he was a powerful
conqueror

• He died of a fever in 323 B.C. at age 33
• Reign was 13 years, created largest empire in the western world
• After his death, Greek culture united empire
• Politically broke up, no single leader had enough power to
maintain empire
• Generals split empire among themselves
• Macedonia
• Pergamum
• Egypt
• Seleucid

• Which kingdom appears
to have had the most
territory?
• Which kingdoms were at
least partially located in
Asia?
• The Seleucid kingdom
appears to have had the
most territory.
• The Egyptian, Seleucid
and Pergamum kingdoms
were at least partially
located in Asia

• What dream of his father’s
did Alexander fulfill after
Philip II died?
• Why is Alexander
considered a great military
leader?
• How did Alexander plan to
unite the people in his new
Empire?
• What was Alexander’s
legacy?
• Alexander the Great fulfilled his
father’s dream of an invasion of
the Persian Empire.
• Alexander is considered a great
military leader because he often
rode into battle ahead of his men,
he risked his own life, and inspired
his armies.
• Alexander united the people in his
new Empire by using Persians as
officials and encouraging his
soldiers to marry Asian women.
• He spread Greek art, ideas,
language, and architecture across
southwest Asian and brought new
ideas from Southwest Asia to
Greece