Alexander the Great is classified as one of history’s greatest minds. Born in Pella, Macedonia in 356 BCE to King Philip II, Alexander would turn his kingdom into a powerhouse, conquering the Persian Empire and much of the eastern Mediterranean. His success in grand expeditions would lead to cities and rules that incorporated Greek and outside influences. This integration of cultures from communities all over his domain is the most significant aspect of Alexander the Great’s legacy, leading to important cultural exchange and a lasting effect on the modern world. Throughout the eastern Mediterranean, cities of Greek culture thrived. Alexandria was established in 332 BCE in Egypt as the new capital and a centre of scholarship and science. Alexandria …show more content…
A more open and collaborative nation was built from Alexander's cities which became immensely critical in the technological developments that arose after his passing. Alexandria is a great example of how cultural acceptance was used to further progress the world in artistic, philosophical, and scientific movements. Alexander strived to control Persia, and with this goal, he broke free of the xenophobic ideals introduced by the Greeks and adopted the Persians and their culture into his own. “[Alexander took] a middle way between the Persian mode and the Macedonian.” (Plutarch, 1914); he did not change the Persian Empire into one of only Greek influences, but one of both cultures. Alexander adopted court culture and encouraged his army to marry into Persian families. The Persian custom of proskynesis, a ritual where one was to bow then kiss one of higher rank, was assimilated into Alexander’s army. In contrast, his Persian men would train in Macedonian style and experience Greek life. Greek-based dialects, military tactics, and local governments mixed with Persian practices created a unique way of life and impacted the trade of knowledge and
Alexander the so-called ‘Great’ was a legendary conqueror who in his short lifetime was able to overthrow the Persian Empire, the most powerful kingdom at that time. He was born in 356 BCE to King Philip and Queen Olympia of Macedonia. Alexander’s warring career jumpstarted at the age of 20 in the year 336 BCE, due to the assassination of his father in which he inherited his father’s kingdom. Over the span of 11 years, Alexander and his small fleet of men of about 40,000 took over and ruthlessly conquered the Persian Empire. Sadly, this conquest was short-lived by Alexander’s sudden death in the year 323 BCE, in which his unstable kingdom with a lack of a structured governmental system quickly broke apart in the period of 10 years. Therefore, because of the cruel and the disorganized nature of the way Alexander the ‘Great’ conquered and maintained the Persian Empire, he does not deserve to be referred as ‘Great’.
Equivalent to Alexander’s integration of diverse cultural groups into his army, his decision to adopt Persian culture and clothing, his marriage to Parysatis, Stateira, and Roxana further
When a rebellion took place, he gave the rebels a chance. When they didn’t want a peaceful ending, he made them pay for it. Even after the people defied him, he still gave them a chance. He gave a woman a pardon for showing courage. That shows that he admired his people. Also, he gave respect to persian beliefs. He let Persian governors rule, if they stayed loyal to Alexander. He was very smart. He let the local people rule because he couldn’t do it on his own. He did admire the culture and beliefs of other empires. He loved learning about the Indian people. Buddhism and Hinduism had fascinated him and how the Indian people wanted peace. Alexander was able to spread peace and influence and that’s why the word “great” can be associated with him.
In Egypt, there was increased trading activity between the Egyptians and Phoenicians. Alexander authority in the system of executive was evident, where he restructured the system of organization in a effective manner and retained the ancient system of local government as explained by the Eternal Egypt website (n.d) He engaged some Egyptians into the military ranks and appointed some Greeks into the Egypt government. This interaction was a major turning point in the Egyptian culture, especially when he established a province called Alexandria which was dominated by Greeks and
In his father footsteps Alexander settled on conquering Persia for their wealth to provide and support a strong army. Persia had many satrapies and a strong army because of Cyrus the great defeated many territories and gained the citizens loyalty. Alexander
Alexander the Great is known to be one of the greatest generals in the history of the world. He also had excellent leadership abilities, which he demonstrated through the creation of a large empire that encompassed Macedonia, Greece, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia and stopped at the Indus River Valley. He spread the Hellenistic culture around the Middle Eastern areas and helped keep the knowledge of the Greek philosophers known to the rest of the world. He influenced the world by uniting many areas under a similar culture. He also left a lasting impact in history that influenced and changed the ancient world. Alexander the Great was born in 356 BCE in Pella, the capital of Macedonia. He was the son of King Philip II and Olympia. Olympia was a princess
Hardly any other historians have earned a reputation as virtuous as Alexander the Great. In just thirteen years, Alexander was not only discerned as a military genius, but became exceedingly notorious for conquering Persia and known as the King of Macedonia. Many hold him responsible for the unification of Greece and the Hellenistic age; the blending of cultures. After Alexander had extended the control of his empire past the Asia Minor, Egypt, Central Asia and on to Persia, he was competent to effectively manage and incorporate other cultures and people under his rule by disseminating Greek culture, embracing religion with encouragement, and respecting other cultures with gratification to customs.
