Alexander the Great (2021)

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

AGE 2. The Time of Greeks and Romans

4.5 Alexander the Great 

Alexander the Great

Alexander III, king of Macedonia, is known as Alexander the Great. In his short life he conquered almost all parts of the world that were known to his people.

Describe briefly what the mosaic depicts.
Use the wikipedia page for information.
Look for "Alexander mosaic".

Pompeii was destroyed by a volcanic eruption more than 400 years after Alexander died.
The Alexander mosaic was found in the ruins of a Pompeii villa,
owned by a rich Roman.
What does the mosaic tell you about Alexander's reputation?

Alexander was born in 356 BC in Pella, the capital of Macedonia, a kingdom to the north of the Greek states. The Greek philosopher Aristotle gave him lessons. But Alexander’s chief interest was war. 

In 338 BC Alexander’s father, Philip II, brought all the Greek city-states except Sparta under his rule. Young Alexander commanded one section of the Macedonian army.

In 336 BC Philip II was killed and Alexander became king when he was only 19 years old. He soon won the loyalty of nearly all the Greek city-states. In 334 BC he brought together a large army and invaded the Persian Empire. He freed the Ionians from Persian rule and made them his allies.

Deze video is niet meer beschikbaar

Welke video was dit?

Alexander tamed a wild horse named Bucephalus when he was a kid. It was his main horse until it died of old age. Alexander named a city in India after his horse.

You can watch the scene from the 2004 movie Alexander how he tamed Bucephalus.

Movie poster of the film Alexander from 2004.

Deze video is niet meer beschikbaar

Welke video was dit?

An important factor in Alexander's success against the much larger Persian army was the use of the battle formation known as the phalanx.  You can see the phalanx in action in the movie clip from the film Alexander

Alexander conquers the Persian Empire

Here is the order of his conquests:

• First he moved through Asia Minor and what is today Turkey. 
• He took over Syria defeating the Persian Army at Issus and then laying siege to Tyre.
• Next, he conquered Egypt. Near the Nile River he founded the city of Alexandria.
• After Egypt came Babylonia and Persia, including the city of Susa.
• Then he moved through Persia and began to prepare for a campaign in India.

Alexander leads his army into the battle at the Granicus river. Modern illustration

At this point Alexander had accumulated one of the largest empires in history. He became "king of Asia". However, his soldiers were ready to revolt. They wanted to return home to see their wives and children. Alexander agreed and his army turned back.

Death of Alexander

Alexander only made it back to Babylon where he became suddenly sick and died. No one is sure what he died from, but many suspect poison. 

Alexander had no children to inherit his kingdom. So when he died his empire was divided up amongst his generals. These generals ended up fighting each other for many years as the empire fell apart.

Why did Alexander's empire decline after his death?

Cutting the knot (de knoop doorhakken)

Sometimes we use phrases that are very familiar to us and everybody knows what they mean. But actually, they make no sense whatsoever.

Have you ever really cut a knot when you made a decision? Because that is what it means.

Many of these phrases come from stories or events from history. Cutting the knot comes from a story about Alexander the Great.

Check it out here

Alexander cutting the Gordian knot

How did Alexander untie the Gordian knot?

The Hellenistic Period and the end of Greece.

As Alexander conquered Persia he built colonies and cities modelled after Greek cities. He left behind Greeks to rule these cities. Many Persians adopted the Greek way of living. They learned the Greek language, worshipped Greek gods and read Greek literature. In addition, Alexander also adopted Persian things. For instance, he began to wear Persian clothing and he brought Persian soldiers into his army.

Alexander hoped by mixing these two cultures that the Persians would not see Greek rule as alien. Thus they would not rebel against the Greeks.

Eventually, the Greek influence became so widespread that the period from Alexander’s rule to 146 BC became known as the Hellenistic Period. Hellenistic means “Greek-like”. The art and culture of the Hellenistic Period was a mixture of Greek and Eastern art and culture.

In 146 BC this period ended. A new power had emerged in Italy; Rome. The Romans conquered Greece in 146 BC.

Persian warriors, as seen on a part of the wall of Babylon, from before the 4th century BC.

Hellenistic is a mixture of

1. Greek and Persian culture
2. Macedonian and Greek culture
3. Greek and Hellas culture
4. Spartan and Athenian culture

Look at the dvd disc.
What is the head figure on Alexander's chest?
Did the film director make this up or did he use a source?
Explain your answer. (hint: the answer is in one of the
pictures in this lesson)

This lesson was....

😒🙁😐🙂😃

If you would mark your attention during this lesson, you would give yourself (mark)

010

What parts of the lesson you find most interesting? click on one item

videos

explanation

quiz questions

asking Bart questions

fun facts

You are finished with this lesson.

If you want to see more about the Persian Wars, you can watch this video....

congratulations