Philip II of Macedon

- Ruled 359 BCE 336 BCE

- Pure opportunist driven by
the sense of more.
- 346 BCE Peace of
Philocrates signed with
Athens at Thessaly.
- 338 BCE Battle of
Chaeronea with Athens.
End of Greek
Independence.
- Assassinated in 336 BCE
 Alexander the Great
- 334 BCE Battle at the Granicus River
- 333 BCE Battle at Issus
- After Issus Alexander heads south
toward Egypt.
- Secures Tyre and Sidon in the Levant
- Visits Siwah in the western desert
- After this, Alexander leaves a garrison at
what will become Alexandria and
pursues Darius III further East.
 Alexander the Great
- 331 BCE Battle at Gaugamela, Darius
III himself is defeated
- Alexander now King of Asia. Babylon
and the royal capital Susa surrender
to him
- Greco-Macedonian Empire becomes
vastly more wealthy
- Darius himself flees north and east.
His flight is depicted in a mosaic from
Pompeii.
- Alexanders troops mutiny at Indus
River
- No more lands left to conquer?
- Forced march back to Babylon
- Alexander dies of fever in 323 BCE
- Is Alexander a megalomaniac?
- Was Alexander a good ruler?
- What of Alexanders divinity?
 Alexanders Divinity
- Campaign against Persia presented as
a New Trojan War
- Alexander a hero?
And since he thought and called the Iliad a
viaticum [portable copy] of the military art, he
took with him Aristotle's recension [corrected
version] of the poem, called the Iliad of the
Casket, and always kept it lying with his
dagger under his pillow, as Onesicritus informs
us (Plutarch, Alexander VIII.)
 Alexanders Issue
- Difficult to say how Alexander was or
would have been as a leader
- 333 BCE Alexander had to decide
how to act towards the Greeks and
the Persians
- King of the Macedonians and Lord of
Asia
- Justice for Darius?
- Two cultures that view power and
authority very differently
- 324 BCE Banquet of Opis
- A fusion of two cultures?
- A program of eugenics?
- Alexanders plans die with him
- Unfortunately Alexander dies young
- Never had any one man marked such
a division between time periods
- Legends abound after his death,
including the Alexander Romance
 Alexandria
- Alexander had established 70 cities
- Many, including Alexandria started as
garrisons
- What should we think about
Alexandrias location?
 Library and Museum
- At the center of Alexandria was the
Museum and its Library
- Founded by Ptolemy I Soter
- Modeled on an Athenian institution
- Connection to Athens or attempt to
appeal to the Egyptians?
- Institution revolves around the
Library
 Ptolemaic Egypt
- A generation of war follows
Alexanders death
- Ptolemy had been a friend and
bodyguard (somatophylax) of
Alexander
- Egypt prior to the Ptolemies
- Alexandria ad Aegyptum
- Fusion of cultures or exploitation?
- How to minimize outside influence?
- Merchants deal directly with kings
agents
- International trade vs. internal trade
- Ptolemies had monopolies on staples
produced in Egypt
- Extreme bureaucracy and
micromanagement
- Treatment of peasants (laoi) and of
Temple priests
- Why incestuous marriages?
- Religious institution of Serapis