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168-525: During Alexander's conquest of Persia , the Uxians were led by Madates . They could be divided into two groups, one which lived in the plains and was sedentary and one which lived in the mountains and was nomadic. The plain Uxians surrendered to Alexander, while the Mountain Uxians demanded a toll. The division of the Uxians into a sedentary and nomadic component is similar to many other tribes of

336-639: A scorched earth strategy. He wanted the Persians to destroy the land in front of Alexander, which he hoped would force Alexander's army to starve, and then to turn back. The satraps in Anatolia rejected this advice, considering it their duty to defend their land. Eventually, with Alexander advancing deeper into Persian territory, Darius ordered all five satraps of the Anatolian provinces to pool their military resources together and confront Alexander. This army

504-545: A Carthaginian army there. This was the first time a European force had invaded the region. After this war he controlled most of south-east Sicily and had himself proclaimed king, in imitation of the Hellenistic monarchs of the east. Agathocles then invaded Italy ( c.  300 BC ) in defense of Tarentum against the Bruttians and Romans , but was unsuccessful. Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul were mostly limited to

672-406: A Hellenistic period is a 19th-century concept, and did not exist in ancient Greece . Although words related in form or meaning, e.g. Hellenist ( Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνιστής , Hellēnistēs ), have been attested since ancient times, it has been attributed to the 19th century German historian Johann Gustav Droysen , who in his classic work Geschichte des Hellenismus ( History of Hellenism ), coined

840-545: A baggage train being pulled by an ox, was lying next to a lone dog and his royal robes were covered in blood. He asked for water, and then, clutching the Macedonian soldier's hand, said that he was thankful that he would not die utterly alone and abandoned. Alexander, who may have felt genuinely saddened at Darius' death, buried Darius next to his Achaemenid predecessors in a full military funeral. Alexander claimed that, while dying, Darius had named Alexander as his successor to

1008-587: A campaign against local chieftains and warlords that stretched from Greece to as far as the region of Punjab in South Asia . By the time he died , Alexander ruled over most regions of Greece and the conquered Achaemenid Empire, including much of Achaemenid Egypt ; he did not, however, manage to conquer the Indian subcontinent in its entirety according to his initial plan. Despite his military accomplishments, Alexander did not provide any stable alternative to

1176-662: A carefully neutral posture and acting to preserve the balance of power between the major Hellenistic kingdoms. Initially, Rhodes had very close ties with the Ptolemaic kingdom. Rhodes later became a Roman ally against the Seleucids, receiving some territory in Caria for their role in the Roman–Seleucid War (192–188 BC). Rome eventually turned on Rhodes and annexed the island as a Roman province. The west Balkan coast

1344-578: A combined Theban and Athenian army at the Battle of Chaeronea after a decade of desultory conflict. In the aftermath, Philip formed the League of Corinth , effectively bringing the majority of Greece under his direct sway. He was elected Hegemon of the league, and a campaign against the Achaemenid Empire of Persia was planned. However in 336 BC, while this campaign was in its early stages, he

1512-477: A common Attic -based Greek dialect, known as Koine Greek , which became the lingua franca throughout the ancient world. During the Hellenistic period, Greek cultural influence reached its peak in the Mediterranean and beyond. Prosperity and progress in the arts , literature , theatre , architecture , music , mathematics , philosophy , and science characterize the era. The Hellenistic period saw

1680-756: A decisive victory for the Macedonians. After the Siege of Gaza, Alexander advanced from Syria towards the heart of the Persian Empire, crossing both the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers without any opposition. Darius was building up a massive army, drawing men from the far reaches of his empire, and planned to use sheer numbers to crush Alexander. Though Alexander had conquered part of the Persian empire, it

1848-444: A defensive posture. Alexander personally led the more elite Greek Companion cavalry against the Persian left up against the hills, and cut up the enemy on the less encumbering terrain, thereby generating a quick rout. After achieving a breakthrough, Alexander demonstrated he could do the difficult thing and held the cavalry in check after it broke the Persian right. Alexander then mounted his beloved horse Bucephalus , took his place at

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2016-602: A few years of Alexander's death, the Diadochi began a series of military campaigns against each other and divided the territories of the Macedonian Empire among themselves, triggering 40 years of warfare during the Hellenistic period . In 336 BC, Philip II was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguards , Pausanias of Orestis . Philip's son, and previously designated heir, Alexander, was proclaimed king by

2184-588: A fleet to explore the Persian Gulf shore under his admiral Nearchus , while he led the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route through the Gedrosian Desert (now part of southern Iran and Makran now part of Pakistan ). According to Plutarch, during the 60-day march through the desert, Alexander lost three-quarters of his army to the harsh desert conditions along the way. ⁂ Hellenistic period In classical antiquity ,

2352-604: A fleet. Ptolemy invaded Syria and defeated Antigonus' son, Demetrius Poliorcetes , in the Battle of Gaza of 312 BC which allowed Seleucus to secure control of Babylonia , and the eastern satrapies. In 310 BC, Cassander had young King Alexander IV and his mother Roxana murdered, ending the Argead dynasty which had ruled Macedon for several centuries. Antigonus then sent his son Demetrius to regain control of Greece. In 307 BC he took Athens, expelling Demetrius of Phaleron , Cassander's governor, and proclaiming

2520-675: A free hand to install dictators and tyrants wherever he saw fit in order to minimize the risk of a rebellion. As he moved deeper into Persia, however, the threat of trouble seemed to grow. Many of these towns had been ruled for generations by heavy handed tyrants, so in these Persian towns, he did the opposite of what he did in Greece. Wanting to appear to be a liberator, he freed the population and allowed self-government. As he continued marching into Persia, he saw that his victory at Granicus had been lost on no one. Town after town seemed to surrender to him. The satrap at Sardis , as well as his garrison,

2688-418: A hill and was heavily fortified. The inhabitants of Gaza and their Nabataean allies did not want to lose the lucrative trade which was controlled by Gaza. Batis , the commander of the fortress of Gaza, refused to surrender to Alexander. Though a eunuch, Batis was physically imposing and ruthless. After three unsuccessful assaults, the stronghold was finally taken by force, but not before Alexander received

2856-504: A league against Cassander's Macedon. The decisive engagement of the war came when Lysimachus invaded and overran much of western Anatolia, but was soon isolated by Antigonus and Demetrius near Ipsus in Phrygia . Seleucus arrived in time to save Lysimachus and utterly crushed Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. Seleucus' war elephants proved decisive; Antigonus was killed, and Demetrius fled back to Greece to attempt to preserve

3024-430: A letter to Alexander in which he promised to pay a substantial ransom in exchange for the prisoners of war, and agreeing to a treaty of alliance with and the forfeiture of half of his empire to Alexander. Darius received a response which began "King Alexander to Darius". In the letter, Alexander blamed Darius for his father's death and claimed Darius was but a vulgar usurper, who planned to take Macedonia. He agreed to return

3192-506: A liberator than a conqueror. In addition, much of the area conquered would continue to be ruled by the Diadochi , Alexander's generals and successors. Initially, the whole empire was divided among them; however, some territories were lost relatively quickly or only remained nominally under Macedonian rule. After 200 years, only much reduced and rather degenerate states remained, until the conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt by Rome. When Alexander

3360-626: A new agreement with Antipater at the Treaty of Triparadisus . Antipater was made regent of the Empire, and the two kings were moved to Macedon. Antigonus remained in charge of Asia Minor, Ptolemy retained Egypt, Lysimachus retained Thrace and Seleucus I controlled Babylon . The second Diadochi war began following the death of Antipater in 319 BC. Passing over his own son, Cassander , Antipater had declared Polyperchon his successor as Regent . Cassander rose in revolt against Polyperchon (who