Alexander legacy was the Hellenization of Persia and Egypt, two of the great civilizations at the time. To be Hellenized is to strongly convince by the Greek. He used his great military tactics and skill as a general by conquering Persia an Egypt. Alexander created the largest empire. In the beginning of taking over Persia and other civilizations, he replaced them with Macedonians and Greek leaders so that he can leave the officials there in place. Generals such as Hannibal, Napoleon and Caesar was influenced by all of Alexander’s actions and military work. All of Alexander actions led to his great legacy and it was important to him because he spread the Greek knowledge in all the civilizations he conquered. The Greek knowledge has survived through the years and influenced many other civilizations until
Alexander the Great’s large accomplishments in the third century BC changed the landscape of Afro-Eurasia in ancient times, and arguably through modern day. With the growth of his empire came the spread of Hellenistic culture throughout the lands he conquered. From the Mediterranean to Asia to the Middle East he helped expand trade routes and most of all the spread of ideas in religion, politics, and culture.
From conquering a culture in awe of the afterlife, Alexander was in awe of the living and spreading of present culture, intellectual stimulation, and artistic vision. It was a tactical move to embrace the Egyptian traditions, for it helped captivate the native Egyptian people, so much so that they actually embraced him as a living god and celebrated him. This permitted the integration of his beliefs and spreading of Greek ideals with the continued respect of their
He built upon his father’s success and advanced the Greek empire beyond anything Philip had imagined, not only completing his father’s goal of conquering the Persian Empire, but expanding it even further. His empire grew to include Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia, and even parts of India, totalling an area of 22 million square miles. He was able to do this despite being very young, ruling between the ages of 20 to 33, and achieved all of this in the span of an 11-year campaign. Alexander was undeniably a brilliant military commander, as evidenced by his careful planning, flawless operations, and superiority in both sieges and set battles. Yet, Alexander’s greatest accomplishment was not militaristic. Through his conquest, he spread Greek language and culture as a uniting force across the vast empire, in a process called Hellenization. As Greek citizens migrated to the foreign lands Alexander conquered, Greek knowledge, including philosophy, physics, mathematics, and more, spread across the empire, while knowledge from other
The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC marks the beginning of the Hellenistic Period and covers 300 years to the invasion of Egypt by the Romans. The word Hellenic refers only to the Greeks, but the term Hellenistic refers to `the Greek-influenced societies that arose in the wake of Alexander's conquest' (Sacks, 105). The Hellenistic world extended from Greece all the way to Afghanistan and resulted in the beginning of the mass spreading of Greek culture. Its central characteristics were the mass empires created by Alexander and his successors, the mingling of Greek and other cultures and the diffusion of religions
The men in his army, families, historians, philosophers, poets, scientists and others traveling with Alexander carried their Western customs with them and he made sure to place Greek and Macedonian people in charge of his conquests along the way. As a result, Western culture mixed with Eastern culture to create a new culture throughout Alexander’s Empire.
Alexander the Great wanted to combined two main cultures together. He wanted to combined Greek and Persian cultures together.(Alexander Legacy) This can shown from all of Alexander's cities. He used Greek layouts, buildings and language. Greek culture diffused from when Alexander conquered all the states. Since all these states were connected from communication it was easy to diffuse. Also being located on trade routes Greek culture diffused rapidly throughout the empire. This would all happen still for 200 more years. (Alexander Legacy) This affects us today because we can still he Alexander's cities with the Greek
If Alexander had not conquered much of that land and brought the people together, many of those thoughts and ideas would not have come about within those countries, and science may not have been as it is now. Also, the kingdoms Alexander left in his wake after he died continued to practice the Greek culture he left them with, showing their power and influence(Burgan 92). The Greek ideas were so moving and powerful that they affected everyone who learned of them, and because of this, people throughout the ages continued practicing this Greek culture, allowing science as it is to have spawned, as well as engineering, social studies, linguistics, and others. So, the expansion of Greek culture, brought on by Alexander the Great's conquering of many places throughout Asia and Asia Minor, brought many great minds to existence, some of which gave us our modern science and engineering, and all of which changed the ways we see everyday