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Two years after conquering Greece, King Philip is murdered by a bodyguard. His son Alexander becomes the new king of Macedonia and Greece at 20 years old.
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Alexander shares his father’s dream of conquering Persia. Alexander crosses the Hellespont into Anatolia. His goal was to defeat King Darius III (King of Persian Empire) and conquer the Persian Empire. Darius didn’t think he was much of an enemy and sent other generals to fight with him. Alexander the Great quickly won the battle of the Granicus.
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Alexander fights Darius at Issus. Darius had a larger army, but Alexander the Great used his phalanx formation to win the battle. Darius fled and Alexander couldn’t catch him, but he captured Darius’s wife and children.
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Battle of Gaugamela
Between Persians and Macedonians.
Again Darius saw that he couldn’t win and fled.
Darius died
Alexander the Great won the battle and became King of Persia. -
Alexander the Great conquered Egypt.
He founded the city of Alexandria and was proclaimed the son of the god Zeus-Ammon. Alexander did not try to impose his ideas of religion or culture on the people of Egypt and after designing the city of Alexandria he left to continue his conquests. -
When they reached India, his soldiers wanted to return home. On his way back to Greece, Alexander became ill and died in Babylon
(Iraq). He may have
died of sickness or
he may have been
poisoned. Alexander died at
the age of 32. -
fter he died, Alexander’s empire was split between 3 of his generals:
Antigonus -Macedonia and Greece.
Ptolemy - Egypt.
Selucus - the land that was the Persian empire -
After his death, Alexander’s empire didn’t last long, but it had important effects:
The people of all the different lands that Alexander had conquered (Egypt, Persia, India) blended Greek culture with their own creating a new culture: The Hellenistic Culture.
This starts a new era of Greek influence known as the Hellenistic Era.
