Do Now

▪What were the causes of the Peloponnesian War?▪Who had the advantage on land?▪Who had the advantage by sea?▪Who won the war?▪What were the consequences of the war?

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Era

6th Grade World History

Macedonia Makes a Move

▪ After the Persian War and Peloponnesian War, Greece was very week and distracted.

▪ Phillip II, King of Macedonia took the opportunity to take over Greece (except Sparta) and then attack Persia.– Great General, expert at using the

phalanx.– Became king at only 23

Getting to Greece

▪ 338 BC: Phillip and the Macedonians defeat the Greek City States and Unify Greece.

▪ Governments remained independent, ruling themselves.

Arise Alexander▪ Became King of Macedonia at age 20

▪ Wanted to be a warrior

▪ Student of Aristotle who taught him about Greek culture.

▪ Determined to outdo his father and spread Greek culture.– Believed he descended from Hercules and

Achilles.

– Do you think that following in the footsteps of one's parents was more common in Alexander's day than it is now? Why?

Alexander’s Three Point Plan

▪ Alexander wanted to rule the world, ▪ How he rose to power:

1. Spread Greek culture and ideas, basically make everyone “Greek”.

2. Make himself a god to inspire loyalty.

3. Respect people he conquered and adopt their cultures in addition to Greece.

Born to Be a Leader

▪ Excellent military leader and very respected.

▪ Led from the front of his men.– Ate and drank with his men.– First one to climb walls into a

city.– Soldiers would follow him

happily into battle.

Alexander’s Conquests▪ By conquering the Persians, Alexander

could the unite Greeks against a common enemy. By 334 he freed all Greek city states from Persia.

▪ 332: Invaded Ancient Egypt, a Persian territory.– Was welcomed as a liberator.– Crowned as a pharaoh/god– Founded the city of Alexandria and a huge

library on the Nile.

▪ 330 B.C.E: Conquered the Persian Empire.

Alexander the Great’s EmpireMap of Alexander the Great's Empire

The Library at Alexandria

Facts about the library

▪ Became a center of advanced Greek learning.

▪ Dedicated to the Greek Muses of Inspiration.

▪ Contained a Zoo, botanical gardens, and a restaurant.

▪ Included over 500,000 papyrus scrolls.

Spreading Civilization By the Sword

▪ As Alexander’s empire spread, so did the Greek culture.

▪ Alexander passed the ideas and philosophies of Aristotle on to the world.

▪ Encouraged his soldiers to marry foreign girls so that the Greek culture would spread.

LETS REVIEW

▪ What country was Alexander the Great king of?

▪ What empire did Alexander the Great conquer?

▪ Where was the Library of Alexandria located at?

Cornell Notes

▪Hellenistic

The Hellenistic Heyday▪ FIRST CAUSE: Alexander’s conquests led to the

combination of many cultures.▪ This time period of combined cultural advances under

Alexander was called the Hellenistic Era. Wherever Alexander’s armies went, they took Greek culture with them!– Hellas in Greek means land. So all of this was considered

“Greek land”

▪ SECOND CAUSE: Greek + Egyptian + Indian + Persian = Hellenistic Culture– Practices of other cultures were adopted by Greeks,

like monotheistic religions [cultural diffusion].

Building Greek Cities in the East

Hellenistic Era Continued▪ Cleopatra- product of Hellenistic Era

▪ Greek Queen who ruled in Egypt

▪ Married Roman leaders

▪ Last pharaoh of Egypt

Hellenistic Advances▪ EFFECT: Spread Greek ideas such as

democracy and geometry out into the world.

▪ EFFECT: Cities conquered were redesigned in Greek style.

▪ EFFECT: Greek art, literacy, and philosophy move to Egypt.

The End of Alexander

▪ 324: After reaching India, Alexander’s soldiers were too tired and refused to go on.

▪ Age 33, Alexander died of swamp fever and alcoholism.

▪ After his death, Alexander’s generals divided his empire into three pieces: Egypt, Greece, and Asia.– He was buried in Alexandria, but his body

was lost after being burned.

Exit ticket▪ Tell me one cause of the Hellenistic era▪ Tell me one effect of the Hellenistic era▪ Tell me our equation for Hellenistic Culture