CHAPTER TWO -
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
By 338 BCE,
Philip of Macedon had conquered or neutralized all of Hellas.
However, he did not live to fulfill his ambition of creating a greater
Macedonian empire; Philip was assassinated in 336 BCE. His son Alexander the Great was
only twenty years old when he took the throne, but already had substantive
political and military experience. During the stunningly brief period
between 336 and 323 BCE, Alexander built on Macedon's Greek conquests and
created the largest empire the world had yet seen, replacing and then
surpassing even the Persian Empire. This was
the beginning of the Hellenistic Age.
MACEDON AND GREECE
It is important to
recognize that while the victories of Philip and Alexander in Greece did mean the end of
political independence for Greeks, Macedonian conquest did not mean the
end of Greek culture or achievements. Unlike many other stories of conquest in
history, these new rulers did not impose a new culture on, nor smash the
creations of, their subjects. Philip was an admirer of Greek culture. At
one point he even engaged Aristotle as a personal tutor for thirteen
year old son Alexander!. Clearly Alexander was well grounded in, and respectful
of, the achievements of Greek culture.
This deep connection
between Alexander of Macedon and Greek culture is extremely important for two
reasons:
1. Macedonian
expansion did not result in the destruction of all the Greeks had created and
built - in fact that culture survived and even benefited.
2. Alexander's
respectful adoption of many aspects of Greek culture meant that he could then
turn to his new Greek subjects for their help in his continued empire-building.
Greeks in fact served under Alexander as soldiers, as well as administrators
and architects in the new cities he created.
The Greeks lost their
political independence to Philip and Alexander but the culture and influence of
the Greeks actually spread under the leadership and the empire of
Alexander. Not only did Greek ideas spread far to the East, Greek culture and
the Mediterranean world as a whole were enriched by increased and direct
exposure to the older cultures of the East.
EXPANSION
For anyone
who is a military buff, it is essential that you study the life and career of
Alexander. However, even if you are not interested in the history of war and
conquest, you cannot ignore the impact of Alexander and the empire he
created. In a very short space of time, Alexander the Great conquered a
territory stretching from Macedon and the region of Hellas all the way East
past the Indus River Valley!
Alexander's expansion began with the successful absorption of the ancient
states and cities of Anatolia and Egypt by 331 BCE. This
expansion was accomplished at the expense of the Persian
Empire; Persian control was pushed back by Alexander's advancing
armies. By the end of 330 BCE, Alexander directly confronted and conquered Persia
itself. Recognize, Alexander defeated Persia by using not only Macedonian
soldiers, but Greeks as well. Alexander effectively convinced many Greeks
to join in the Eastern campaigns against Persia
by tapping into their historic hostility towards Persia. Alexander's troops then entered India,
winning a bitter battle near the Hyphasis
River in 325 BCE.
When his troops reached the Beas River (250 miles west of modern Delhi), Alexander's eastward expansion and
the growth of the empire finally ended. This was not because Alexander was
defeated, but because his troops simply refused to march any further,
despite Alexander's moving
speeches. One can have some sympathy for these troops. It is estimated
that in the space of only about 9 years, Alexander's armies marched over almost
17,000 miles in creating this empire! (see animated map
of expansion!)
Alexander spent his remaining years consolidating his territorial gains.
There is evidence he had further plans for expansion including moving into the Arabian peninsula. However, he did not have the chance to
pursue this campaign - or any others. The era of Alexander was cut short
when he died of a fever in Babylon
in 323 BCE at the age of 33. Recognize, Alexander had built the greatest empire
the world had ever seen in the space of 13 years and all before he reached the
ripe old age of 34. The effects of this expansion were dramatic
and lasted far longer than the empire itself. As with earlier examples
discussed, one important consequence of this empire was that it tied together a
large number of cultures and regions. Alexander brought East and West together, creating
closer connections between diverse regions than had ever been achieved,
even under the Persian Empire. Alexander
created connections that continued long after his death. Important
trading relations established between Asia and the Mediterranean
resulted in an increased interchange of culture, knowledge and art.
East and West became more closely linked by the empire Alexander created.
Language, culture, science and artistic innovations and influences flowed both
ways along the pathways of this empire.
ADMINISTERING
THE EMPIRE
Before his death, Alexander
began the creation of a bureaucratic system to hold his empire together.