3528-625: A new defense. Ada of Caria , the former queen of Halicarnassus, had been driven from her throne by her usurping brother . When he died, Darius had appointed Orontobates satrap of Caria, which included Halicarnassus in its jurisdiction. On the approach of Alexander in 334 BC, Ada, who was in possession of the fortress of Alinda , surrendered the fortress to him. Alexander and Ada appear to have formed an emotional connection. He called her "mother", finding her more amicable than his megalomaniacal snake-worshiping mother Olympias . In return for his support, Ada gave Alexander gifts, and even sent him some of

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3696-506: A serious shoulder wound. When Gaza was taken, the male population was put to the sword and the women and children were sold into slavery. According to the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus , Batis was killed by Alexander in imitation of Achilles ' treatment of the fallen Hector . A rope was forced through Batis's ankles, probably between the ankle bone and the Achilles tendon , and Batis

3864-400: A sign of weakness, and so they killed the envoys and threw their bodies over the city wall. The dissent against Alexander's plans to take the city by force disappeared, and his engineers began to design the structure. Alexander began with an engineering feat that shows the true extent of his brilliance; as he could not attack the city from sea, he built a kilometer-long causeway stretching out to

4032-469: A small breach in the south end of the island. He then coordinated an attack across the breach with a bombardment from all sides by his navy. Once his troops forced their way into the city, they easily overtook the garrison, and quickly captured the city. Those citizens that took shelter in the temple of Heracles were pardoned by Alexander. It is said that Alexander was so enraged at the Tyrians ' defense and

4200-601: A small core of his forces remaining intact, although the Bactrian cavalry and Bessus soon caught up with him. The remaining Persian resistance was quickly put down. In all, the Battle of Gaugamela was a disastrous defeat for the Persians, and possibly one of Alexander's finest victories. After the battle, Parmenion rounded up the Persian baggage train while Alexander and his own bodyguard chased after Darius in hopes of catching up. Substantial amounts of loot were gained following

4368-435: A standing army of mercenaries and a small core of Greco-Macedonian settlers. Promotion of immigration from Greece was important in the establishment of this system. Hellenistic monarchs ran their kingdoms as royal estates and most of the heavy tax revenues went into the military and paramilitary forces which preserved their rule from any kind of revolution. Macedonian and Hellenistic monarchs were expected to lead their armies on

4536-399: A stream that flowed from the mountain with water that was ice cold. Not thinking, Alexander jumped into the stream, suffered a cramp and then a convulsion, and was pulled out nearly dead. He quickly developed pneumonia , but none of his physicians would treat him, because they feared that, if he died, they would be held responsible. One physician named Philip, who had treated Alexander since he

4704-535: A summary of Arrian 's Events after Alexander , by Photios I of Constantinople . Lesser supplementary sources include Curtius Rufus , Pausanias , Pliny , and the Byzantine encyclopedia the Suda . In the field of philosophy, Diogenes Laërtius ' Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is the main source; works such as Cicero 's De Natura Deorum also provide some further detail of philosophical schools in

4872-596: A time. Ariobarzanes had hoped that defeating Alexander at the Persian Gates would allow the Persians more time to field another army, and possibly stop the Macedonian invasion altogether. Ariobarzanes held the pass for a month, but Alexander succeeded in encircling the Persian army and broke through the Persian defenses. The defeat of Ariobarzanes's forces at the Persian Gate removed the last military obstacle between Alexander and Persepolis. Upon his arrival at

5040-579: Is Athens , which had been decisively defeated by Antipater in the Lamian war (323–322 BC) and had its port in the Piraeus garrisoned by Macedonian troops who supported a conservative oligarchy . After Demetrius Poliorcetes captured Athens in 307 BC and restored the democracy , the Athenians honored him and his father Antigonus by placing gold statues of them on the agora and granting them

5208-573: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Wars of Alexander the Great Achaemenid Empire The wars of Alexander the Great ( Ancient Greek : Πόλεμοι του Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου ) were a series of conquests carried out by Alexander III of Macedon from 336 to 323 BC. They began with battles against the Achaemenid Empire , then under the rule of Darius III . After Alexander's chain of victories, he began

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5376-785: The Venus de Milo . A form of Hellenistic architecture arose which especially emphasized the building of grand monuments and ornate decorations, as exemplified by structures such as the Pergamon Altar . The religious sphere of Greek religion expanded through syncretic facets to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis , eastern deities such as Attis and Cybele , and a syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism in Bactria and Northwest India . Scholars and historians are divided as to which event signals

5544-507: The Ancient Greek word Hellas ( Ἑλλάς , Hellás ), which was gradually recognized as the name for Greece , from which the early modern 19th century historiographical term Hellenistic was derived. The term "Hellenistic" is to be distinguished from "Hellenic" in that the latter refers to Greece itself, while the former encompasses all the ancient territories of the period that had come under significant Greek influence , particularly

5712-519: The Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC, but was so impressed by the demeanor with which the king carried himself that he allowed Porus to continue governing his own kingdom as a satrap. Although victorious, Battle of the Hydaspes was also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians. East of Porus' kingdom, near the Ganges River , was the powerful Nanda Empire of Magadha . According to

5880-648: The Greco-Bactrian kingdom ). It can be argued that some of the changes across the Macedonian Empire after Alexander's conquests and during the rule of the Diadochi would have occurred without the influence of Greek rule. As mentioned by Peter Green , numerous factors of conquest have been merged under the term Hellenistic period . Specific areas conquered by Alexander's invading army, including Egypt and areas of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia "fell" willingly to conquest and viewed Alexander as more of

6048-585: The Greek colonies in Illyria. Illyrians imported weapons and armor from the ancient Greeks (such as the Illyrian type helmet , originally a Greek type) and also adopted the ornamentation of ancient Macedon on their shields and their war belts (a single one has been found, dated 3rd century BC at modern Selcë e Poshtme , a part of Macedon at the time under Philip V of Macedon ). The Odrysian Kingdom

6216-489: The Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece , between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roman Empire , as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the Roman conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year, which eliminated the last major Hellenistic kingdom. Its name stems from

6384-510: The Hellespont into Asia. It took over one hundred triremes (triple-banked galleys) to transport the entire Macedonian army, but the Persians decided to ignore the movement. In these early months, Darius still refused to take Alexander seriously or mount a serious challenge to Alexander's movements. Memnon of Rhodes , the Greek mercenary who aligned himself with the Persians, advocated for

6552-848: The Indus to the Hydaspes , complied, but the chieftains of some hill clans, including the Aspasioi and Assakenoi sections of the Kambojas (known in Indian texts also as Ashvayanas and Ashvakayanas ), refused to submit. In the winter of 327/326 BC, Alexander personally led a campaign against these clans; the Aspasioi of Kunar valley , the Guraeans of the Guraeus valley, and the Assakenoi of

6720-601: The Lamian war ) invaded Anatolia . The rebels were supported by Lysimachus , the satrap of Thrace and Ptolemy, the satrap of Egypt. Although Eumenes , satrap of Cappadocia , defeated the rebels in Asia Minor, Perdiccas himself was murdered by his own generals Peithon , Seleucus , and Antigenes (possibly with Ptolemy's aid) during his invasion of Egypt ( c.  21 May to 19 June, 320 BC). Ptolemy came to terms with Perdiccas's murderers, making Peithon and Arrhidaeus regents in his place, but soon these came to

6888-522: The League of Corinth . Alexander proceeded to solidify Macedonian rule by quashing a rebellion in the southern Greek city-states and staged a short but bloody excursion against the city-states to the north. He then proceeded east to carry out his plans to conquer the Achaemenid Empire. His campaign of conquests from Greece spanned across Anatolia , Syria , Phoenicia , Egypt, Mesopotamia , Greater Iran , Afghanistan , and India . He extended

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7056-469: The Mediterranean coast of Provence , France . The first Greek colony in the region was Massalia , which became one of the largest trading ports of Mediterranean by the 4th century BC with 6,000 inhabitants. Massalia was also the local hegemon , controlling various coastal Greek cities like Nice and Agde . The coins minted in Massalia have been found in all parts of Liguro-Celtic Gaul. Celtic coinage

