1. Alexander the Great

2. The Peloponnesian Wars ended with Athens’ defeat in 404
BC.
• But, heck, why let that stop good bickering and
fighting?
• The city-states continued to fight each other.
• Some of Sparta’s former allies joined with Athens
and fought Sparta.
• Later on, Athens and Sparta united to fight Thebes.
• The point is, because the major Greek city-states had
been in a near constant state of periodic war for nearly
80 years, they were weakened – in wealth, military
ability, and manpower.
• This made them ripe for conquering. . .

3. Macedonia (or simply Macedon) was a kingdom to the
north of Greece.

4. The Macedonians, who had strong Greek influences,
considered themselves Greek.
• The Greeks, on the other hand, didn’t and looked down
on the Macedonians as being semi-barbaric.
King Philip II ruled Macedon starting in 359 BC.
23 yrs. old

5. The Macedonian phalanx did away with the heavily armed
and armored hoplite shock troops. It introduced the
phalangites.
• These soldiers were armed with 18 foot pikes with iron
spear heads and butt spikes.
• They would line up in square formation of 16 by 16
men.
• Also introduced fast-moving cavalry (horses)

7. So Philip takes advantage of the
Greece’s weakness and attack.
• He defeats a combined Athens-
Theban force in 338 BC.
• The fiercely independent Greek
city-states become part of the
new Macedonian empire.
• The great Athenian orator,
Demosthenes, spent almost
all his time warning people
about Philip and his designs
on Greece, but they weren’t
taken seriously enough until
it was too late.

8. Unfortunately for Philip, he’s assassinated in 336 BC by
one of his bodyguards while at his daughter’s wedding
(it was after the chicken dance, but before YMCA).
• Not sure why. One theory is that Alexander and his
mother, Olympias, were behind it.

9. One interesting side note is that Philip’s remains were
possibly found by archaeologists.
• Excavated royal tombs in Vergina in Macedonia in 1977
revealed the cremated remains of a skull that had
severe blinding damage to the right eye. Philip was
blinded in his right eye by an arrow during a battle.
• Based on facial reconstruction, they think this is what
he looked like:

10. Philip’s son, Alexander, becomes king.
• Or he should be Philip’s son.
• According to legend,
Olympias had a dream that
her womb was struck by
lightning – meaning she
was impregnated by Zeus.
• This account also holds that
Philip was afraid to consort
with her because she liked
sleeping with snakes.

11. He was personally tutored by the philosopher Aristotle
(who was Plato’s student and Plato was Socrates’
student).
• Aristotle taught him philosophy, ethics, rhetoric,
literature, etc.
• For his part, Alexander helped Aristotle amass a sizable
library and financed his work.

12. Anyway, Alexander becomes king and immediately gains
the full support of the army (the most important thing).
• Though he was only 20 at the time, he had already
proved himself in battle as both an effective warrior
and a good commander.

13. • His first job was to put down the rebellion of the Greek
city-states which occurred after Philip’s death.
• First they submitted and then they later rebelled
again.
• The second time around, most hesitated while
Thebes decided to resist. The Thebans were
crushed.
• As punishment and as a warning to others,
Alexander destroyed Thebes and sold the populace
into slavery (6,000 killed and 30,000 sold for 440
talents of silver).
• Everybody else got the message and submitted.

14. In 334 BC, Alexander invades the Persian empire with
30,000 men. This had been Philip’s ambition.
• Not only did Alexander thirst for power, adventure, and
especially glory, but he also wanted to get revenge on
Persia for its ill-treatment of Greece.
• Alexander was also a lead from the front type of
commander. He didn’t stay at the back of the army
where he’d be safest. He rode with the cavalry and
actively engaged in hand to hand combat.

15. The Persian king, Darius III, at first doesn’t take
Alexander all that seriously.
• Alexander wins Battle of Granicus (uses cavalry to
attack first)
• At Issus, the Hellenes were outnumbered by around 10
to 1. Victory for Alexander!
• Alexander rejects offer from Darius III for Western 1/3
of Persian Empire. He planned to conquer the whole
thing!

16. Darius III

17. Alexander goes down to Egypt and conquers it, taking it
from the Persians.
He is made a Pharaoh (Impressive)
He then heads back into modern-day Iraq, the heart of
the empire. There he engages in the pivotal battle of
Gaugamela on 10/1/331 BC.
• The battle was a brilliant display of military tactics.
• Victory for Alexander!
• Alexander heads straights towards Darius who panics
and runs, leaving his army behind.

18. Where’s Darius?!

19. EEEEK! It’s Alexander!

20. • Darius runs and Alexander keeps conquering. He
captures the Persian capital Persepolis and burned it
down. There is disagreement over whether it was and
accident or not.
• He has Darius on the run and just about when he
catches up with the Persian king, one of his own
provincial governors, a satrap, kills Darius.

21. By the time they reach India, the troops have had
enough warring (11 years). Alexander turns around
and travels back to the heart of Persia to solidify
instead of expand his empire. He dies of a fever in 323
BC at the age of 33.
• Likely malaria or typhus. Some theorize poisoning.
• He’s buried in a golden coffin filled with honey.

22. Alexander’s vast empire gets divvied up among three
generals (look at map on page 130)
1. Ptolemy got Egypt
2. Antigonus got Greece
3. Selecus got Persia
• Not surprisingly, they immediately began fighting with
each other.
• Era of independent Greek City-States over!
• Vibrant new culture emerged!

25. By conquering most of the know world, Alexander
spreads Greek culture and ideals everywhere.
• Forms a common language, Koine, a Greek dialect.
This is the lingua franca that everybody knows in
addition to their local language.
• The books of the new testament were written in
Koine.