Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire - Professor Kenneth W. Harl

Suggested Reading Austin, Greece and Egypt in the Archaic Age. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander. Boardman, The Greeks Oveseas. Bosworth, Conquest and Empire. Bowman, Egypt after the Pharaoh. Burstein, “Alexander’s Organization of Egypt: A Note on the Career of Cleomenes of Naucratis.” Engels, Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army. Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria. Parker and Cerny, A Saite Oracle Papyrus from Thebes.

Questions to Consider

Lecture 14: Alexander, Pharaoh of Egypt

1. What was the strategic importance of Egypt? How did Alexander’s administrative organization of Egypt reflect this importance? 2. What moved Alexander to establish a Greek city in Egypt? Why was the founding of Alexandria such an important action? 3. How did the visit to the Oracle of Siwah influence Alexander’s own vision of himself? What most likely transpired in the exchange between Alexander and the priest? 4. Were Egyptians, Macedonians, and Greeks impressed by the stories circulated about the reputed response of Zeus-Ammon to Alexander?

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Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire - Professor Kenneth W. Harl

Published on Dec 3, 2016History

Sonjce Marceva

In 359 B.C., Macedon was an unstable barbarian kingdom on the fringes of the Hellenic world. Macedon’s kings, members of the Argead dynasty, claimed Greek descent and ruled over a mix of different peoples including Macedonians, but many others as well, none of whom were regarded as Hellenes, or members of the Greek national race. To Greeks, the Macedonians were regarded as “barbarians.” Archaeology has revealed that the Macedonians never participated in the material culture of the Greek world since the Late Bronze Age. Greek immigrants and goods were welcomed, but Macedonians remained a distinct, speaking a language unintelligible to Greek. King Archelaus adopted Attic Greek as the court language, built roads, and established market towns, but his subjects remained in habits far closer to their Balkan neighbors Illyrians, Paeonians, and Thracians.