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Unit 4: Picking Up and Moving Forward

Review of Previous Material: Alexander the Great and the King's Peace

• King's Peace:

  • Agreement between Sparta and Persia.

  • Sparta essentially "selling out" the Greeks by handing over Ionia to Persia.

  • In exchange, the Greeks are left to fight among themselves.

  • Context for the rise of Macedon.

The Rise of Macedon

• Macedon (Macedonia) is initially a minor state.

• Greeks view Macedonians as semi-barbarians.

• Philip II:

  • Father of Alexander the Great.

  • Youngest of three sons, not originally meant to be king.

  • Sent to Thebes as a hostage at age 14, learning Greek battle tactics.

  • Gains command of troops, later becomes regent and then king after his brother's death.

  • Expands kingdom using superior battle tactics and military technology.

  • Creates peace with Greeks to the south to focus on army development.

Military Innovations of Philip II

• Upgraded Hoplite Phalanx:

  • Lined up shoulder to shoulder.

  • Equipped with pikes almost 50% longer than Greek spears.

  • Advantage: Ability to kill enemies before they get close.

• Companions:

  • Elite cavalry.

  • Macedonians excelled in training cavalry.

Expansion and Consolidation Under Philip II

• Consolidates rule by routing Illyrians and securing borders.

• Marries Olympias to secure the western front.

• Systematically takes Northern and Central Greece through conquest or alliance.

• Gains silver and gold mines to fund a larger army.

• Elected leader of the Confederation of Thessaloniki.

• Takes areas by:

  • Convincing or buying off politicians.

  • Providing money and mercenaries to intervene in local disturbances.

• Capitalizes on divisions within the Greek world (King's Peace, Peloponnesian War).

Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)

• Thebes and Athens allied against Philip II.

• Philip II used controlled retreat to dislocate advancing forces.

• Macedonian cavalry routed the Greeks.

• Turning Point: Marks the completion of Macedonian dominance over Greece.

• End of independent city-states: Greek poleis lose self-sovereignty.

War Against Persia and Assassination of Philip II

• Philip II plans war against Persia to liberate Ionia and avenge Xerxes' invasion.

• Assassinated before campaign; war falls to Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great

• Alexander the Great:

  • Only 20 years old when his father died.

  • Conquered Persia in a few years.

  • Well-trained by his father and tutored by Aristotle.

• Invasion:

  • Begins in Anatolia (modern Turkey) to liberate Ionia.

  • Moves through Israel, Egypt, and into the heart of the Persian Empire.

Military Tactics and Rule Under Alexander

• Persian army mainly mercenaries and poorly paid conscripts.

• Alexander's army better trained with superior tactics.

• Chooses favorable terrain to negate Persian chariot advantage.

• Methods: Acceptance or brutal conquest.

• Brutality: Tyre and Gaza refused to surrender; men executed, women and children enslaved; commander of Gaza dragged behind chariot.

• Egypt: Surrendered without a fight; Alexander crowned pharaoh.

Conquest and Death of Alexander

• Victory at Gaugamela in Mesopotamia, moves to Persepolis.

• Burns Xerxes' royal buildings as a symbolic act.

• Darius III killed by a local chief; Alexander executes the chief for overstepping bounds.

• Continues East:

  • Releases Greek soldiers from allied city-states.

  • Invades Bactria (modern Afghanistan).

  • Crosses the Indus River (modern Pakistan).

  • Troops threaten mutiny, turns back.

• Death in 323 BC at age 32 in Babylonia.

• Cause of death: Theories range from excessive drinking to autoimmune disorder.

Historical Evaluation of Alexander

• Became legendary due to rapid conquests.

• Viewed by contemporaries as a tyrant and warmonger.

• Later Greeks and Romans admired him as a general and philosopher.

• Summary: Brilliant leader who sought personal glory through conquest and tolerated no opposition.

Successor States After Alexander's Death

• Question: How to hold together this massive kingdom.

• Doubt: Whether empire could have been held together even if Alexander had lived longer.

• Lack of solid administration.

• Historical significance: How he tried to rule.

Methods of Rule and Cultural Integration

• Converting to local institutions and cultures (e.g., becoming pharaoh in Egypt).

• Intermarriage:

  • Alexander marries Roxanne (daughter of a local chieftain in Bactria).

  • Marries daughter of Darius III and another Persian king's daughter.

  • Encourages officers to marry Persian noble women.

• Adapting to culture:

  • Alexander adopts Persian customs and dress.

  • Greek culture flows into these areas.

Fragmentation of the Empire

• Three main successor states:

  • Ptolemaic Egypt.

  • Seleucid Asia (Seleucid Persia).

  • Antigonid Empire (Greece).

Ptolemaic Egypt

• Won by Ptolemy I, a former general of Alexander.

• Dynasty lasts until 30 BCE.

• Rules from Alexandria, adopts title of pharaoh.

• Invests heavily in Alexandria, making it new Athens of the ancient world.

• Numerous cities founded and named after Alexander.

Seleucid Empire

• Taken by Seleucus.

• Half-Persian son takes over.

• Includes Persia and Mesopotamia.

• Less centralized than Ptolemaic Egypt.

Antigonid Empire

• Took hold in Greece.

• Controlled by Antigonus I.

• Weakest of the three kingdoms due to lack of wealth.

• Unstable, with frequent Greek uprisings.

• Conquered by the Romans by 215 BC.

The Hellenistic World

• Tied together by Greek rule.

• Greek Diaspora:

  • Greek colonists spread throughout the world.

  • Estimates: Population of Greece reduced by 50% between 325 and 150 BC.

  • People seeking opportunities.

  • New urban spaces offer opportunities.

  • Increased trade.

