Power Point Notes on Alexander the Great

Notes on Alexander the Great

Parenthood

·        King Phillip II

Ø Alexander’s father

Ø Born in Pella Macedonia

Ø While held hostage learned military background

Ø King of Macedonia from 359 BC-336 BC

·        Olympias

Ø Most political impact was when she ordered Eurydice to kill Phillip III to ensure that Alexander would become king

Ø Originally the princess

Ø Had an arranged marriage

Ø Name was Myrtle then was named Olympias after King Phillip’s horse won at the Olympic Games

Ø Claimed that Alexander was the son of Zeus

Early Years

·        Born in Pella of Macedonia on September 20, 350BC

·        Resented his father because of his absence

·        Mother was a powerful role model

·        Buchephalus

Ø 344BC dealer from Thessalia offered a black horse to King Phillip

Ø Animal seemed unable to tame

Ø Phillip wasn’t interested

Ø Alexander wanted to tame it

Ø Noticed that the horse was afraid of his shadow

Ø Phillip was proud

Ø Alexander has this horse for the rest of its life until it died in battle

·        Education

Ø Tutored by Leonidas

Ø Leonidas- taught math, horsemanship, and archery

Ø Rebellious student and had relentless attention

Ø  Also tutored by Lysimachus-used roll play to teach Alexander

Ø 346BC tutored by Aristotle at the Temple

Phillip’s Death: Alexander Rises to Power

·        Phillip’s Assassination

Ø 336BC was killed in Aegea

Ø Assassinated by one of his body guards who was paid off by the Persians

·        Family Relations

Ø Tension in the family

Ø Phillip was married to Cleopatra

Ø At wedding, the uncle told Phillip that Alexander was not fit to be kin

Ø Alexander found out was very angry

·        Alexander Gets Power

Ø Nobody respected him in power

Ø 20 years old when took the role of king

Ø Some plotted to overthrow him and he found out so he executed them to show that people couldn’t mess with him

Military Career

Ø Fought with the Persians

Ø Alexander battled the Persians because they were involved in his father’s death

Ø Battle of Grancius (victory)

Ø Siege of Halicarnassus 334BC

·        Conquering Egypt

Ø Strong hold at Gaza

Ø Lots of trade

Ø Batis refused to give

Ø Fourth assault they took over

Ø Alexander got a shoulder wound

Ø Men were killed, women and children were sold into slavery

Ø Batis was killed by Achilles treatment

·        Invasion of India

Ø Alexander marched into India in 327BC

Ø Invaded Punjab

Ø 326BC forces met the Indians at Porus

Ø India fought with Elephants

Ø Alexander’s horse died in this battle

Ø Named a city after his horse

Ø Won the battle and captured Porus

·        Revolt of the Army

Ø After hearing of a strong army the Macedonians revolted

Ø News came that the Indians had elephants

Ø They wanted to see their family and homeland

Ø General Coenus talked to Alexander who eventually let them go home

Ø Traveled south down the Hydaspes and Indus Rivers

Ø Fought with the Malli Indian Tribe- most warlike

Ø Alexander was seriously injured in this battle

Ø By the time they got home thousands had died from heat  and exhaustion

Ø Started with 34,000 people

Death

·        Either June 10, 323BC or June 11, 323BC (32 years-old)

·        Theory was that he drank poisonous wine

·        Died in the palace Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon

·        Government

Ø Conquered many lands

Ø Hos empire was the largest state in its time

Ø After his death it remained under Macedonian Rule for 200-300 years

Ø Hellenization purpose- to spread Greek language, culture, and population into the Persian Empire

Ø Hellenistic was Athenian

Last Assignment of the Quarter

Today in class we were assigned a new assignment. In groups of either two or three we are to create a powerpoint. It is based on Alexander the Great. In my group is Mikenzhie and Hayden. We are doing a powerpoint covering facts on his parents and where they came from. We have to have this finished by Friday because we don't have class tomorrow. This is the last grade that's going on 3rd quarter.