7224-530: The Middle East and Central Asia . The Uxii may have come from Khuzistan and as such are likely related to the Elymaei and Elamites . The mother of Darius III, Sisygambis , was likely Uxian in origin, and later negotiated the release of Uxian prisoners headed by Madates. This Ancient Near East –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Iran -related article

7392-568: The Ptolemaic Kingdom , which might otherwise have been lost, has been preserved in papyrological documents. This is particularly noteworthy given the limited documentation available for their Seleucid counterparts. Ancient Greece had traditionally been a fractious collection of fiercely independent city-states. After the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), Greece had fallen under a Spartan hegemony , in which Sparta

7560-707: The Roman Republic against the Carthaginian Empire during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). However, Emporion lost its political independence around 195 BC with the establishment of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior and by the 1st century BC had become fully Romanized in culture. The Hellenistic states of Asia and Egypt were run by an occupying imperial elite of Greco-Macedonian administrators and governors propped up by

7728-545: The Swat and Buner valleys. A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi in which Alexander himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart but eventually the Aspasioi lost the fight. Alexander then faced the Assakenoi, who fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to Alexander in the strongholds of Massaga, Ora and Aornos . The fort of Massaga could only be reduced after several days of bloody fighting in which Alexander himself

7896-535: The " Nesiotic League " of the Cyclades . These federations involved a central government which controlled foreign policy and military affairs, while leaving most of the local governing to the city states , a system termed sympoliteia . In states such as the Achaean league, this also involved the admission of other ethnic groups into the federation with equal rights, in this case, non- Achaeans . The Achean league

8064-483: The Achaemenid throne and had asked Alexander to avenge his death, a striking irony since it was Alexander who had pursued him to his death. The Achaemenid Persian Empire is considered to have fallen with the death of Darius. Alexander, viewing himself as the legitimate Achaemenid successor to Darius, viewed Bessus as a usurper to the Achaemenid throne, and eventually found and executed this 'usurper'. The majority of

8232-635: The Aegean (204–200 BC) and ignored Roman demands for non-intervention in Greece by invading Attica. In 198 BC, during the Second Macedonian War Philip was decisively defeated at Cynoscephalae by the Roman proconsul Titus Quinctius Flamininus and Macedon lost all its territories in Greece proper. Southern Greece was now thoroughly brought into the Roman sphere of influence , though it retained nominal autonomy. The end of Antigonid Macedon came when Philip V's son, Perseus,

8400-757: The Athenians in the Chremonidean War , and then against the Achaean League of Aratus of Sicyon . Under the Antigonids, Macedonia was often short on funds, the Pangaeum mines were no longer as productive as under Philip II, the wealth from Alexander's campaigns had been used up and the countryside pillaged by the Gallic invasion . A large number of the Macedonian population had also been resettled abroad by Alexander or had chosen to emigrate to

8568-529: The Great of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople in AD 330. Though this scope of suggested dates demonstrates a range of academic opinion, a generally accepted date by most of scholarship has been that of 31/30 BC. The word originated from ancient Greek Ἑλληνιστής ( Hellēnistḗs , "one who uses the Greek language"), from Ἑλλάς ( Hellás , "Greece"); as if "Hellenist" + "ic". The idea of

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8736-400: The Great died (10 June 323 BC), he left behind a sprawling empire that was composed of many essentially autonomous territories called satrapies . Without a chosen successor, there were immediate disputes among his generals as to who should be king of Macedon. These generals became known as the Diadochi ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Διάδοχοι , Diadokhoi , meaning "Successors"). Meleager and

8904-758: The Greek sources, the Nanda army was five times larger than the Macedonian army. Fearing the prospects of facing the powerful Nanda Empire armies and exhausted by years of campaigning, his army mutinied at the Hyphasis River , refusing to march further east. This river thus marks the easternmost extent of Alexander's conquests. As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. For having done all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing

9072-696: The Greek world, making the endless conflicts between the cities that had marked the 5th and 4th centuries BC seem petty and unimportant. It led to a steady emigration, particularly of the young and ambitious, to the new Greek empires in the east. Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria , Antioch , and the many other new Hellenistic cities founded in Alexander's wake, as far away as modern Afghanistan and Pakistan . Independent city states were unable to compete with Hellenistic kingdoms and were usually forced to ally themselves to one of them for defense, giving honors to Hellenistic rulers in return for protection. One example

9240-467: The Greeks during the 8th century BC. In 4th-century BC Sicily the leading Greek city and hegemon was Syracuse . During the Hellenistic period the leading figure in Sicily was Agathocles of Syracuse (361–289 BC) who seized the city with an army of mercenaries in 317 BC. Agathocles extended his power throughout most of the Greek cities in Sicily, fought a long war with the Carthaginians , at one point invading Tunisia in 310 BC and defeating

9408-577: The Hellenistic period breaks off after the battle of Ipsus (301 BC). Another important source, Plutarch 's ( c.  AD 50  – c.  120 ) Parallel Lives although more preoccupied with issues of personal character and morality, outlines the history of important Hellenistic figures. Appian of Alexandria (late 1st century AD–before 165) wrote a history of the Roman empire that includes information of some Hellenistic kingdoms. Other sources include Justin 's (2nd century AD) epitome of Pompeius Trogus ' Historiae Philipicae and

9576-488: The Hellenistic period is Polybius of Megalopolis (c. 200–118), a statesman of the Achaean League until 168 BC when he was forced to go to Rome as a hostage. His Histories eventually grew to a length of forty books, covering the years 220 to 167 BC. The most important source after Polybius is Diodorus Siculus who wrote his Bibliotheca historica between 60 and 30 BC and reproduced some important earlier sources such as Hieronymus, but his account of

9744-425: The Hellenistic period. Inscriptions on stone or metal were commonly erected throughout the Greek world for public display, a practice which originated well before the time of Alexander the Great, but saw substantial expansion during the Hellenistic Period. The majority of these inscriptions are located on the Greek mainland , the Greek islands , and western Asia Minor . While they become increasingly rare towards

9912-425: The Hellenistic period. It became a center of culture and commerce, its coins were widely circulated and its philosophical schools became one of the best in the Mediterranean. After holding out for one year under siege by Demetrius Poliorcetes (305–304 BC), the Rhodians built the Colossus of Rhodes to commemorate their victory. They retained their independence by the maintenance of a powerful navy, by maintaining

10080-524: The Hellenized Middle East , after the conquests of Alexander the Great . After the Macedonian conquest of the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BC and its disintegration shortly thereafter in the Partition of Babylon and subsequent Wars of the Diadochi , Hellenistic kingdoms were established throughout West Asia ( Seleucid Empire , Kingdom of Pergamon ), Northeast Africa ( Ptolemaic Kingdom ) and South Asia ( Greco-Bactrian Kingdom , Indo-Greek Kingdom ). This resulted in an influx of Greek colonists and

10248-407: The League of Corinth. By doing so, they promised to provide monetary support to Alexander. The Siege of Halicarnassus was undertaken in 334 BC. Alexander, who had a weak navy, was constantly being threatened by the Persian navy. It continuously attempted to provoke an engagement with Alexander, who would have none of it. Eventually, the Persian fleet sailed to Halicarnassus , in order to establish

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10416-480: The Macedonian noblemen and army. He also succeeded his father as head of the League of Corinth , a confederation of Greek states that were under the hegemony of Macedonia in order to combat the Achaemenid Empire . News of Philip's death roused many states into revolt, including Thebes , Athens , Thessaly , as well as the Thracian tribes to the north of Macedon. When news of the revolt reached Alexander, he took quick action. Although his advisers recommended

10584-410: The Macedonians themselves were looked down upon as semi-barbaric by the rest of the Greeks. However, Macedon controlled a large area and had a relatively strong centralized government, in comparison to most Greek states. Philip II was a strong and expansionist king who took every opportunity to expand Macedonian territory. In 352 BC he annexed Thessaly and Magnesia . In 338 BC, Philip defeated

