This lesson explains who Alexander the Great was and how he conquered the Middle East, Persia, Egypt, and part of India. It gives students the framework for the Hellenistic World and sets students up for understanding the connections between the Middle East and Europe going into the Renaissance. Don't forget to hit the Like and Subscribe videos to make sure you receive notifications about upcoming Literature, Grammar, Reading, Writing, and World History lessons from MrBrayman.Info. Below is the outline of the slides used in the lesson: Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World Remember Your Skills Periodization: What are the differences between Periods 1 and 2 of World History? SPICE: Social, Political, Interactions with the Environment, Cultural, Economic Characteristics of Civilizations (YOU CATEGORIZE NOW!!!) Compare and Contrast: This civilization with that civilization Continuity and Change: This is like comparing and contrasting over time. If it is the same across time, it's a continuity. If it changed from one time period to another, well, it's a change... After-Effects of the Peloponnesian War Three decades (431-404BCE) of war among the Greek city states of Athens and Sparta and their allies left Greece tired, poor, and damaged This created a power vacuum Rise of Macedon Under the leadership of King Philip II, Macedon gained military and diplomatic power After a long and successful reign, his son, Alexander took over Alexander the Great Alexander crossed the Dardenelles and attacked the Western Persian Empire in 334BCE In 333BCE, his army defeated the main Persian army, led by their emperor, in Syria In 333-332BCE, he conquered Egypt and moved into Babylon He captured all of Mesopotamia by 331BCE Then he captured the rest of Persia, Bactria, the Hindu-Kush, and Western India Alexander's Hellenistic World Despite Greek and Persian wars, the two cultures traded and influenced one another Alexander's conquests brought them under one emperor, creating the Hellenistic World (the Greeks call themselves Hellenes) Alexander's Hellenistic World Alexander copied the Persian approach to empire: Tolerate local customs, religion, and values Centralize laws Put his own bureaucrats around the empire Station his troops around the empire but encourage them to marry locally (which he did too) Sponsor great art and architecture to praise him and create a culture A Short-Lived Empire Alexander died at the age of 33 His empire was divided among three of his generals who founded three small dynasties: Seleucids: Persia and Mesopotamia Antigonids: Greece and Macedon Ptolemies: Egypt Later Greek Culture Greek polytheism continued but mixed with Buddhism and Hinduism Philosophers: Socrates, Aristotle (Alexander's teacher), Plato Advancements of Egyptian mathematics and the development of Euclid's and Pythagorean Geometry Ptolemaic astronomy (Earth is the center...) Later Greek Culture Sophocles' Oedipus plays Continued experiments with democracy Emphasis on the beauty of the human form Final Notes The Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East have always been complex, contested areas, fought over by great world powers, and they have always had the richest mixing of cultures, religions, arts, languages, trade, and political/military forces—today is no different Final Notes "The West": Greece, Rome, Christianity, Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, Latin America (kind of) "The East": China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Tibet, Nepal, India (kind of) "The Middle East": Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Mesopotamia (Iraq), Persia (Iran), Bactria and the Hindu-Kush (Afghanistan and Pakistan), Syria Final Notes Are the West and the Middle East really so different from one another—today and yesterday—or are they more like brothers or cousins fighting? Lesson Complete

• published: 11 Feb 2014
• views: 634