Today in class, sadly we didn't get our tests back but that's okay because I know there are a lot of people who haven't taken it. I know i got a 100 on it though which is good! I thought I did good on the test but I didn't think I did that well. Well today in class we talked about Alexander the Great and how great he was. We also read the introduction for the next chapter.

Peloponnesian War

Hellenistic- the leading international culture but their way of life was influenced by the peoples they ruled

In 359 BC, a new leader rose to power and took over Macedonia. This man was King Phillip 2. King Philip immediately wanted to take control of Greece because this would merge Greece and Macedonia into one united threat against Persia. Athens lost the Peloponnesian War in 431BC-404BC, during the time of Pericles reign, because Sparta decided to drop out of all the fighting after the second Persian War. Athens then turned to the Aegean coast for help. The Aegean coast was able to provide money for Athens to have triremes.  Triremes were the best and most advanced weapon.  Their alliance then broke when Anatolia got their independence from Persia and Athens still demanded that they pay money. This did not make them very happy and they decided to turn to Sparta to be an ally in their attack against Athens. Athens had a very strong navy. This meant that they were able to protect all their sea routes providing them with access to grain and attack Sparta and company. However, Athens held out as long as they could but eventually were defeated and forced to give up their possessions, defenses, and become allies with Sparta.

Extras For Test

Important Dates:

1600-1200 BC- Mycenaean Civilization 

1150-750 BC-Dark Ages

776 BC- origin of the Olympics

750-700 BC-approximate time Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey

508 BC- Isagorous (tyrant) was in charge and they stood up against him

490- 471 BC- the battle marathon in the first invasion of Greece; King Darius attacks Athens

480 BC-the Straits of Salamis (trapped Persia in the sea)

461-429 BC- the age of Pericles 

447- 438 BC- the time it took them to build the Parthenon

431-404BC- Peloponesian War

336 BC- the Lyceum was the school that Plato founded of his own 

I missed some notes while I was absent so I got these from Grace:

• reading/writing was rare
• life expectancy was 15 years
• 3/4 of Athens was mountains= lots of water travel
• impossible for a single ruler to rule all of Greece- formed many city states
• Spartan men were raised to be part of the military
• Red cloaks were used to blend in blood
• Olives were good resources- olive oil was good for trade
• Eastern Mediterrean was the best place for trading
• pottery people were at the bottom of society
• 776 BC: first olympics
• Olympics: anyone could compete for greatness
• Ostracize: being banned from Athens
• White pebble meant yes, black meant no
• Gathered at the agora every nine days to vote on things
• Greeks: freedom; Persia: obidence
• Triemes were the best/most advanced weapon

• Pisitratus needed allies to remain in power over Athens for generations- went to the common people for help
• Pisitratus reduced taxes and introduced loan
• Pisitratus increased prosperity
• 527 BC: Pisistratus died- Hippyass took over (son)

• Hippyass was a tyrant who became paranoid after his brother was murdered
• Hippyass was overthrown and banished from Athens

• 570 BC: Cleisthehes was born, aristocrat
• Cleisthehes was inspired by ancient stories & myths
• 510BC: Cleithehes took over power
• Cleithehes took over power again after Isagoris surrendors- allowed the people to control the government
• Cleithehes had an agora built so there could be a place where people could vote

• Themistocles didn't have a typical aristocrat childhood. 
• Themistocles learned leadership by going to the voting meetings
• Themistocles was one of the greatest Athenian leaders 
• Themistocles warned Athens that Persia might be coming back again, stronger than before 

• 6th century BC: aristocrats controlled Athens
• 508 BC: Athens had a revolution after Isagoris took power. Isagoris surrendered. FIRST TIME IN RECORDED HISTORY THERE WAS A REVOLT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. Athens turned to Cleithehes for help.
• 490 BC: Phildephies ran to warn Athens the Persians were coming. He then ran to Sparta to ask for them to help defeat Persia- Sparta declined. He ran 140 miles in two days

• Persian Empire had the strongest army
• Draius (tyrant) was the king to the Persians aka "The Great King"
• People had to cover there mouth when they came in Draius presence

• SPARTA vs. ATHENS 
• ISAGORIS vs. CLEISTHEHES (for power of Athens): Isagoris got help from Sparta to defeat Cleisthehes. Cleisthehes left Athens & Isagoris took over
• PERSIA vs. ATHENS: Athens was outnumbered 2-1. Heploits were the trained Athenian army. Many ordinary people from Athens helped to come fight. ATHENS WON because Athens had more will to fight because they were fighting for their country while the Persian Army (20,000 people) was fighting because they were told too. 

