Alexander at the battle of Issus
fragment of a large mosaic from Pompeii
now at the Naples Museum, Naples, Italy
Persian warrior, ceramic frieze from Susa
now at the Louvre Museum, Paris
Alexander at the battle of Issus
fragment of a large mosaic from Pompeii
now at the Naples Museum, Naples, Italy
Persian warrior, ceramic frieze from Susa
now at the Louvre Museum, Paris
Be sure to read carefully in the textbook pp. 31-33 to consider again the great Persian Empire, as well as pp. 114-123 on Alexander and his legacies. This section is especially important for those of you who are going to write your assignment for this unit on Alexander; but then also for everyone who will be completing the larger project on The Silk Road a bit later in the course.
First, let's look again at the map showing Alexander's conquests and the routes of his campaigns [in the textbook, on pg. 115]
You can see that Alexander went east and south, not west - in his day there was little or nothing of interest to a Macedonian king in that direction! His route took him through Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt - even into the desert west of the Nile to meet with an oracle living at a desert oasis, then through Mesopotamia, Iran, today's Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia. Many thousands of miles, for his army on foot, over rough and inhospitable terrain.
You can click on this chronology to see, month by month, where Alexander marched and what he did on this amazing campaign. Remember how old Alexander was in 336 BCE when he succeeded his father as king of Macedon (20 years old!).
Finally, look again at a map of the empire that Alexander created, and the kingdoms which followed his death. It will be helpful for you when you get to the longer project on the Silk Road.