10752-424: The Persians. He sent some of the spoils back to Greece, including three hundred panoplies (complete Persian suits of armor) back to Athens to be dedicated in the Parthenon with the inscription "Alexander, son of Philip and the Greeks, Lacedaemonians ( Spartans ) excepted, these spoils from the barbarians who dwell in Asia". Antipater , whom Alexander had left in charge of Macedon in his absence, had been given

10920-508: The Siege of Cyropolis and fought against the Sakas in Battle of Jaxartes . After Alexander defeated the last of the Achaemenid Empire 's forces in battle of Gabai against Spitamenes, and Coenus (Koinos), one Alexander the Great's generals in 328 BC, he began a new campaign to Ariana in 327 BC. He wanted to conquer the entire known world, which in Alexander's day, ended on the eastern end of India. Greeks of Alexander's day knew nothing of China, or any other lands east of Bactria . The Siege of

11088-482: The Sogdian Rock , a fortress located north of Bactria in Sogdiana , occurred in 327 BC. Oxyartes of Bactria had sent his wife and daughters, one of whom was Roxana , to take refuge in the fortress, as it was thought to be impregnable, and was provisioned for a long siege . When Alexander asked the defenders to surrender, they refused, telling him that he would need "men with wings" to capture it. Alexander asked for volunteers, whom he would reward if they could climb

11256-541: The Triballi, who were crushed in turn. Alexander then advanced on to the Danube , encountering the Getae tribe on the opposite shore. The Getae army retreated after the first cavalry skirmish , leaving their town to the Macedonian army. News then reached Alexander that Cleitus , King of Illyria, and King Glaukias of the Taulantii were in open revolt against Macedonian authority. Alexander defeated each in turn, forcing Cleitus and Glaukias to flee with their armies, leaving Alexander's northern frontier secure. While he

11424-483: The Uxians, he would not encounter any more enemy forces during his march, Alexander neglected to send scouts ahead of his vanguard, and thus walked into Ariobarzanes ' ambush. Once the Macedonian army had advanced sufficiently into the narrow pass, the Persians rained down boulders on them from the northern slopes. From the southern slope, Persian archers and catapults launched their projectiles. Alexander's army initially suffered heavy casualties, losing entire platoons at

11592-460: The ancient Egyptian bureaucracy, highly centralized and focused on squeezing as much revenue out of the population as possible through tariffs, excise duties, fines, taxes, and so forth. A whole class of petty officials, tax farmers, clerks, and overseers made this possible. The Egyptian countryside was directly administered by this royal bureaucracy. External possessions such as Cyprus and Cyrene were run by strategoi , military commanders appointed by

11760-409: The annual income of Athens to Greece, in order to put down a Spartan rebellion. Darius, meanwhile, dispatched letters to his eastern satrapies asking them to remain loyal. The satrapies, however, had other intentions, and quickly capitulated to Alexander. Bessus fatally stabbed Darius, before fleeing eastwards. Darius was found by one of Alexander's scouts, moaning in pain. Darius, dying and chained to

11928-410: The army, at the side of the satrap Porus and Taxiles . Eudemus became ruler of a part of the Punjab after their death. Both rulers returned to the West in 316 BC with their armies. In 321 BC, Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire in India and overthrew the Greek satraps. Alexander now sent much of his army to Carmania (modern southern Iran ) with his general Craterus , and commissioned

12096-427: The arrival of another hundred and twenty from Cyprus , which had heard of his victories and wished to join him. Alexander then sailed on Tyre and quickly blockaded both ports with his superior numbers. He had several of the slower galleys, and a few barges, refit with battering rams, the only known case of battering rams being used on ships. Alexander started testing the wall at various points with his rams, until he made

12264-507: The banks of the Granicus River. Alexander ultimately fought many of his battles on a river bank. By doing so, he was able to minimize the advantage the Persians had in numbers. In addition, the deadly Persian chariots were useless on a cramped, muddy river bank. Arrian , Diodorus , and Plutarch all mention the battle, with Arrian providing the most detail. The Persians placed their cavalry in front of their infantry, and drew up on

12432-538: The battle, Memnon died. His replacement was a Persian who had spent time in Macedonia called Pharnabazus . He disrupted Alexander's supply routes by taking Aegean islands near the Hellespont and by fomenting rebellion in southern Greece. Meanwhile, Darius took the Persian army to intercept Alexander. Alexander marched his army east through Cappadocia , where, for a stretch of nearly 150 km (93 mi), there

12600-451: The battle, with 4,000 talents captured, as well as the King's personal chariot and bow. Darius planned to head further east, and raise another army to face Alexander while he and the Macedonians headed to one of the Persian capitals, Babylon , and then to another, Susa . There, Alexander found wealth that even he had never imagined possible. He paid his troops, and sent a sum of money six times

12768-410: The battlefield, and the Greek mercenary infantry they held in reserve were encircled by the Macedonians and slaughtered; only around two-thousand of which survived, and were sent back to Macedonia for labor. After the battle, Alexander buried the dead Greeks and Persians and sent the captured Greek mercenaries back to Greece to work in the mines as an abject lesson for any Greek who decided to fight for

12936-413: The battlefield. Darius had recruited the finest cavalry from his eastern satrapies . Darius placed himself in the center with his best infantry as was the tradition among Persian kings. The Macedonians were divided into two, with the right side of the army falling under the direct command of Alexander, and the left to Parmenion . Alexander began by ordering his infantry to march in phalanx formation towards

13104-435: The beginning of the end of Persian power. It was the first time the Persian army had been defeated with the King present on the field. Darius left his wife and an enormous amount of treasure behind as his army fled. The greed of the Macedonians helped to persuade them to keep going, as did the large number of Persian concubines and prostitutes they picked up in the battle. Darius, now fearing for both his throne and his life, sent

13272-522: The best cooks in Asia Minor, realizing that Alexander had a sweet tooth. In the past, Alexander had referred to his biological father, Philip, as his "so-called" father, and preferred to think of the deity Amon Zeus as his actual father. Thus, he had finally managed to divorce himself from both of his biological parents. Orontobates and Memnon of Rhodes entrenched themselves in Halicarnassus. Alexander had sent spies to meet with dissidents inside

13440-576: The boundaries of his Macedonian Empire as far east as the city of Taxila in modern-day Pakistan . Prior to his death, Alexander had also made plans for a Macedonian military and mercantile expansion into the Arabian Peninsula , after which he planned to turn his armies to Carthage , Rome , and the Iberian Peninsula in the west. However, the Diadochi (his political rivals) abandoned these plans after he died; instead, within

13608-441: The causeway. The fire spread quickly, engulfing both towers and other siege equipment that had been brought up. This convinced Alexander that he would be unable to take Tyre without a navy. Fate would soon provide him with one. Presently, the Persian navy returned to find their home cities under Alexander's control. Since their allegiance was to their city, they were therefore Alexander's. He now had eighty ships. This coincided with

13776-531: The center of the enemy line. Darius now launched his chariots, which were intercepted by the Agrianians , and quickly rendered useless. Alexander, while leading the charge, formed his units into a giant wedge, which quickly smashed right into the weakened Persian center. Darius' charioteer was killed by a spear, and chaos rang out as everyone (incorrectly) thought it was Darius who had been killed. The Persian line then collapsed, and Darius fled. Darius escaped with

13944-442: The city free again. Demetrius now turned his attention to Ptolemy, defeating his fleet at the Battle of Salamis and taking control of Cyprus. In the aftermath of this victory, Antigonus took the title of king ( basileus ) and bestowed it on his son Demetrius Poliorcetes , the rest of the Diadochi soon followed suit. Demetrius continued his campaigns by laying siege to Rhodes and conquering most of Greece in 302 BC, creating

