Age of Alexander: The Greek Empire

How the Macedonian conqueror reshaped the ancient Mediterranean world.

The Alexander Mosaic, from the House of the Faun, c.100 BC

Alexander the Great was one of the world’s most powerful conquerors. Coming from the fringes of the Greek-speaking world, he led the Macedonians to establish an empire stretching from Egypt to India. In this process, known as Hellenization, the Greeks exported their way of life across the known world. Under Alexander’s leadership, the Greeks attempted to institute a philosophical brotherhood of man. But plighted by internal strife, Alexander’s grand empire would crumble almost as quickly as it had been built. Here is the story of how Alexander’s conquests created an vast Greek-speaking culture that stretched across the entire Mediterranean.

War for the Peloponnese 

It was 404 BC. It was the end of 27 years of bloody civil war. Athens, which once possessed a dominant navy, had been started into submission by its Spartan archenemy. The Athenian generals led their fleet into defeat at Aegospotami. In the decades after Athens’ demise, Greek hegemony would be contested between the two city-states of Sparta and Thebes. But in 359 BC, a 23-year-old man from the remote northern region of Macedonia became king. Within two decades, he would transform the geopolitical landscape of Greece. His name was Philip II, Alexander’s father. 

King Philip

Macedonia was a unique part of Greece. It had potential through its manpower and natural resources, but never managed to achieve much greatness. The other Greeks regarded the Macedonians to be barely civilized. Yet within a span of 20 years, King Philip transformed Macedonia into Greece’s most fearsome and respected military machine. Philip built his empire on two foundations. He operated on a complex interplay of diplomacy and strength. He began by forging crafty alliances with his neighboring city-states, while at the same time modernizing Macedonia’s military. Soldiering became a full-time, highly trained profession. The key to Philip’s preeminence was his cadre of military engineers, who designed ingenious weapons of warfare. Their innovations forever transformed the way that conflicts could be fought. 

Phalanx warfare

The Macedonians were not considered real Greeks by the Hellenic city-states. They came from a tribe called the Macedonia. They had been fighting barbarians for so long, that the Greeks could no longer distinguish them from their uncivilized enemies. But Philip II was no barbarian. He was a brilliant man of unrivaled proportions. The secret to his strategy was a lethal combination of cavalry with infantry. Philip’s infantry relied on a special formation, known as the phalanx. These soldiers formed into a rectangle, who could travel much quicker than their rivals. Prior to Philip, the phalanx formation had been used for centuries. But the King added a new special weapon. It was a long spear called a sarissa. The sarissa spear was nearly 18 feet long. It was capable to impaling the enemy long before the Greeks could whip out their shorter swords in a counterattack. Equipped with these spears, the Greek phalanx became an impregnable formation. It was the ancient equivalent of a tank. Nothing could stop it. Well-drilled, well-disciplined, and well-equipped, the Macedonian phalanx was an unstoppable force. But it would be their superior engineering that would help the Macedonians become masters of Greece. 

Catapults of doom

Traditionally, the Greeks were not very good at siege warfare. But this rapidly changed around 400 BC. The bow and arrow had been used for millennia, but its power was limited by the strength of the user’s arms. The Greeks improved this weapon by harnessing mechanical power from the whole body, not just the arms. These weapons were very similar to crossbows, and were known as belly shooters, or gastraphetes. It was a deadly improvement. But to conquer the world, Philip needed something better. The Greeks designed a belly shooter, but in catapult form. It was called the bolt shooter, or oxybeles. Instead of using the human body, the device was powered by the mechanical tensions of twisted ropes. Distance no longer protected the Greeks’ enemies from a sudden and bloody death. When fired, the bolt shooter could pierce right through armor and shields nearly a quarter of a mile away. Because of this, the weapon was called a “catapult,” which literally means “skin penetrator.” With his powerful weapons of war, Philip’s Macedonia was unstoppable against the other Greek city-states. At the Battle of Coronea in 338 BC, King Philip defeated Athens and Thebes, securing his undisputed dominance over Greece. Alexander was aged 18 at the time. 

Birth of Greece

But Philip made an extraordinary decision. He allowed the Athenians to return home in peace. He showed clemency toward the other city-states. He could have simply razed them to the ground, as the infamous Genghis Khan would do centuries later. Through his conflicts with Thebes, the Macedonian Philip encountered the glorious culture of the Hellenic Greeks. As a king, he invited Greek philosophers and teachers to Macedonia. Philip’s entire court spoke Athenian Greek. Philip was enamored by Hellenic culture. Rather than destroying it, the King wanted to assimilate into it and spread it. As King Philip consolidated his control over Greece, he prepared to accomplish his life’s work, which was to conquer the Persians. Just before Philip could wage his campaign, he held a public celebration feast. As he marched alone, ahead of his bodyguards, Philip was assassinated by one of them in 336 BC. A dagger was plunged into his chest. The 46-year-old Greek King had met an untimely demise. But Philip’s vision to conquer Persia would not die with him. His 20-year-old son, Alexander the Great, would take up Philip’s army and technology to Hellenize the entire known world. 

