The Revolt Of The Maccabees Dynasty

     Alexander then turned to Tyre, a small island about a half a mile offshore, where a large group of Phoenicians were assembled to defend Persia. Unable to conquer by sea, Alexander’s men built a causeway to the island and attacked on land. Tyre resisted for seven months, so long that when captured, Alexander had his army slay 8,000 men and sell the other 30,000 into slavery (“Alexander the Great.'; 2). Jerusalem surrendered and was spared, but Gaza fought for three months until every man in the city was dead (Durant 544).

In the fourth century BC, rapid cultural, economic, social, and political changes were occurring in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great. In 337 BC, Alexander the Third inherited the Macedonian kingdom after his father, Philip the Second, died. Philip the Second has already taken control over all of Greece, and Alexander used the manpower and money from this to expand even further, into Persia. Beginning in 334 BC, Alexander started an intense campaign through Persia, concurring city after city. Eventually, Alexander had conquered all of Persia and forced the Persian king Darius the third to the city of Ecbatana, where he was killed. Instead of returning to Greece after his victory over the Persian

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’.

Alexander the Great was one of the most prominent leaders on the battlefield. His war tactics and strategies have led him to become the leader of the most powerful, largest empire in the ancient world in the 300’s BCE. Alexander the Great used unique strategies shown in the battle of Tyre, Granicus and Gaugamela to defeat The Persian Empire. The Persian Empire at the time controlled most of Asia, Middle East and North Africa.

The story of Alexander the Great begins, as one might expect, with his father. Alexander was the son of Philip II, King of Macedonia, who had already made a name for himself. Philip became king to a land surrounded by foes on every side in 359 B.C., but by 356 B.C. he had squashed most of them and built the strongest army in the world (Savill 4). His father was an accomplished ruler who was not willing to sit by and let his land be beset by those who would see it harm. Philip used his army to expand his territory into Greece, first by subduing the northern regions, which included the Athenian port of Amphipolis. He then set his eyes to Athens and Thebes, defeating them at the battle of Chaeronea (Stoneman 18). This battle would be described as some as the end of Greek freedom. After the battle, Philip created the League of Corinth, a treaty of sorts, that basically said Greece was under Philip’s control. Philip had conquered Greece, and he now set his eyes on Persia. He would not make any progress towards his conquest, as he was assassinated in 336 B.C. by one of his bodyguards. Some would argue that Alexander may have had a part in his assassination

Some in the form of trade and others in the form of war or conflict. Darrius’s came in the form of war when he pushed his armies into northwestern India and absorbed Ganhdhara. He also captured Thrace, Macedonia, and the western coast of the black sea. In 331 B.C.E Alex of Macedonia destroyed the Achaemenid forces at the battle of Gaugamela and within a year the empire was gone. Long distance trade grew rapidly during the Persian empires as they linked lands from Indian to Egypt.

One of the only cities to fight back against Alexander was Tyre. After Alexander entered Egypt in 332 B.C, he founded the most successful city that he had ever built and that was Alexandria. At the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 B.C Alexander and his army faced over 1 million troops, who were all under the control of Darius III. Later during the war, Darius III was captured by his own troops and later killed. Alexander was saddened when the body of Darius III was brought to him, he then sent it to Persepolis and ordered that it be buried.

The greatest conquering king in the world; King of Macedonia and conqueror of Persia, Alexander the Great is considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses ever. With his amazing diplomatic skills and military genius, Alexander led Macedonia “to conquer most of the known world”. Though he only lived to a relatively young age of thirty-three, Alexander made use of his time from his first task as a leader stifling a rebellion to his last conquering the Persians and Indians. Alexander’s conquests created a whole new era of Greek inspired culture known as the Hellenistic Era. From his amazing prowess as a youth, to his conquests as an adult, and to his influence on the world after his death Alexander the Great left his mark on the world.

Alexander followed Darius in Zagros Mountains. Darius was killed by his own troop and this death of the king of Persian Empire made Alexander the King of Asia. All the territories of Persian were gained by the Macedonian making the Macedonian Empire the most dominant. He founded cities on areas he defeated (Anonymous 2005).

After the death of Alexander the Great the empire was divided among four of his generals. Ptolemy took Palestine and Seleucus took Syria. Antiochus the Great took over the Seleucid throne and challenged the Egyptian dominance of Palestine. He was welcomed by the Jewish people because he gave them special favors, but that ended when Antiochus Epiphanes took over the throne in 175 B.C.E. He wanted all of his people to speak the Greek language, worship Greek gods, and follow Greek customs (cite book pg. 336). This outraged the Jewish

Alexander quickly gained the approval of the Macedonian army to become king and ruler of Macedon. Alexander ordered to kill anyone possible to claim the kingship so no one could take his spot. Alexander soon began his campaigns starting off with the Asian Campaign, in the early 335 B.C.E Alexander's army defeated the Persians for the first time they met, army of Darius III. Alexander gained control of the Asian empire. He soon became the ruler of Asia and in 333 Alexander yet again met Darius III and outnumbered his army and finally called himself the King of Asia. He continued his campaigns and in 331 B.C.E Alexander pushed into Egypt and without a fight the egyptians recognized him as a pharaoh, ruler of ancient Egypt. There he found the city of Alexandria which is known as a center of Greek culture and commerce. Towards the end of Alexander's campaigns Alexander became “King of Babylon, King of Asia, King of the four quarters of the world.” The time came where Alexander finally defeated his enemy Darius III when he was killed by his own assistants to avoid death, but Alexander gave full respect and punished them for breaking the Persian law, and Alexander the Great was finally Kind of

● He kept moving to Egypt, all the cities would just surrender to his army

This was all leading to his position in reign of the Macedon kingdom therefore he fought beside his father’s large, well-trained army and when Alexander was given the opportunity to be king, this turned out to be in his favour. Alexander’s loyalty to king Phillip II’s army meant that trust was already earned within the army so Alexander had a large military defence to back and support him as king. When Alexander’s realisation of his father’s death set in, he was determined to conquer the throne. With this realisation, he gathered the Macedon army and gained their support, including any people who had played a major role within his father’s army. The Macedon army, who was now Alexander’s army and looked up to him as their king and ruler. As well as Alexander’s mother, Olympia, murdering the daughter of King Phillip and Cleopatra, the Macedon/Alexander’s army proceeded to eliminate any other potential threats or heirs to the throne. According to a modern source Alexander the Great did not have control of the Corinthian League when he proclaimed king. The source claims that ‘Alexander sent his army south and coerced the region of Thessaly into acknowledging him as the leader of the Corinthian League.’ This example shows that his army was loyal to Alexander and was willing to fight without rejection to Alexander’s commands. The support of

Alexander III of Macedon or commonly known as Alexander the Great was the conqueror and king of the Persian Empire which is the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He was born on the 20/21st July 356 BC in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. While in reign from 336 to 323 B.C, he united the Greek city-states and led the Corinthian League. He also became the king of Persia, Babylon and Asia as well as created Macedonian colonies in the region and was a member of the argead dynasty. Unfortunately he died around the 10/11th June 323 BC in Babylon at 32 years of age which was classified as middle aged back then.

Antigonus ruled over Asia minor, Macedonia and Thrace and in 306 BC he declared himself king of the Macedonians "The Seleucids moved to control and reform the pre-existing Persian bureaucracy, installing Greek officials and switching from clay tablets to parchment and from cuneiform to Greek or Aramaic" (Stewart, 2004).. Antigonos' attempts to take control of the whole of Alexander's empire led to his death. His son, Demetrius managed to regain control of Macedon a few yeas later but lost his throne and died in prison.