Alexander ’ s Empire

1. Alexander’s Empire

2. Philip Builds Macedonian Power • Macedonia • Macedonia—Kingdom of mountain villages north of Greece • King Philip II—ruler, brilliant general; dreams of controlling Greece • Macedonians call themselves Greek; rest of Greece does not consider them Greeks • Philip’s Army • Philip creates well-trained professional army; plans to invade Greece

3. Philip Builds Macedonian Power • Conquest of Greece • Some Greek cities invited Philip to invade • Athens asked Sparta for help against invasion, but Sparta declined • Finally Athens and Thebes join forces • At the Battle of Chaeronea one thousand Athenians were killed. • 338 B.C. Macedonians defeat Greece

4. Murder of Philip • Philip married again, for a fifth time, a Macedonian woman. • His son Alexander was legitimate, but half Greek. • This marriage gave Attalus, one of Philip’s generals, occasion to call into question the legitimacy of a half-Greek prince inheriting the Macedonian throne.

5. Murder of Philip (cont.) • Greek historian Diodorus tells us that Philip was killed by his ex-lover Pausonius (who was one of his guards) because Philip rejected him. • Some suspect, however, that Alexander was behind the murder. • The 2004 film Alexander directed by Oliver Stone puts the lays the blame at the feet of Olympias, Alexander’s mother so that her own son would become king and there would be no full-blood Macedonian heir. The film depicts Alexander was an innocent bystander. • This occurs in 336 B.C. • His son named king of Macedonia and becomes Alexander the Great

6. Alexander Defeats Persia • Alexander’s Early Life • Tutored by Aristotle • Inspired by the Iliad • Military training • Becomes king when 20 years old • Destroys Thebes and kills around 6,000 Thebans, this ends the idea of any other city-state rebelling

7. Alexander Defeats Persia • Invasion of Persia • 334 B.C. Alexander invades Persia with a quick victory at Granicus River. • Darius III, King of Persia, assembles an army of 50,000-75,000 men. • Alexander defeats Persians again, forces King of Persia to flee.

8. Alexander Defeats Persia • Conquering the Persian Empire • Alexander marches into Egypt, which was a Persian territory, viewed as a liberator, and is crowned Pharaoh in 332 B.C. • At Gaugamela in Mesopotamia, Alexander defeats the Persians again. • Alexander captures cities of Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis • Persepolis, the Persian capitol is burned to the ground (revenge for Athens?) • Ashes of Persepolis signal total destruction of the Persian Empire

9. Alexander’s Other Conquests • Alexander in India • Alexander fights his way across the deserts of Central Asia to India • Alexander conquers Indus Valley area in 326 B.C. • Soldiers tired, had been fighting for 11 years • Reluctantly returns to Babylon • He becomes ill with a fever and dies in 323 B.C.

11. Alexander’s Legacy • Alexander melds Greek and Persian cultures. • He takes a Persian wife. • Empire becomes three kingdoms ruled by his top three generals • Macedonia, Greek city-states • Egypt • Old Persia, also known as the Seleucid kingdom • New governors rule with complete power, going against traditional Greek city-state traditions