The Empire Alexander Made Great

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The Vergina Sun, a symbol of the Ancient Macedonian Empire.

Throughout much of human history, there has been a cycle of empires falling and others rising to take their place. Before the Roman Empire conquered the Mediterranean theater, the Macedonian Empire was the top of the food chain. However, unlike the Romans after them, the Macedonians were unable to hold onto their vast territories for long before being split into successor states due to poor planning and a struggle for control between multiple people (Who wouldn’t want to rule the world?). While many civilizations gradually come to dominate their respective regions through the efforts of many rulers, the Macedonian Empire was formed largely by the feats of two larger-than-life men: Phillip II and his son Alexander the Great. Despite its fall, the Macedonian Empire left a mark on the Near East that lasts until today by uniting the region with a common language, culture, and philosophy that would shape it for centuries more.

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Artistic representation of Macedonian soldiers in a phalanx, a formation developed by Phillip II that he used to tremendous effect on the battlefield.

Like all empires, Macedon started small. In the 8th century BC, according to a what some consider a myth, a man named Caranus established the Macedonian Kingdom with himself as king. His successors, starting with Perdiccas I, slowly expanded Macedonian territory in the northern regions of Greece until the entirety of the plains and uplands in the region were finally conquered in the 4th century BC by Amyntas III. After the pathetically short reigns of two of Amyntas’s sons, his third son Phillip II turned the fledgling kingdom into a war machine. To do this, he completely restructured the terrible army into a hardcore band of professional soldiers, expert siege engineers, and devastating cavalry regiments. One of his best innovations was the Macedonian phalanx, which was a unit with ranks of men equipped with pikes and shields and led by commanders that was an unstoppable force in military engagements. Using his military prowess as well as diplomatic maneuvers, Phillip was able to unite most of the Pelopponesus, combining the many Greek city states into a congress of which he was the head. Ultimately, Phillip sought to take the fight to the Persian Empire, which had repeatedly attacked Greece and was the dominant power at the time.  To do this, he raised a son who was a deadly warrior with battle experience by the age of 18, a brilliant thinker tutored by Aristotle, and a decisive leader with unrivaled ambition. His name was Alexander.

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An ancient mosaic depicting Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon.

When Phillip II was murdered in 336 BC, Alexander ascended to the throne, a moment his entire life had prepared him for. He immediately began his campaign of conquest that would result in the destruction of the most powerful nation at the time: Persia. First, he attacked the cities immediately across from Greece in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). By 332 BC, he had battled his way eastward and conquered the entirety of Syria, and by 331 he had swept back west and conquered Egypt. Alexander then returned to the East, conquering Persia (modern day Iran), Afghanistan, and finally stopping at the Ganges River in India in the year 326 BC when his exhausted army mutinied and forced him to turn back. After dealing with internal problems, attempting to unite Persian and Greek culture, and living his life to the fullest, Alexander died from a fever in Babylon on June 11, 323 BC at the age of 32. Following his death, the empire was split among his most trusted advisors and generals and their respective empires conflicted with one another. Finally, in 148 BC, Macedon was conquered by Rome, and eventually the rest of Alexander’s previous holdings came under the rule of the Latin conquerors.

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A map of the Macedonian Empire at its furthest extent.

Although the Macedonian Empire fractured apart and was eventually conquered by other powers, it left a lasting impact on the lands it had controlled. People from India to Egypt, for the first time in history, were able to communicate through a common language: Greek. Alexander, unlike many other emperors, allowed the peoples of lands under his control to keep their cultures, religions, languages, and a degree of self-governance. The influence of Macedon was not quenched by the Roman Empire, and  Greek philosophy, science, language, and medicine were preserved for centuries, eventually being adopted by the Romans. Even today, the ability of the Macedonians to unite drastically different groups of people into a stable empire is an amazing feat, rivaled only by the great melting pot that is the United States of America, and we still have much to learn.

Sources:

http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/ConciseMacedonia/timeline.html

https://www.britannica.com/place/Macedonia-ancient-kingdom-Europe

http://www.ancient.eu/macedon/

http://www.ancient.eu/Alexander_the_Great/

http://www.ancient.eu/Philip_II_of_Macedon/

3 Responses

  1. njf5211 October 21, 2016 at 1:36 pm |

    This is so much better than reading Wikipedia. I love how your descriptions are concise and easy enough to understand that your post is engaging and enjoyable to read, while also being extremely informative.
    Love your title too!

    Reply
  2. tjd5567 October 21, 2016 at 1:46 pm |

    This was very well written and I loved how you were informative but still understandable. I liked how you gave the meat of the empire and not senseless background information to just fill space. Although it was a history piece I still find your post very fascinating to read, great job!

    Reply
  3. Jacky October 21, 2016 at 1:51 pm |

    Your post are so informative (but I’ll be honest, they’re a little “over my head” because I have little knowledge or interest in history). I really like your comparison at the end between the Macedonian Empire and America as melting pots. A civilly united country of mixed decent and culture seems pretty far out of reach for the United States at this point, but that doesn’t mean we won’t ever make our way closer to the sort of cooperative community the Macedonians created. Fingers crossed that histoy repeats itself here!

    Reply

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