Movie on Greeks Part 6

   Today in Mr. Schick’s West Civ class, we continued to watch the movie on the Greeks. Today we learned that Themistocles was the savior of the city of Athens and he recognized that the Persian Empire may try again to attack them and they may not be so lucky this time. In the straits of Salamas, Athens was able to trap Persia. A delian is a bunch of city-states.  Achilles had a fatal flaw. When he was younger, he was dipped into something that would prevent him from getting hurt. Every part of his body was dipped into it except his heal. Later in life, he got stabbed right in that heal that had not been dipped in. This was his fatal flaw. The Greeks began the idea of “gods.” Phales wrote the first book about navigation. Socrates believed that the unexamined life was not worth living. The plague killed nearly 1/3 of Athens and Pareclees died from the plague in 429 BC. 

Movie on Greeks Part 5

Today in Mr. Schick’s West Civ class, we kept on watching the movie on the Greeks. We are at the part in the movie where it tells us about how Persian Empire in the early 5^th century. It was the most powerful and it stretched from India in the east and in Turkey in the west. There was a Persian tyranny, who was King Darius and was known as the great one. People had to cover their mouths when speaking to him because if they did not it would pollute the air he was breathing. One difference between the Greeks and Persians was that the Greeks had slaves and the Persians did not. Athenians were more about freedom and the Persians were more about obedience and discipline. Athens standing army was called Helots. Athens was able to beat the Persians and the Democracy held out. The Persian armed men were mercenaries. No one thought that Athens could win.

Movie on Greeks Part 4

Today in Mr. Schick's West Civ class we continued to watch the movie on Greeks. Mr. Schick wasn't here on Friday like me so we kind of needed to get caught up on where we left. I went on the Honors English field trip to Washington D.C. and Mr. Schick chaperoned Senior Retreat. This is the last notes I had before I was absent.  Cleisthenes established the first form of voting. He had the people of Athens place white pebbles in if they wanted it to pass and black pebbles if they wanted to pass on it. An agora was established so that someone could just stand up on something and say what their opinion was. In 490 B.C., Phidipitee’s quest for survival began. He was running away from Persian rule and ran 140 miles in two days. Only to be turned down by the Spartans and failed the mission. 

Movie on Greeks Part 3

Today in Mr. West Civ class, we continued to watch the movie on Greeks. We came to the part in the video where they talk about how the Olympics came about. On Mount Olympus in 776 B.C. were the first Olympics. A couple years later, anyone could participate in the Olympics. Isagorous was competing against Cleisthenes in the Olympics. He knew this was going to be hard so he went to the Spartans for help on defeating him and then he could take over Athens. He was able to defeat Cleisthenes so he had to take everything and everyone and leave Athens. He was ostracized, which means that they threw him out of the town. Now Isagorous was in charge with the Spartans. The commoners in 508 B.C. staged a revolution against Isagorous and the Spartans, who were forced to surrender. This was the first recorded revolution. After this, they turned back to Cleisthenes. 

Greek Movie Part 2

Today in Mr. Schick’s West Civ class we continued to watch the movie about the Greeks and their early civilization. We came to the part in the movie where they talk about tyrants. A tyrant occurs when one ruler seizes total control. We also were introduced to a new character named Pisistratus. While in control, he reduced taxes and introduced free loans to people of Athens. It was known that the city of Athens produced the absolute best olives. We also learned in the movie a little bit about the Red Light District. This was the place where the prostitutes worked. Pottery makers were at the bottom of the social status. Pisistratus died in 527 B.C. and then his son Hippias took over rule. Hippias’ brother got murdered which caused Hippias to be paranoid because he thought he was next. He was then drove out of rule by Cleisthenes who took over Athens.