Transcript Ancient Greece

Warm up
• What impact did the Peloponnesian War have
on the rise and fall of Athens and Sparta?
Ancient Greece
Alexander the Great and
Hellenism
Key Terms
• Hellenism
• Alexandria
Alexander the Great
• Became king of
Macedonia at age 20
• Prepared to lead
• Tutored by Aristotle
• Knowledge of science,
geography, and
literature
• Kept copy of The Iliad
under his pillow for
inspiration
Alexander’s Goals
• Fulfill his father’s wishes
• First goal was to invade
Persia
• Led 35,000 soldiers into
Persia to defeat the
Persians at Granicus
• Darius III, king of Persia,
was shocked and raised
army of about 75,000
Defeat of Persians
• Alexander defeated
Persians again at Issus
• Alexander now had
control of Anatolia
• Darius offered Alexander
a peace settlement that
would give 1/3 of Persian
empire to Alexander
• Alexander turned it down,
knowing he would be able
to get more
Alexandria
• Alexander moved into
Persian controlled Egypt
• Welcomed by Egyptians
as a liberator
• Did not have to fight
• Crowned pharaoh
• Created city of
Alexandria on the Nile
River, to be cultural
center.
Alexander to Mesopotamia
• After taking Egypt,
Alexander moved into
Mesopotamia
• Fought Darius and his
army of 250,000 at
Gaugamela and won
• Now controlled many
wealthy areas of Persia,
including Babylon
• Burned city of Persepolis
as revenge for burning of
Athens
Death of Darius III
• Alexander the Great
followed Darius to the
Caspian see
• When he found Darius,
he had already been
murdered
• Alexander ordered the
murders to be caught
and killed
Alexander in India
• After taking most of
Mesopotamia, he made
his way into the Indus
Valley
• His troops won battle at
Hydaspes River, but
wanted to return home
and did not want to fight
anymore
• Had fought for 11 years
and traveled 11,000 miles
Death of Alexander
• Took his men back to
Babylon
• Kept trying to unite his
huge empire
• Died of malaria in
Babylon at age of 32
Hellenistic Culture
• Blending of Greek
culture with Egyptian,
Persian, and Indian
cultures
• Spoke same language of
koine
• Center of Hellenistic
world was Alexandria
Egypt
Hellenistic Achievements
Astronomy
• Aristrachus believed sun
was 300x larger than earth
and Earth and other planets
revolved around the sun
(refused to support this
theory)
• Ptolemy believed Earth was
center of solar system
(excepted theory for 14
centuries)
• Eratosthenes calculated size
of Earth at 24,662 miles
• Actual size is 24,860 miles
Mathematics
• Euclid wrote book
“The Elements”
which studies
Geometry
• Still use this as basis
for geometry courses
Mathematics and Physics
• Archimedes created the
value of pi to find
circumference of a
circle
• Also invented the lever
and pulley system and
catapult
Reflection
• What impact did Alexander the Great and the
Hellenistic culture have on modern society
today?