Alexander the Great

Alexander lived from 356 to 323 BC. He was one of history’s greatest commanders. He was brilliant on the battlefield. While he inherited a military juggernaut, it was his own genius that laid the groundwork for successful conquests. In 334 BC, Alexander led 35,000 Macedonians into battle against the Persian Empire. Persia was a superpower of the ancient world. It dominated the Middle East and Asia Minor. Alexander rampaged through modern-day Turkey, cutting deep into Persian territory. But the Persians still had a fatal weapon that Alexander needed to neutralize. Unlike their Greek foes, the Persians possessed a first-rate naval fleet. In order to diffuse the naval threat, Alexander and his men laid siege to the naval bases of the Persian Empire. 

Siege of Tyre

Alexander continued to march south along the Mediterranean coast, besieging the cities and ports that resisted him. He landed at the fortified city of Tyre, which proved to be his biggest challenge. Tyre was an offshore island, which was protected by a powerful navy. At first, Alexander used diplomacy. The Greek leader urged the city’s leaders to accept a peace treaty. Tyre refused, and murdered Alexander’s ambassadors, whose bodies were ignominiously thrown from the top of the city walls into the sea. Alexander now faced a serious problem. He had to get his land forces across the water into the Tyrian island. To do this, he needed to rely on his engineers. The conqueror also needed weapons that could tear down Tyre’s fortifications. To traverse the water, Alexander’s engineers created a bridge, which was about 200 feet wide and half a mile long. He then deployed his siege tower. A siege tower was a movable, multi-storied wooden structure that moved on wheels. The outside was fire-proofed using rawhide. Inside were stairs and platforms, where catapults were used to launch at Tyre’s walls. Down below, the Macedonians rammed into the city’s walls. After days of siege, Alexander’s men managed to break through the Tyrian fortifications. The Macedonian conqueror proceeded to unleash a campaign of total destruction. Trumpets blared ominously. Flags blew in the wind. Men were screaming with rage. Tyre fell to the Greeks. 

Conquest of Egypt

Alexander resumed his conquests through Palestine. With soaring confidence, the Macedonian general set his imperial sights on the mighty Kingdom of Egypt. He was entranced by the pyramids and royal tombs. It was an ancient culture that Alexander revered. But there was a more practical reason for Alexander’s rapacious lust for conquest. Egypt was the breadbasket of the Mediterranean, providing essential grain supplies. Its wheat fields were too good to pass up to feed Alexander’s empire. However, unlike Tyre, Egypt was easily persuaded to accept Alexander’s rule. He was greeted as a liberator and a powerful man. They literally crowned him as a god. In 331 BC, the 24-year-old Alexander became the pharaoh of Egypt, and was declared the son of the Egyptian supreme deity Amun. Having been so successful as a conqueror, Alexander began to genuinely regard himself as a literal god. He was not just pretending. 

Hellenistic Age

By the late 4th century BC, many Greek settlements began to spring forth out of Alexander’s military conquests. Hellenic cities provided government administration. Culturally, they helped to spread a unified sense of Greek identity through a shared language, culture, and learning. The Greek model of city engineering would be exported by Alexander to the farthest reaches of his vast Mediterranean empire. One notable fashion feature was the clean-shaven look. Alexander ordered his men to shave their beards, so that  enemies could not grab facial hair in close combat. This shaved look, which is often seen in sculptures of Alexander, became the standard look of the Hellenistic Age, unlike the traditional beards of Classical Greece. By 325 BC, Alexander’s empire extended almost 3,000 miles, from Greece in the west, to India in the east. His army left behind a new Greek world. Alexander’s policy was one of accommodation and assimilation. He left behind soldiers to intermarry with local women. Troops served as administrators in Alexander’s flowering Greek empire. Towns that had been Persian, Egyptian, and Indian were remade in the image of Greek culture. It was an invasion of local customs, which produced unique and interesting hybrid cultures, collectively known as Hellenism. It was very similar to modern-day globalization. People adopted the Greek language as a lingua franca. They assimilated into Greek customs, especially the Greek model of city planning. Since the 5th century BC, the Greeks had used grid plans to construct cities. It was seen as a symbol of order. Any government that could create rectilinear grids was regarded as a powerful force to be reckoned with. A classic example of a Hellenistic city was Pergamon, located in modern-day Turkey. It had everything that you would normally find in a Greek city. Agoras, temples, gymnasiums, and theaters were built. In fact, Pergamon actually rivaled Athens as the cultural center of the Hellenistic Age. The sculptural style of this Hellenistic settlement inspired Michelangelo’s iconic Renaissance artworks. In Pergamon, sculptures were infused with a lively drama and action. Today, it remains a monument to the spectacular achievements of ancient Greek engineering.  