14112-555: The city of Persepolis , Alexander appointed a general named Phrasaortes as successor of Ariobarzanes. Four months later, Alexander allowed the troops to loot Persepolis. A fire broke out and spread to the rest of the city. It is not clear if it had been a drunken accident, or a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Greco-Persian War . In 329 BC, Alexander launched

14280-427: The city walls, surprising the Persian forces and killing Orontobates. Memnon, realizing the city was lost, set fire to it and withdrew with his army. A strong wind caused the fire to destroy much of the city. Alexander then committed the government of Caria to Ada; and she, in turn, formally adopted Alexander as her son, ensuring that the rule of Caria passed unconditionally to him upon her eventual death. Shortly after

14448-463: The city, who had promised to open the gates and allow Alexander to enter. When his spies arrived, however, the dissidents were nowhere to be found. A small battle resulted, and Alexander's army managed to break through the city walls. Memnon, however, now deployed his catapults, and Alexander's army fell back. Memnon then deployed his infantry, and shortly before Alexander would have received his first (and only) defeat, his infantry managed to break through

14616-402: The cliffs under the fortress. There were some 300 men who from previous sieges had gained experience in rock-climbing. Using tent-pegs and strong flaxen lines, they climbed the cliff face at night, losing about 30 of their number during the ascent. In accordance with Alexander's orders, they signaled their success to the troops below by waving bits of linen , and Alexander sent a herald to shout

14784-613: The country, especially in the region of the Faiyum . Alexandria , a major center of Greek culture and trade, became his capital city. As Egypt's first port city, it became the main grain exporter in the Mediterranean. The Egyptians begrudgingly accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt, though the kingdom went through several native revolts. Ptolemy I began to order monetary contributions from

14952-503: The country. The speech worked, and Alexander's troops agreed to remain with him. Alexander, now the Persian "King of Kings", adopted Persian dress and mannerisms, which, in time, the Greeks began to view as decadent and autocratic. They began to fear that Alexander, the king they had hero-worshiped, was turning into an eastern despot, although a young eunuch was eventually introduced to Alexander, and helped to keep his decadence in check. In

15120-486: The crown. Under Ptolemy II , Callimachus , Apollonius of Rhodes , Theocritus , and a host of other poets including the Alexandrian Pleiad made the city a center of Hellenistic literature. Ptolemy himself was eager to patronise the library, scientific research and individual scholars who lived on the grounds of the library. He and his successors also fought a series of wars with the Seleucids, known as

15288-572: The death of Spitamenes and his marriage to Roxana (Roshanak in Bactrian ) to cement his relations with his new Central Asian satrapies, Alexander was finally free to turn his attention to the Indian subcontinent . Alexander invited all the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara , in the north of what is now the Jhelum River , Pakistan , to come to him and submit to his authority. Omphis , ruler of Taxila , whose kingdom extended from

15456-600: The death of Pyrrhus, Epirus remained a minor power. In 233 BC the Aeacid royal family was deposed and a federal state was set up called the Epirote League . The league was conquered by Rome in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC). Antigonus II , a student of Zeno of Citium , spent most of his rule defending Macedon against Epirus and cementing Macedonian power in Greece, first against

15624-583: The different circumstances of the terrain made that strategy useless. Had he mounted a credible defence of the defile, Alexander would have been easily repulsed. He left only a small contingent to guard the defile, and took his entire army to destroy the plain that lay ahead of Alexander's army. The Persian contingent that was supposed to guard the defile soon abandoned it, and Alexander passed through without any problems. Alexander supposedly said after this incident that he had never been so lucky in his entire career. After reaching Mount Taurus, Alexander's army found

15792-488: The eastern regions, they are not entirely absent there, and they are most notably featured in public buildings and sanctuaries . The content of these inscriptions is diverse, encompassing royal correspondence addressed to cities or individuals, municipal and legal edicts, decrees commemorating rulers, officials, and individuals for their contributions, as well as laws, treaties, religious rulings, and dedications. Despite challenges in their interpretation, inscriptions are often

15960-611: The efficiency of government. The true effect, however, was to separate the civil from the financial function of these satrapies, thus ensuring that these governments, while technically independent of him, never truly were. Otherwise, he allowed the inhabitants of these towns to continue as they always had, and made no attempt to impose Greek customs on them. Meanwhile, ambassadors from other Greek cities in Asia Minor came to Alexander, offering submission if he allowed their 'democracies' to continue. Alexander granted their wish, and allowed them to stop paying taxes to Persia, but only if they joined

16128-469: The end of the Hellenistic era. There is a wide chronological range of proposed dates that have included the final conquest of the Greek heartlands by the expansionist Roman Republic in 146 BC following the Achaean War , the final defeat of the Ptolemaic Kingdom at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, the end of the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian in AD 138, and the move by the emperor Constantine

16296-424: The existing satraps were to give their loyalty to Alexander, and be allowed to keep their positions. Alexander's troops now thought the war was over. Alexander was unsure how to deal with this, so he decided to scare them into submission. He gave a speech, arguing that their conquests were not secure, that the Persians did not want the Greeks to remain in their country, and that only the strength of Macedon could secure

16464-531: The export of Greek culture and language to these new realms, a breadth spanning as far as modern-day India. These new Greek kingdoms were also influenced by regional indigenous cultures, adopting local practices where deemed beneficial, necessary, or convenient. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the ancient Greek world with that of the Western Asian, Northeastern African, and Southwestern Asian worlds. The consequence of this mixture gave rise to

16632-416: The field, along with a group of privileged aristocratic companions or friends ( hetairoi , philoi ) which dined and drank with the king and acted as his advisory council. The monarch was also expected to serve as a charitable patron of the people; this public philanthropy could mean building projects and handing out gifts but also promotion of Greek culture and religion. Ptolemy , a somatophylax , one of

16800-424: The first time that his plan was to conquer the entire Persian Empire. The Siege of Tyre occurred in 332 BC when Alexander set out to conquer Tyre , a strategic coastal base. Tyre was the site of the only remaining Persian port that did not capitulate to Alexander. Even by this point in the war, the Persian navy still posed a major threat to Alexander. Tyre, the largest and most important city-state of Phoenicia ,

16968-411: The fleeing Persians for as long as there was light. As with most ancient battles, significant carnage occurred after the battle as pursuing Macedonians slaughtered their crowded, disorganized foe. The invading troops led by Alexander were outnumbered more than 2:1, yet they defeated the army personally led by Darius III of Achaemenid Persia . The battle was a decisive Macedonian victory and it marked

17136-464: The growing power and ambition of Antigonus. He began removing and appointing satraps as if he were king and also raided the royal treasuries in Ecbatana , Persepolis and Susa , making off with 25,000 talents . Seleucus was forced to flee to Egypt and Antigonus was soon at war with Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander. He then invaded Phoenicia , laid siege to Tyre , stormed Gaza and began building

17304-423: The head of his Companion cavalry , and led a direct assault against Darius. The horses that were pulling Darius' chariot were injured, and began tossing at the yoke. Darius, about to fall off his chariot, instead jumped off. He threw his royal diadem away, mounted a horse, and fled the scene. The Persian troops, realizing they had lost, either surrendered or fled with their hapless king. The Macedonian cavalry pursued

17472-400: The huge territories Alexander had conquered became subject to a strong Greek influence ( Hellenization ) for the next two or three centuries, until the rise of Rome in the west, and of Parthia in the east. As the Greek and Levantine cultures mingled, the development of a hybrid Hellenistic culture began, and persisted even when isolated from the main centres of Greek culture (for instance, in

17640-399: The infantry supported the candidacy of Alexander's half-brother, Philip Arrhidaeus , while Perdiccas , the leading cavalry commander, supported waiting until the birth of Alexander's child by Roxana . After the infantry stormed the palace of Babylon , a compromise was arranged – Arrhidaeus (as Philip III) should become king and should rule jointly with Roxana's child, assuming that it

