Alexander

The so so

• Born 356 BC• Dies 323 BC• Born in Macedon, son of

King Philip II• Someone assassinates Philip

II• Tutored by Aristotle• Later tutored by diiulio

• Takes the throne at age 20• Carries out his father

ambition to conquer once and for all

• Persia• Legend of the Gordian Knot

• An oracle said that whoever could untie the Gordian Knot would rule the world

This is one big Empire

Alexander’s Military Campaigns

• He joins three continents together for the first time

• He joins the three river valley civilizations together

• The Nile• The Tigris and

Euphrates• The Indus River

• Even the Danube River is part of this empire

• Africa, Asia Minor, India and Europe are fused for the first time

• He never lost a battle in his 11 year campaign

• His own army defeated him by refusing to fight

• He marched 11,000 miles • Covered 2 million square

miles• He created the largest

empire to date in history and all in 11 years

• No one will conquer more land faster than Alexander until the Mongolians in the 13th century

• Alexander Hellenized his empire

• Spreads Greek culture to all his conquests

• He makes an effort to purposely fuse the best of all these cultures

• He encouraged mixed marriages asking his own soldiers to marry women of conquered land

• Respects the diversity of culture lands conquered

• Expects to create hybrid races through marriages

• Even Alexander married an India princess

• Founded over 70 new cities for the purpose of bringing Greek Culture to conquered lands

• Joins trade routes from India to Mesopotamia to Egypt and Macedon

• India has some trade relations with China

• Ergo he creates the worlds first international trade network

• This trade network eventually grows over time and will eventually create trade between the Roman Empire and China

• This later becomes the Silk Road

• Globalization??• He dies at age 33 of a

sever fever• His empire is divided

into four kingdoms which falls apart within decades of his death

• Only the Ptolemy section survives for a while

• Though he died young and his empire never lasted

• His contribution to civilization endures till this day

• How, You ask?? • Because, I said!!• The city of Alexandria is

his gift to history• It is the most intellectual

and academic city in the world

• More knowledge and inventions came from Alexandria than any other city in the world

• More great minds lived and worked in Alexandria than any other city in the world

• They had the largest library of the Ancient world possessing more than 700,000 scrolls

• They had universities, medical schools and planetariums

• They had a museum• 14,000 students at one

time• Botanical Gardens• The city was truly

cosmopolitan• It was composed of

almost every race and heritage in the region

• Trade from all over the Mediterranean and more poured into Alexandria

• They built the famous Lighthouse of Pharos

• It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World