Alexander the Great and the Spread of Greek Culture

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Alexander the Great conquered ancient Greece, Persia, Egypt, and India. He loved Greek culture so much that he spread it throughout his empire.

But before we get to Alexander, let's meet Alexander's father: Philip, King of Macedonia.

Philip was a young man around 300 BC when he was kidnapped, taken from his homeland, and held hostage for three years in a Greek city.

• Do you think he, therefore, grew up hating the Greeks?
• Might he promise to destroy them if he ever had the power to do so?

On the contrary, Philip learned to love everything Greek! He began to speak the Greek language and adopt Greek ways.

He agreed with the Greeks, who saw his people as barbarians while the Greeks were civilized. He resolved that if he ever got back home, he would bring Greek education and Greek culture to his homeland.

He did return home to Macedonia, a kingdom just north of Greece, where he grew up and eventually became king. As king, his dream was to unite all the Greek city-states into one empire under his rule.

Not only that, but he wanted to lead the united Greeks against the great Persian Empire! He wanted to conquer the known world and spread Greek culture everywhere.

Philip died before he could accomplish that daring plan; however, he left behind someone even more daring in his place: his son, Alexander.

• Do you think King Philip passed on his love for Greek learning and culture to his son?

Yes, he sure did! Though he could not spend much time at home teaching his child, Philip hired tutors for him.

Alexander's first tutor was a relative of his mother. This man's name was Leonidas of Epirus, and his goal was not to be gentle with Alexander but to toughen him up. He taught Alexander how to ride a horse and fight and made him go on long marches with very little food.

Lysimachus of Acarnania, Alexander's next tutor, was very different. King Philip hired him to make his boy more refined and civilized. So Lysimachus taught Alexander how to read, write, and play the lyre, a small, U-shaped stringed instrument.

Because of this, Alexander maintained a love of music throughout his life.

Finally, as the finishing touch to his education, Philip hired the famous philosopher Aristotle to teach Alexander. Aristotle was from Macedonia as well, so he was willing to come home and help his people learn the things he had learned from the Greek philosopher Plato in Athens.

^{Image by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, via Wikimedia Commons, is in the public domain.}

When Philip died, he left Alexander with a great education, a strong and united kingdom, and a large army.

• What else could he do but go out and conquer the world?

Watch the following animated video for an amusing introduction to Alexander's life before answering the questions below.

Watch one more short video on Alexander. This time, make a list of all the things you learned that were not in the previous video.

As you learned in the videos, Alexander did not live long enough to enjoy ruling his new empire. However, when he died, a new world began called the "Hellenistic" period of world history. This period of Greek influence lasted until the beginning of the Roman Empire.

Now that you've met Alexander, head over to the Got It? section, where you'll learn some more about his tutor Aristotle and create a timeline of Alexander's life and adventures!