Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age

Bucephalus

Alexander’s horse that he trained to look towards the sun so it wouldn’t see its shadow

disappeared

what happened to the Delian League

Macedonia

large region ruled by a single king (King Philip II)

Phillip II

382-336 BC: succeeded in conquering all of Greece

conquest of greece

348-338 bc: greeks were too weak to defend themselves

battle of chaeronea

338 BC: battle that sealed Philip’s victory—time of independent Greek polises was over

Alexander III the Great

336-323 BC: continued in Philip’s plans

justification for war

weak: righteous revenge for Persia’s invasion of Greece

Conquest of Persian Empire

334-331 B.C.—always outnumbered by the Persians—won with strategy and logistics

Emperor Darius III

336-330 BC: always outnumbered Alexander; present for last two battles

Battle of Gaugamela

331 B.C.: Alex collected titles

the Gordian knot

cart tied to post with intricate knot—whoever untied=king of Asia

cut

how did Alexander get the Gordian knot untied

Stateira

d. 323 BC: Alex’s wife; Darius III’s daughter

mixed race

Alex’s goal for marrying into royal Persian blood

Hellenistic Age

323-330 BC: times of cultural exchange—Greeks interested in Persians; HUB for scholarship, vibrant art, philosophy

Alexandria, Egypt

center for art and scholarship

The Museum

house of the muses

muses

Goddesses of Creativity

Hellenistic sculpture

anatomical naturalism and human emotions

Zeno of Citium

d. 262 BC: scholar, philosopher, founder of stoicism

stoicism

dominant philosophies of Hellenic Age

natural law

set of moral laws embedded in nature itself

natural reason

allows one to overcome negative emotions

natural equality

on the level of the soul all humans are equal

natural equality

most important element of stoicism

stoicism and alexander’s universal vision

parallel