17808-441: The island on a natural land bridge no more than two meters deep. Alexander then constructed two towers 150 feet high and moved them to the end of the causeway. The Tyrians, however, quickly devised a counterattack. They used an old horse transport ship, filling it with dried branches, pitch, sulfur, and various other combustibles . They then lit it on fire, creating what we might call a primitive form of napalm , and ran it up onto

17976-655: The language of administration and of the nobility. The nobility also adopted Greek fashions in dress , ornament, and military equipment, spreading it to the other tribes. Thracian kings were among the first to be Hellenized . After 278 BC the Odrysians had a strong competitor in the Celtic Kingdom of Tylis ruled by the kings Comontorius and Cavarus , but in 212 BC they conquered their enemies and destroyed their capital. Southern Italy ( Magna Graecia ) and south-eastern Sicily had been colonized by

18144-599: The latest war between Macedon and the Greek leagues ( the Social War of 220–217 BC) to an end, and at this time he controlled all of Greece except Athens, Rhodes and Pergamum. In 215 BC Philip, with his eye on Illyria , formed an alliance with Rome's enemy Hannibal of Carthage , which led to Roman alliances with the Achaean League , Rhodes and Pergamum. The First Macedonian War broke out in 212 BC, and ended inconclusively in 205 BC. Philip continued to wage war against Pergamum and Rhodes for control of

18312-406: The loss of his men that he destroyed half the city. Alexander granted pardon to the king and his family, whilst 30,000 residents and foreigners taken were sold into slavery. There was a family, though, that Alexander gave a very high position in his government, but the only contact he ever had with them was when he spent the night with the wife of the household. The stronghold at Gaza was built on

18480-590: The men, he said, "longed to again see their parents, their wives and children, their homeland". Alexander, seeing the unwillingness of his men agreed and diverted. Along the way his army conquered the Malli clans (in modern-day Multan ). In the territory of the Indus, he nominated his officer Peithon as a satrap , a position he would hold for the next ten years until 316 BC, and in the Punjab he left Eudemus in charge of

18648-554: The native population did not always mix; the Greeks moved and brought their own culture, but interaction did not always occur. While a few fragments exist, there are no complete surviving historical works that date to the hundred years following Alexander's death. The works of the major Hellenistic historians Hieronymus of Cardia (who worked under Alexander, Antigonus I and other successors), Duris of Samos and Phylarchus , which were used by surviving sources , are all lost. The earliest and most credible surviving source for

18816-430: The new eastern Greek cities. Up to two-thirds of the population emigrated, and the Macedonian army could only count on a levy of 25,000 men, a significantly smaller force than under Philip II. Antigonus II ruled until his death in 239 BC. His son Demetrius II soon died in 229 BC, leaving a child (Philip V) as king, with the general Antigonus Doson as regent. Doson led Macedon to victory in

18984-460: The news of a Thracian uprising in the north. Before crossing to Asia, Alexander wanted to safeguard his northern borders and, in the spring of 335 BC, he advanced into Thrace to deal with the revolt, which was led by the Illyrians and Triballi . At Mount Haemus , the Macedonian army attacked and defeated a Thracian garrison manning the heights. The Macedonians were then attacked in the rear by

19152-536: The news to the enemy's advanced posts that they might now surrender without further delay. The defenders were so surprised and demoralized by this that they surrendered. Alexander fell in love with Roxana, whom ancient historians call the "most beautiful woman in the world" (not an uncommon claim for an ancient queen), on sight and eventually married her. The story of the siege is told by the Roman historian Arrian of Nicomedia , in Anabasis (section 4.18.4–19.6). After

19320-406: The only source available for understanding numerous events in Greek history. Papyrus served as the predominant medium for handwritten documents across the Hellenistic world, though its production was confined to Egypt . Due to Egypt's arid climate , papyrus manuscripts was almost exclusively preserved there as well. That being said, the different historical periods are not represented equally in

19488-569: The papyrological documents. Texts from the reign of Ptolemy I are notably scarce, while those from the reign of Ptolemy II are more frequently encountered, this is owing in part to the large quantities of papyri which were stuffed into human and animal mummies during his rule. Papyri have been classified into public and private documents, including literary texts, laws and regulations, official correspondence, petitions , records, and archives or collections of documents belonging to individuals of position and authority. Significant information about

19656-491: The people and, as a result, rewarded cities with high contributions with royal benefaction. This often resulted in the formation of a royal cult within the city. Reservations about this activity slowly dissipated as this worship of mortals was justified by the precedent of the worshipping of Greek heroes. The Ptolemies took on the traditions of the Egyptian Pharaohs , such as marrying their siblings ( Ptolemy II

19824-402: The prisoners without ransom, but told Darius that he and Alexander were not equals, and that Darius was to henceforth address Alexander as "King of all Asia". Darius was also curtly informed that, if he wanted to dispute Alexander's claim to the Achaemenid throne, that he would have to stand and fight, and that if he instead fled, Alexander would pursue and kill him. By this, Alexander revealed for

19992-428: The remnants of his rule, thereby recapturing a rebellious Athens. Meanwhile, Lysimachus took over Ionia , Seleucus took Cilicia , and Ptolemy captured Cyprus . After Cassander's death in c.  298 BC , however, Demetrius, who still maintained a sizable loyal army and fleet, invaded Macedon, seized the Macedonian throne (294 BC) and conquered Thessaly and most of central Greece (293–291 BC). He

20160-408: The right (east) bank of the river. The Macedonian line was arrayed with the heavy Phalanxes in the middle, Macedonian cavalry led by Alexander on the right, and allied Thessalian cavalry led by Parmenion on the left. The Persians expected the main assault to come from Alexander's position and moved units from their center to that flank. Alexander's second-in-command, Parmenion , suggested crossing

20328-523: The rise of New Comedy , Alexandrian poetry , translation efforts such as the Septuagint , and the philosophies of Stoicism , Epicureanism , and Pyrrhonism . In science, the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes are exemplary. Sculpture during this period was characterized by intense emotion and dynamic movement, as seen in sculptural works like the Dying Gaul and

20496-635: The river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at-arms and horsemen and elephants. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. Alexander spoke to his army and tried to persuade them to march further into India but Coenus pleaded with him to change his opinion and return,

20664-425: The river upstream and attacking at dawn the next day, but Alexander attacked immediately. He ordered a small group of cavalry and light infantry to attack from the Macedonian right to draw the Persians off the bank and into the river. Seeing that he had broken the Persian line, Alexander led his horse companions in oblique order further to the right in order to outflank the Persians and buy time for his infantry to cross

20832-521: The river. Several high-ranking Persian nobles were killed by Alexander himself or his bodyguards, although Alexander was stunned by an axe-blow from a Persian nobleman named Spithridates. Before the noble could deal a death-blow, however, he was killed by Cleitus the Black . The Macedonian cavalry opened a hole in the Persian line as the Macedonian infantry advanced, forcing the enemy back and eventually breaking their center. The Persian cavalry turned and fled

21000-559: The rule of the Achaemenids, and his untimely death threw the vast territories he conquered into a series of civil wars commonly known as the Wars of the Diadochi . Alexander assumed kingship over ancient Macedonia following the assassination of his father, Philip II ( r.  359–336 BC ). During his two decades on the throne, Philip II had unified the poleis (Greek city-states) of mainland Greece (with Macedonian hegemony) under

21168-476: The seven bodyguards who served as Alexander the Great 's generals and deputies, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC. In 305 BC, he declared himself King Ptolemy I, later known as "Soter" (saviour) for his role in helping the Rhodians during the siege of Rhodes . Ptolemy built new cities such as Ptolemais Hermiou in upper Egypt and settled his veterans throughout

21336-407: The spread of Greek culture was not the generalized phenomenon that the term implies. Some areas of the conquered world were more affected by Greek influences than others. The term Hellenistic also implies that the Greek populations were of majority in the areas in which they settled, but in many cases, the Greek settlers were actually the minority among the native populations. The Greek population and

