Aim: Did Alexander the Great deserve his name?

Do Now: What should someone have accomplished to deserve being named “the great”?

NY State Standards 2, 3Common Core RS 2, 5, 7, 8, WS 2

I After the Peloponnesian WarA) Although Sparta won the Peloponnesian War (with the help of Persia), Sparta was not able to unite the Greek mainland. B) The Greek poli (city-states) were weakened from fighting.C) King Philip II of Macedonia (a land north of Greece) conquered the Greek mainland in 338 BCE. *The one area he could not conquer was Sparta.

Empire of Philip II of Macedonia

After the Peloponnesian War Continued…D) King Philip II respected Greek culture, which is why he hired Aristotle

to tutor his son Alexander.E) Philip’s dream was to conquer the Persian Empire, but in 336 BCE he

was assassinated.

Philip II was assassinated by his own bodyguard,

while attending his daughter’s wedding.

“Here is the man who was making ready to cross from Europe to Asia, and who cannot even cross from one

table to another without losing his

balance.” Alexander the Great on his

father.

II The Rise of Alexander (b. 356 – d. 323 BCE)A) At 16 years old, Alexander had served as an official in his father’s Empire.

B) After his father’s assassination in 336 BCE, Alexander became the leader of the empire, and of the dream to conquer Persia.

C) Alexander secured all of Greece by quickly executing any of his enemies. He then went with an army of 50,000 to Asia Minor by crossing the Hellespont. (Recall that Xerxes had crossed this same spot into Greece during the Persian Wars.) From Asia Minor he conquered Palestine, Egypt, Babylon, Persia and northern

India. HE NEVER LOST A BATTLE.

III How did Alexander Do It?A) 335 BCE Alexander heard about revolts in Thebes. He ordered a massacre of the city, killing 6,000 and enslaving 30,000. This sent an early warning to anyone who dared to rebel. B) Alexander’s army used the phalanx formation, with the help of catapults and siege towers. He often changed strategy during a battle.C) He conquered port cities of Persia before going inland. This prevented Persia from access to their ships.D) When Alexander’s troops showed signs of homesickness, Alexander forced them to marry local women.

“My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambition. Macedon is too small for you.” – Philip II to his 10 year old

son Alexander

How Did Alexander Do It Continued…E) Alexander showed respect to local cultures. in Egypt he went to a priest to be declared the son of Amun (the

Egyptian Sun God) He married Roxanne (a dancer) while in Afghanistan

How Did Alexander Do it Continued… 333 BCE Alexander battled the Persian King Darius III at the Battle of Issus in Syria. When Darius fled, he left behind his wife, children and mother! Alexander treated them with the respect of royalty. When Darius III (King of Persia) was

murdered by a Persian, Alexander caught the murderer and had him executed.

When conquering cities, he would always make sure to leave temples, art & libraries alone. The one exception was when he burned Persepolis, the palace of Darius III to the

ground.

IV The Death of AlexanderA) 323 BCE in Babylon Alexander developed a high fever & died at 33 years old.B) As he left no heir, his Empire was divided up into 4 kingdoms; the Seleucids (Southwest Asia), Ptolemies (Egypt), Cassander (Macedonia), and Lysimachus (Thrace).C) The last Macedonian ruler, Cleopatra VII committed suicide 30 BCE in Egypt. Alexander’s Empire was now largely controlled by Rome.

Historians to this day still debate the cause of

Alexander’s death, from poisoning to malaria, the West Nile Virus, or even alcoholism.

A) Alexander spread Hellenism (Greek culture) throughout his Empire. This is why his empire is often called the Hellenistic Empire.

B) He founded cities in his name. The most famous was Alexandria in Egypt, which would later house the Library at Alexandria, one of the wonders of the Ancient World.

C) The Library at Alexandria produced some of the greatest discoveries in science and astronomy.-Pythagoras invented the Pythagorean Theorum (A2 + B2 = C2)- Aristarchus discovered that the Earth rotates on its axis, and orbits the sun. *This knowledge was lost to Europe for over 1000 years!- Archimedes invented the Archimedes Screw;a machine used for transferring water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation ditches.

D) The Lighthouse at Alexandria was built on the island of Pharos. The interior of the upper two sections had a shaft with a dumbwaiter that was used to transport fuel up to the fire. Staircases allowed visitors and the keepers to climb to the beacon chamber. There, was a large curved mirror, used to project the fire's light into a beam. It was said ships could detect the light from the tower at night or the smoke from the fire during the day up to one-hundred miles away.

V The Legacy of Alexander the Great

Archimedes Screw

Archimedes' machine was a device with a revolving screw-shaped blade inside a cylinder. It was turned by hand, and could also be used to transfer water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation canals. The Archimedes' screw is still in use today for pumping liquids and granulated solids such as coal and grain.

This is a modern Archimedes

Screw in Sweden.

Lighthouse at Alexandria Reconstruction

The Library at Alexandria“It is believed that around 295 BEC, the scholar Demetrius convinced Ptolemy I to establish the Library at Alexandria. Demetrius envisioned a library that would house a copy of every book in the world… There were lecture areas, laboratories, observatories, botanical gardens, a zoo, living quarters, and dining halls, as well as the Library itself… During the reign of Ptolemy II… more than 100 scholars were housed within the Library, whose job it was to carry out scientific research, lecture, publish, translate, copy and collect not only original manuscripts of Greek authors (allegedly including the private collection of Aristotle himself), but translations of works from Egypt, Assyria, Persia, as well as Buddhist texts and Hebrew scriptures. One story goes that the hunger of Ptolemy III for knowledge was so great that he decreed that all ships docking at the port should surrender their manuscripts to the authorities. Copies were then made by official scribes and delivered to the original owners, the originals being filed away in the Library. An often quoted figure for the ancient Library holdings at its peak is half a million documents (most likely scrolls)!...

The Library at Alexandria Continued…The destruction by fire of the Library of Alexandria, with the consequent loss of the most complete collection of ancient literature ever assembled, has been a point of heated debate for centuries. Who was responsible for its burning?... The first prime suspect is Julius Caesar. It is alleged that during Caesar's occupation of Alexandria in 48 BCE, he found himself hemmed in by the Egyptian fleet in the harbor. For his own safety he had his men set fire to the Egyptian ships, but the fire got out of control and spread to the parts of the city nearest the shore, including the Library. However, there are 2 additional suspects. In 391 CE, as part of his attempt to wipe out paganism, Emperor Theodosius I officially sanctioned the destruction of the Temple of Serapis at Alexandria. The Library, located close to the Temple, may also have been razed to the ground at this time… The last suspect is the Caliph Omar. In 640 CE the Arabs under Caliph Omar captured Alexandria after a long siege. Allegedly, the Arabs heard about a magnificent library containing all the knowledge of the world and were anxious to see it. But the Caliph apparently stated 'they will either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous.‘ The manuscripts were then gathered together and used as fuel for the 4,000 bathhouses in the city. In fact there were so many scrolls that they kept the bathhouses of Alexandria heated for six months.” by Brian Haughton, 2011

Focus Questions1. Fill in your civilization chart for the Hellenistic Empire.2. What did Alexander the Great mean by the quotes below?

A) “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

B) “I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.” 3. Do you think Alexander deserved the name “the Great”? Why or why not?4. What has the world lost with the destruction of the Library at Alexandria?

Key Vocabulary