Alexander the Great

 Alexander the Great

Main Idea:  Though a Macedonian, Alexander the Great was a lover of everything Greek and spread Greek culture throughout the known world.

• Peloponnesian Wars---weaken Greece and allow it to fall to Philip of Macedonia
• Philip of Macedonia---ATG's father, built a great army out of the tough mountain farmers of Macedonia and conquered Greece.
• Macedonia--a land north and east of Greece.  The Macedonians were of Greek blood but the Greeks looked down on them as uncivilized barbarians.
• Philip hires the great Greek philosopher and teacher Aristotle to teach his young son Alexander.  Aristotle teaches Alexander to love Greek culture.  Alexander especially loves the stories in the Iliad and the Odyssey.  His hero is Achilles, from the Trojan War.
• As a boy, Alexander tames a large black horse named Bucephalus, who will become his war horse for almost his entire life.
• Macedonian Army---Macedonian Phalanx (16 men wide by 16 deep with 18-foot lances).   Alsocavalry---soldiers on horseback.
• 338 BC---Philip conquers Greece
• 336 BC---Philip is murdered and Alexander becomes king at the age of 20.

Friday, November 1

• Alexander's Conquests

  Main Idea:  ATG conquered Egypt, Persia and parts of India, spreading Greek culture and combining it with the others to form Hellenistic culture.
  
  • 334 BC--ATG defeats Persian King Darius II and Issus. Darius offers ATG half his kingdom but A refuses.
  • 332 BC--ATG marches into Egypt and is crowned Pharoah, a god on earth.  He also plans his great city of Alexandria, which becomes the center of learning in the Hellenistic World.
  • He then conquers the rest of Persia and marches into India.
  • 327 BC---invades India but army wants to go home.  7 years and 15,000 miles.
  • On the way home, in 323 BC, ATG dies of a fever.
  • Legacy--Hellenistic culture--spreading Greek culture to every area he conquered.

The Hellenistic Age Begins

Main Idea:  Alexander the Great spread Greek culture and learning, combining it with Persian, Egyptian, and Indian, and his great city of Alexandria, Egypt, became the world's center of learning.

• Alexandria, Egypt
• trading center at mouth of the Nile River
• mixing of many cultures and ideas
• Lighthouse of Alexandria--400 feet tall, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
• Museum--dedicated to the gods of creativy, the muses, the world's first museum
• Library--500,000 scrolls, the largest collection of knowledge in the world
• Science
• Astronomy
• The sun is 300 times larger than the earth
• The earth and planets revolve around the sun
• mapped the heavens
• earth's circumfrence determined to within 200 miles
• Math and Physics
• Euclid--Geometry.  His text is used for 2,000 years
• Pie= 3.14
• Archimedes in addition to pie, the screw, the lever, and the pulley, also the catapult
• Sculpture
• Collossus of Rhodes--100 foot high sculpture, one of 7 wonders of the world
• Winged Victory of Samothrace
• Realism rather than idealism
• Video:  The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
• Study Guide:  Alexander the Great and Hellenism
• 1.        Map: Egypt, Macedonia, Asia Minor, Alexandria, Babylon, India, Mediterranean, Aegean, Crete
  2.       Relationship between Macedonia and the rest of Greece.
  3.       Importance of Aristotle in Alexander’s philosophy of life
  4.       How Macedonian army became powerful (as many as you can think of)
  5.       Name of Alexander’s mother and father. 
  6.       Why did Alex possibly believe he was a god?
  7.       How did Philip influence Alex’s beliefs?
  8.       What story of Bucephalus tells about Alex’s character.
  9.       Age Alex became king.  How he punished Greek city that rebelled. 
  10.   Name of rival in wars with Persia.  Famous battle in Asia Minor.
  11.   Why Egypt reinforced his belief he was a god.
  12.   Favorite book/role model.
  13.   Why did army convince Alex to go home?
  14.   When/how did he die?
  15.   What happened to his empire?
  16.   What city did he create in Egypt? Why put it where he did?
  17.   Importance of Alexandria to learning in the ancient world.
  18.   Facts about library.
  19.   Facts about museum.
  20.   Facts about lighthouse.
  21.   Four of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
  22.   Two developments in math.
  23.   Two developments in science.
  24.   What is Hellenism?
  25.   What cultures make up Hellenism?
  26.   How did Alex govern those conquered?
  27.   What is the importance of Alex being crowned pharoah?
  28.   Was Alex great?