21504-514: The stage for the battle near the mouth of the Pinarus River and south of the village of Issus . Darius was apparently unaware that, by deciding to stage the battle on a river bank, he was minimizing the numerical advantage his army had over Alexander's. Initially, Alexander chose what was apparently unfavorable ground. This surprised Darius who mistakenly elected to hold the wrong position while Alexander instructed his infantry to take up

21672-419: The strategic hill-fort after the fourth day of a bloody fight. This fight was the challenge Alexander was looking for, an army with huge elephants that were almost able to defeat Alexander. After gaining control of the former Achaemenid satrapy of Gandhara , including the city of Taxila , Alexander advanced into Punjab , where he engaged in battle against the regional king Porus , whom Alexander defeated in

21840-497: The term Hellenistic to refer to and define the period when Greek culture spread in the non-Greek world after Alexander's conquest. Following Droysen, Hellenistic and related terms, e.g. Hellenism , have been widely used in various contexts; a notable such use is in Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold , where Hellenism is used in contrast with Hebraism . The major issue with the term Hellenistic lies in its convenience, as

22008-507: The throne of the Pharaohs , giving him the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt , and named him the incarnation of Ra and Osiris . He set in motion plans to build Alexandria , and, though future tax revenues would be channeled to him, he left Egypt under the management of Egyptians, which helped to win him their support. The Battle of Gaugamela took place in 331 BC in what is now Iraqi Kurdistan , possibly near Dohuk , and resulted in

22176-431: The title of king. Athens later allied itself to Ptolemaic Egypt to throw off Macedonian rule, eventually setting up a religious cult for the Ptolemaic kings and naming one of the city's phyles in honour of Ptolemy for his aid against Macedon. In spite of the Ptolemaic monies and fleets backing their endeavors, Athens and Sparta were defeated by Antigonus II during the Chremonidean War (267–261 BC). Athens

22344-605: The tripartite territorial division of the Hellenistic age was in place, with the main Hellenistic powers being Macedon under Demetrius's son Antigonus II Gonatas , the Ptolemaic kingdom under Ptolemy 's son Ptolemy II and the Seleucid empire under Seleucus' son Antiochus I Soter . Epirus was a northwestern Greek kingdom in the western Balkans ruled by the Molossian Aeacidae dynasty. Epirus

22512-585: The use of diplomacy , Alexander ignored the advice and instead proceeded to gather his Macedonian cavalry of 3,000 men. Together, the army rode south towards Thessaly (Macedon's immediate neighbor to the south). When he found the Thessalian army blocking the pass between Mount Olympus and Mount Ossa , he had his men ride over Mount Ossa. When the Thessalians awoke, they found Alexander at their rear. The Thessalians quickly surrendered, and their cavalry

22680-545: The war against the Spartan king Cleomenes III , and occupied Sparta . Philip V , who came to power when Doson died in 221 BC, was the last Macedonian ruler with both the talent and the opportunity to unite Greece and preserve its independence against the "cloud rising in the west": the ever-increasing power of Rome. He was known as "the darling of Hellas". Under his auspices the Peace of Naupactus (217 BC) brought

22848-548: The winter of 330 BC, at the Battle of the Persian Gate northeast of today's Yasuj in Iran , the Persian satrap Ariobarzanes led a last stand of the Persian forces. After the Battle of Gaugamela in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan , Alexander had advanced to Babylon and Susa . A Royal Road connected Susa with the more eastern capitals of Persepolis and Pasargadae in Persis (the Persian Empire had several "capitals"), and

23016-421: Was a boy (as it was, becoming Alexander IV ). Perdiccas himself would become regent ( epimeletes ) of the empire, and Meleager his lieutenant. Soon, however, Perdiccas had Meleager and the other infantry leaders murdered and assumed full control. The generals who had supported Perdiccas were rewarded in the partition of Babylon by becoming satraps of the various parts of the empire, but Perdiccas' position

23184-507: Was a child, agreed to treat him. Although he soon fell into a coma, he eventually recovered. The Battle of Issus took place in southern Anatolia on November 333 BC. After Alexander's forces defeated the Persians at the Battle of the Granicus , Darius took personal charge of his army, gathered a large army from the depths of the empire, and maneuvered to cut the Greek line of supply, requiring Alexander to countermarch his forces, setting

23352-548: Was a union of Thracian tribes under the kings of the powerful Odrysian tribe. Various parts of Thrace were under Macedonian rule under Philip II of Macedon , Alexander the Great , Lysimachus , Ptolemy II , and Philip V but were also often ruled by their own kings. The Thracians and Agrianes were widely used by Alexander as peltasts and light cavalry , forming about one-fifth of his army. The Diadochi also used Thracian mercenaries in their armies and they were also used as colonists. The Odrysians used Greek as

23520-463: Was able to drive out the Macedonians from the Peloponnese and free Corinth, which duly joined the league. One of the few city states who managed to maintain full independence from the control of any Hellenistic kingdom was Rhodes . With a skilled navy to protect its trade fleets from pirates and an ideal strategic position covering the routes from the east into the Aegean, Rhodes prospered during

23688-559: Was added to Alexander's force. He then proceeded south, towards the Peloponnese . Alexander stopped at Thermopylae , where he was recognized as the leader of the Sacred League before heading south to Corinth . Athens sued for peace and Alexander received the envoy and pardoned anyone involved with the uprising. At Corinth, he was given the title ' Hegemon ' of the Greek forces against the Persians. Whilst at Corinth, he heard

23856-483: Was also a center of education, where Celts went to learn Greek. A staunch ally of Rome, Massalia retained its independence until it sided with Pompey in 49 BC and was then taken by Caesar's forces . The city of Emporion (modern Empúries ), originally founded by Archaic-period settlers from Phocaea and Massalia in the 6th century BC near the village of Sant Martí d'Empúries (located on an offshore island that forms part of L'Escala , Catalonia , Spain ),

24024-406: Was among the first of many satraps to capitulate. As these satraps gave up, Alexander appointed new ones to replace them, and claimed to distrust the accumulation of absolute power into anyone's hands. There appeared to be little change from the old system. Alexander, however, appointed independent boards to collect tribute and taxes from the satrapies, which appeared to do nothing more than improve

24192-478: Was an ally of Macedon during the reigns of Philip II and Alexander. In 281 Pyrrhus (nicknamed "the eagle", aetos ) invaded southern Italy to aid the city state of Tarentum . Pyrrhus defeated the Romans in the Battle of Heraclea and at the Battle of Asculum . Though victorious, he was forced to retreat due to heavy losses, hence the term " Pyrrhic victory ". Pyrrhus then turned south and invaded Sicily but

24360-533: Was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus ("the thunderbolt"), who had taken refuge at the Seleucid court and then had himself acclaimed as king of Macedon. Ptolemy was killed when Macedon was invaded by Gauls in 279 BC —his head stuck on a spear—and the country fell into anarchy. Antigonus II Gonatas invaded Thrace in the summer of 277 and defeated a large force of 18,000 Gauls. He was quickly hailed as king of Macedon and went on to rule for 35 years. At this point

24528-582: Was assassinated. Succeeding his father, Alexander took over the Persian war himself. During a decade of campaigning, Alexander conquered the whole Persian Empire , overthrew the Persian king Darius III . The conquered lands included Asia Minor , Assyria , the Levant , Egypt , Mesopotamia , Media , Persia , and parts of modern-day Afghanistan , Pakistan , and the steppes of central Asia. The years of constant campaigning had taken their toll, however, and Alexander died in 323 BC. After his death,

24696-519: Was crushed at the Battle of Sellasia (222 BC) by the Achaean league and Macedon, who restored the power of the ephors . Other city states formed federated states in self-defense, such as the Aetolian League ( est. 370 BC), the Achaean League ( est. 280 BC), the Boeotian league , the "Northern League" ( Byzantium , Chalcedon , Heraclea Pontica and Tium ) and

