| Period or Event | Ruler | Time-Frame | Overview |
| Hellenic Period | 480-323 BC | Hellenic aka Classical Greece. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander the Great | |||
| Hellenic → Hellenistic | Since Alexander both reinvented and propagated Greece in unprecedentedly successful and ambitious manners, the end of his reign marks a turning point in Greek history. It was at this point that the new Greece fragmented and thereby became an idea, a culture and a way of life that took the world by storm. Alexander inherited a powerful kingdom and an excellent army: these two tools enabled him to spread Greece throughout most of the world. This reincarnated the concept of being Greek to encompass anybody subscribing to the culture. Although Greece was increasingly unstable due to many decades of warfare, Alexander not only united it but made it a global phenomenon which persists to this day.
Following Alexander’s death, a struggle for power broke out among his generals, which resulted in the break-up of his empire and the establishment of a number of new kingdoms. Macedon fell to Cassander, son of Alexander’s leading general Antipater, who after several years of warfare made himself master of most of Greece. He founded a new Macedonian capital at Thessaloniki and was generally a constructive ruler. Following Alexander’s death, the entirety of Greece had expanded and was a worldpower. After this, though, it fragmented and dispersed. Greece itself waned, although the concept of Greece became evermore fierce. |
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| Caygill, Marjorie. 1999. The British Museum: A-Z Companion to the Collections. London: The British Museum Press. |
Alexander led 35,000 troops intro Asia Minor, where the Persian military made a series of bad decisions that resulted in Alexander readily overtaking all the port along the Aegean Sea coast from Asian Minor to Egypt. In order to accomplish the numerous sieges required for this task, he used Greek technology, which was superior to Persia’s.
Tyrants of Greek cities of Asia Minor were expelled and democracies were installed. Alexander continued his conquest of Persia, yet added a unique twist later on by marrying a Persian and forcing his army to take Persian wives as well. Even after pursuing the Persian King Darius relentlessly, Alexander organized an honorable state funeral and then executed the King’s murderers.
Alexander had to, from this point on, continue revising his military tactics as he conquered new territory. Upon entering Afghanistan, he befriended one of the region’s princes after enacting guirrela warfare. This was a sign of Alexander’s ability to seize control of a region while respecting those who inhabited the land prior. While overcoming India, Alexander’s army wore out and he had to return to his homeland to appease them. They took many of India’s intellectuals to Greece.
Once back in the seat of his empire, Alexander reorganized his empire. He meshed previously incompatible cultures and had grandiose plans for upcoming decades. Unfortunately, though, he died.
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