Alexander's apparent goal was to create a unified empire politically and
to integrate the diverse populations he had absorbed. One of the most
influential policies he undertook was the founding of new cities and roads that
stretched out across his empire - many of these cities named after him.
These cities were military and political outposts, but also became important
centers of economic and cultural interaction between Mediterranean
and Asian peoples.
To create and populate
these new outpost cities, Alexander turned to the Greeks, who were always
willing to go out and colonize. Alexander relied on the politically
sophisticated Greeks to administer his empire; in addition, many Greeks were
stationed in these territories as soldiers. Thus one of the important
consequences of Alexander's expansion is that in Egypt,
Syria, Persia, and even in India, a stream of Greeks moved
into new and existing cities. These Greeks brought with them their art, their
ideas, their language - their distinctive Greek culture; Egypt, Persia
and even India
were "Hellenized."
Some of the new cities were
built on the model of the Greek polis. However, these new cities were only
superficially a continuation of the polis model. An integral sense of
community connection was impossible to create among the diverse peoples living
in these cities. The shared culture and heritage that united a Greek poleis
could not be recreated in newly created urban centers in Persia or India. In addition, these were not
independent city states - they were ruled by an imperial power, first Alexander
and later other Hellenistic monarchies. Nevertheless, these cities became
pockets of Greek influence. From Egypt
to India,
distinctive traces of Greek influence were evident in the wake of Alexander's
empire in areas such as art, architecture, and language.
Recognize - this cultural interchange
was mutual. As the Greeks brought new ideas to Eastern cultures,
these same Greeks were themselves deeply impressed by the science, medicine and
religious ideas they came into contact with in Persia, Egypt and India, and
they brought these influences back to share with Mediterranean cultures with
great intensity and focus. Thus the Mediterranean world, the root
of "Western" cultural developments, benefited from a dramatic
increase and infusion of Eastern and Near Eastern ideas and cultures as a
result of the ties created by Alexander's empire.
It is important to note
that the connections established by Alexander (the extension of Greek influence
in particular) were achieved at a brutally high cost. Empire building is a
bloody business, and there were many extremely violent and costly
confrontations between Alexander's troops (Macedonian and Greek) and the troops
they faced in Persia and India.
Nevertheless, at the price of warfare and bloodshed, expanded links did
emerge between East and West. These will be the lasting legacies of
Alexander's ambition.
ALEXANDER AND GREECE
The age of
Hellenism was the end of Greek independence, but did not represent the collapse
of the culture - in fact the opposite happened. The Hellenistic age
enabled the continuation and spread of Greek influence. Greeks actively
participated in Alexander's expansion and construction of empire.
Interestingly, Alexander is today remembered by the Greeks not so much as a
conqueror, but as an admired leader who expanded the reach and power of the
Greek world. In an ironic historical twist, the modern country of Greece
considers Alexander an integral part of their heritage. In fact,
the issue of Alexander's legacy has led to a modern scuffle in the region of
the Balkans, the southwestern part of Europe which includes Greece as well as Macedonia
(part of former Yugoslavia).
When Yugoslavia began to
break apart about 16 years ago (1990 - 1991), one of the regions that
separated from the Yugoslavia
to form a new country was Macedonia.
After establishing their independence, Macedonians turned to the United Nations
to be recognized as a new country. On their flag, they had the crest of
Alexander's family. The country of Greece,
however, resisted accepting Macedonia's
membership in the United Nations. One reason was they did not like the name Macedonia.
Since there is also a province in the north of Greece
called Macedonia,
Greek leaders feared unrest among those living in that Greek province who might
want to join with this new country. Greece
claimed to already represent the ancient homeland of Macedonia. Greece also
protested the use of Alexander's crest in the new flag, since they claimed --
Alexander was a Greek hero! In the compromise that resulted, the new
country was officially recognized under the burdensome name "The Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"; it is now called the Republic of Macedonia.
The flag of this country does not bear Alexander's crest - Greece won on
this issue. This was an uneasy compromise, and there is still tension between Macedonia and
Greece today. It is interesting and sad to note that one of the
things these two countries are in conflict over today is who has the historical
claim to Alexander. The tension between the newly established state of Macedonia and Greece is another factor
contributing to the regional unrest and that fact that stability seems to only
every be temporary in this Balkans region.
In the next chapter, we
look more closely at the Hellenistic age which followed Alexander's expansion.
Interesting Related Web
Sites
Alexander the Great
on the Web
GO
TO CHAPTER
THREE