24864-469: Was defeated and captured by the Romans in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC). During the Hellenistic period, the importance of Greece proper within the Greek-speaking world declined sharply. The great centers of Hellenistic culture were Alexandria and Antioch , capitals of Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria respectively. The conquests of Alexander greatly widened the horizons of

25032-621: Was defeated in 288 BC when Lysimachus of Thrace and Pyrrhus of Epirus invaded Macedon on two fronts, and quickly carved up the kingdom for themselves. Demetrius fled to central Greece with his mercenaries and began to build support there and in the northern Peloponnese. He once again laid siege to Athens after they turned on him, but then struck a treaty with the Athenians and Ptolemy, which allowed him to cross over to Asia Minor and wage war on Lysimachus' holdings in Ionia , leaving his son Antigonus Gonatas in Greece. After initial successes, he

25200-475: Was dragged alive by chariot beneath the walls of the city. Alexander, who admired courage in his enemies and might have been inclined to show mercy to the brave Persian general, was infuriated at Batis's refusal to kneel and by the enemy commander's haughty silence and contemptuous manner. With Gaza taken, Alexander marched into Egypt. His entry was described as "closer to a triumphant procession than an invasion." They welcomed Alexander as their king, placed him on

25368-453: Was forced to surrender to Seleucus in 285 BC and later died in captivity. Lysimachus, who had seized Macedon and Thessaly for himself, was forced into war when Seleucus invaded his territories in Asia Minor and was defeated and killed in 281 BC at the Battle of Corupedium , near Sardis . Seleucus then attempted to conquer Lysimachus' European territories in Thrace and Macedon, but he

25536-610: Was guided by Memnon, while absolute command was split among the five satraps. The Battle of the Granicus River in May 334 BC was fought in Northwestern Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), near the site of Troy . After crossing the Hellespont , Alexander advanced up the road to the capital of the Satrapy of Phrygia . The various satraps of the Persian Empire gathered their forces at the town of Zelea and offered battle on

25704-527: Was influenced by Greek designs, and Greek letters can be found on various Celtic coins, especially those of Southern France . Traders from Massalia ventured inland deep into France on the Rivers Durance and Rhône , and established overland trade routes deep into Gaul , and to Switzerland and Burgundy . The Hellenistic period saw the Greek alphabet spread into southern Gaul from Massalia (3rd and 2nd centuries BC) and according to Strabo , Massalia

25872-750: Was inhabited by various Illyrian tribes and kingdoms such as the kingdom of the Dalmatae and of the Ardiaei , who often engaged in piracy under Queen Teuta (reigned 231–227 BC). Further inland was the Illyrian Paeonian Kingdom and the tribe of the Agrianes . Illyrians on the coast of the Adriatic were under the effects and influence of Hellenisation and some tribes adopted Greek, becoming bilingual due to their proximity to

26040-426: Was joined by Eumenes) and was supported by Antigonus, Lysimachus and Ptolemy. In 317 BC, Cassander invaded Macedonia, attaining control of Macedon, sentencing Olympias to death and capturing the boy king Alexander IV , and his mother. In Asia, Eumenes was betrayed by his own men after years of campaign and was given up to Antigonus who had him executed. The third war of the Diadochi broke out because of

26208-465: Was located both on the Mediterranean coast as well as a nearby Island with two natural harbors on the landward side. At the time of the siege, the city held approximately 40,000 people, though the women and children were evacuated to Carthage , an ancient Phoenician colony. Alexander sent an envoy to Tyre, proposing a peace treaty, and asked to visit their city and offer sacrifices to their God Melqart . The Tyrians politely told Alexander that their town

26376-413: Was neutral in the war, and that allowing him to offer sacrifices to Melqart would be tantamount to recognizing him as their king. Alexander considered building a causeway that would allow his army to take the town by force. His engineers did not believe it would be possible to build such a massive structure, and so Alexander sent peace envoys once more to propose an alliance. The Tyrians believed this to be

26544-446: Was no water. As his army approached Mount Taurus , they found only one route through which to pass, which was a narrow defile called "The Gates". The defile was very narrow, and could have been easily defended. However, the Persian satrap of Cappadocia had an inflated view of his own abilities. He had been at the Battle of the Granicus River , and had believed that Memnon's scorched Earth strategy would work here. He did not realize that

26712-468: Was pre-eminent but not all-powerful. Spartan hegemony was succeeded by a Theban hegemony after the Battle of Leuctra (371 BC), but after the Battle of Mantinea (362 BC) , all of Greece was so weakened that no one state could claim pre-eminence. It was against this backdrop that the ascendancy of Macedon began, under king Philip II . Macedon was located at the periphery of the Greek world, and although its royal family claimed Greek descent,

26880-520: Was reestablished in the 5th century BC with a new city ( neapolis ) on the Iberian mainland . Emporion contained a mixed population of Greek colonists and Iberian natives, and although Livy and Strabo assert that they lived in different quarters , these two groups were eventually integrated. The city became a dominant trading hub and center of Hellenistic civilization in Iberia, eventually siding with

27048-471: Was shaky because, as Arrian writes, "everyone was suspicious of him, and he of them". The first of the Diadochi wars broke out when Perdiccas planned to marry Alexander's sister Cleopatra and began to question Antigonus I Monophthalmus ' leadership in Asia Minor . Antigonus fled for Greece, and then, together with Antipater and Craterus (the satrap of Cilicia who had been in Greece fighting

27216-407: Was still vast in area and in manpower reserves, and Darius could recruit more men than Alexander could dream of. Also present in the Persian army, a sign that the Persians were still very powerful, were the feared war elephants. While Darius had a significant advantage in number of soldiers, most of his troops were not as organized as Alexander's. The battle began with the Persians already present at

27384-513: Was the first to adopt this custom), having themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participating in Egyptian religious life. The Ptolemaic ruler cult portrayed the Ptolemies as gods, and temples to the Ptolemies were erected throughout the kingdom. Ptolemy I even created a new god, Serapis , who was a combination of two Egyptian gods: Apis and Osiris, with attributes of Greek gods . Ptolemaic administration was, like

27552-478: Was the natural venue for Alexander's continued campaign. After the conquest of Susa, Alexander split the Macedonian army into two parts. Alexander's general, Parmenion , took one half along the Royal Road, and Alexander himself took the route towards Persis. Passing into Persis required traversing the Persian Gates, a narrow mountain pass that lent itself easily to ambush. Believing that, after his victory over

27720-491: Was then occupied by Macedonian troops, and run by Macedonian officials. Sparta remained independent, but it was no longer the leading military power in the Peloponnese . The Spartan king Cleomenes III (235–222 BC) staged a military coup against the conservative ephors and pushed through radical social and land reforms in order to increase the size of the shrinking Spartan citizenry able to provide military service and restore Spartan power. Sparta's bid for supremacy

27888-567: Was triumphantly campaigning north, the Thebans and Athenians rebelled once more. Alexander reacted immediately, but, while the other cities once again hesitated, Thebes decided to resist with the utmost vigor. This resistance was useless, however, as the city was razed to the ground amid great bloodshed and its territory divided between the other Boeotian cities. The end of Thebes cowed Athens into submission, leaving all of Greece at least outwardly at peace with Alexander. In 334 BC, Alexander crossed

28056-404: Was unsuccessful and returned to Italy. After the Battle of Beneventum (275 BC) Pyrrhus lost all his Italian holdings and left for Epirus. Pyrrhus then went to war with Macedonia in 275 BC, deposing Antigonus II Gonatas and briefly ruling over Macedonia and Thessaly until 272. Afterwards, he invaded southern Greece and was killed in battle against Argos in 272 BC. After

28224-408: Was wounded seriously in the ankle. According to Curtius , "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubbles". A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi. In the aftermath of Massaga and Ora, numerous Assakenians fled to the fortress of Aornos . Alexander followed close behind their heels and captured

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