• Rulers seek people with Greek knowledge and language.

Attributes of the Hellenistic World

• Greek philosophy.

• Urban life.

• Greek diaspora.

• Greek science and knowledge.

Greek Philosophy: Socrates

• Socrates:

  • Not a professional teacher, but a mentor.

  • May have been a trained stone mason.

  • Fought in the Athenian army.

  • Lived in poverty, rejected material possessions.

  • Known for his ability to outdrink anyone.

• Never wrote anything down; ideas spread by students.

• Socratic Method:

  • Never directly answers questions.

  • Asks questions to guide people to new ways of thinking.

  • Examines assumptions.

  • Upset many opinions, made people feel ignorant.

  • Not well-liked by authorities, ultimately executed.

Greek Philosophy: Plato

• Plato:

  • Formalized Greek philosophy.

  • Follower of Socrates.

  • Establishes the Academy.

  • Wrote dialogues and other works.

  • Allegory of the Cave

    • The allegory is a metaphor to get somebody to actually think about how people might react to things that are reality, but their perceived reality is much different.

    • All you know are shadows, and that's your reality.

• Republic:

  • Rejects democracy.

  • Believed people could not rise above self-interest.

  • Proposes a utopian vision with three classes:

    • Producers (working class).

    • Auxiliaries (military, police).

    • Guardians (elite rulers).

  • No private property or nuclear families for guardians.

  • Children raised by caretakers.

  • Philosopher kings rule from the best of this class.

Greek Philosophy: Aristotle

• Aristotle:

  • Plato's student.

  • Also thought democracy was bad.

  • Founded the Lyceum.

  • Dealt more with science and observation.

  • Collected information on over 500 types of animals.

• Viewed females as inferior based on his studies.

Aristotle and his Political Views

• People who participate in the government are citizens.

• What is the state?

• Who's part of the state?

• * It is somebody who has citizenship rights who participates in the process. *

• Government should provide:

  • Food, parts, military, economy, and and overall government. *

• It is important to educate all citizens

  • Reading and writing, gymnastic exercises, music, and drawing.

• Eugenics: Talking about reshaping the population.

• Women should marry when they're about 18 years of age and men at seven and 30. *

  • Reason why he would say something like that:

  • The females would be fertile.

  • Males would have time to develop intellect and mind set.

• Did view slavery as natural. The belief that some are born into the position.

Hellenistic World: Urban Life

• Greeks founded new cities or reshaped old ones.

• Alexander founded 70 cities as imperial outposts.

• Urbanization as a key element.

• Theaters, libraries, and temples proliferate.

• Market centers for trade.

Urban spaces

• Do not have an Independent city states, and still have a type of representation.

• Almost think about this like a municipal government.

• Laws themselves are going to differ depending on who you are.

• Greeks often have one set of laws, whereas native or non-Greek foreigners have another set of laws.

• A lot of people work very hard in these urban spaces to assimilate into Greek culture.

Emigration encouraged

• Greeks immigrants

  • political, military, diplomatic posts are reserve to Greek decent people.

• Greeks can profit and its a steady life.

• Monarchs also tried to employ Greek soldiers

  • Alexander proven Greek tactics were the best.

  • They don't fully trust the native populaces.

    • like you are Ptolemy the first, for instance, in Egypt, you probably don't completely trust the native born Egyptian people that are there.

• Greeks encouraged because of other reasons.

  • Oportunites in contruction trade.

  • Arhcetits. craftsmens find jobs in new cities.

• encourageing immigration is Poine Greek means common .

  • Because it means that if you were born in Greece, then you can easily move to a place like Alexandria, Egypt, or you can move to a place in Mesopotamia because you the language. You have a common language throughout this Hellenistic world that encourages people to leave.

• Limitations within Hellenistic World

  • Confinded to the urban space. rural communities stay as they did.
    # Alexandria : Egypt

• Founded by Alexander the great.

• new capital for egyption lands because its a sea naval base.

• settlement dates to BCE. good place to have harbon for positive connection to the coast of the Delta.

  • New city profited from the sack of Tyre Tyre.

• Because Tyre was leveled. This opens up possibilities because who will a sea fearing power become.

• became a center grok scholarship and Greek siences.

• Most of these people are associaed with musium of alexadria

Greek Science and Medicine

• Library of Alexandria:
  *Collection of documents in one place.

Key Thinkers from Alexandria and the Hellenistic World

• Aristarchus:

  • known for heliocentrism.

• Euclid

  • Known for Geometry
    he wrote a very famous text, the elements of geometry.

• Heratosthenes is known for geography

• Herophilus:

  • Known for human dissection. Egypt's a little bit different. They've already had this long history of things like mummification. You know? So, basically, cutting people open and taking their organs out in order to prepare the body. And so it's not as frowned upon in Alexandria where he's operating.

Two Philosophical Ideas

• Stoicism:

  • Live in accordance with nature, accept whatever happens.

  • Participate in life but accept inability to change things fundamentally.

  • Values: Discipline, duty, virtuous life.

• Epicureanism:

  • Live a life of contentment, free from fear and suffering.

  • Emphasis on moderation, satisfaction in simple things.

  • Indifference to the state; ignore politics.

  • Value self-happiness.

Ancient Rome

• Similar story to the Greeks.

• Romans succeeded as a political entity in addition to a cultural one.

• The Carthaginians in Roman history played a similar role as the Persians did to the Greeks.

• As Rome expands, some of their individual rights are lost.

• Major shifts in Roman history: from kingdom to republic to empire.

  • **Three Different Periods of Roman History: The Monarchy ,The republic ,The Empire.
    **

• Now we will be talking about Europe as a whole, especially Western Europe now being incorporated into Western society.