The Greek city

The agora was the beating heart of any Greek-style city. It was where merchants sold their goods, and where citizens discussed the political issues of the day. Next to the agora was the stoa, which was something of an ancient mall. The stoa consisted of a walkway in between colonnades. It was an open space, yet sheltered from the outdoor elements. Then, there was the theater. Drama is a democratic art form, and it originated from ancient Athens. Theater was an essential aspect of Greek culture and self-understanding. Theaters served as forums for social commentary. Their architecture inspired the later coliseums of the ancient Romans for the next two millennia. Unlike modern theaters, ancient Greek theaters were capable of holding thousands of spectators. They were usually carved out the side of a mountain. The semi-circle shape allowed for easily audible acoustics. Whispers bounced freely off the walls, reaching the farthest corners of the theater. Actors donned masks, which indicated the character and also served as a megaphone on the lips. Theaters were divided into three parts. The theatron, or viewing area, was where the audience sat. The orchestra was where the dancing took place. The skene served as a backstage room, which allowed for early set designs. 

Fall of an empire

In just ten years, Alexander had created one of the world’s most powerful civilizations. By 323 BC, it spread from Greece in the west, to Egypt, to India in the east. While technology played a great role, it was Alexander’s personal charisma that served an even greater one. He was capable to command the undying respect of thousands of troops. By after 13 years of conquest and toil, his troops refused to go any further. Returning from India, Alexander was struck by a mysterious ailment. It might have been an infection, fatigue, alcohol, or poisoning. On June 10, 323 BC, just a month shy of age 33, the most powerful man was dead. But with his untimely death, the empire would quickly splinter into smaller kingdoms. The fragmentation would be bloody and uneasy. A powerful struggle ensued between Alexander’s generals. They carved out their own Hellenistic kingdoms, which vied for dominance. 

Ptolemy’s Kingdom

The Kingdom of Egypt was inherited by Alexander’s general Ptolemy. His kingdom in the Nile became an eclectic fusion of Greek and Egyptian culture. The dynasty lasted for almost 300 years. Ptolemy was hungry to inherit the wealthy Mediterranean breadbasket that was Egypt. To secure his legitimacy, Ptolemy seized Alexander’s body and brought it to Alexandria, a city founded by Alexander 15 years earlier. Under Ptolemy’s adept leadership, Alexandria emerged as the scientific and intellectual capital of the Greek world. He sought to rely on Greek and Egyptian science to forge a New Athens. 

Lighthouse

Strategically placed at the coastline, Alexandria was vital to regional trade. To encourage trade, Ptolemy embarked on the construction of the world’s first-ever lighthouse. This allowed ships to see for miles. It was the second-tallest building, only surpassed by the Giza Pyramid. According to legend, it stood at 300 feet tall, or about the size of the American Statue of Liberty. Some estimates claim the Lighthouse of Alexandria was as tall as 450 feet. How the lighthouse was built remains a mystery. But 25 miles from it, a scaled-down replica was found. Based on that model, the Lighthouse apparently had three levels. The lower level was square. The middle level was octagonal. The top level was cylindrical. On the top was a beacon, which emanated a powerful light into the sea. This was probably accomplished by burning wood. The Lighthouse stood for over a millennium and a half. But around 1300 AD, it collapsed permanently from an earthquake. For nearly seven centuries, its remains were buried in the Mediterranean Sea. Then, in 1994, a team of divers and archeologists uncovered massive stones in Alexandria’s harbor. Those stones weighed as much as 70 tons. One of them is believed to have been the lintel of the Lighthouse’s doorway. 

Great Library

In addition to the Lighthouse, Ptolemy oversaw the construction of yet another wonder of the ancient world. This was the Great Library of Alexandria, which boasted a collection of over 200,000 scrolls dedicated to knowledge and learning. One engineer experimented with steam power over 1700 years before the world’s first-ever steam locomotive. The Ptolemaic city of Alexandria was a vibrant cosmopolitan center of the ancient world. It possessed a massive Museum, which is considered one of the world’s earliest research centers. For the first time in history, knowledge became a commercially viable commodity. Many discoveries made in Alexandria two centuries before Christ would not break into the West’s scientific mainstream for another 1800 years. Pupils were taught that the Earth was round. Eratosthenes, one of the era’s greatest astronomers, calculated the circumference of the Earth within a single percentage of accuracy. 

Glory of Alexandria

Although Ptolemy himself was a Macedonian Greek, the secret to his Kingdom’s success was in the ability to assimilate into the existing Egyptian culture. His family went to great lengths to adopt Egyptian customs as their own. The Egyptian pharaohs had a practice of incest marriages. This was based on the idea that only a sister, who shared her brother’s divine origins, was an appropriate companion and spouse. In this vein, Ptolemy’s son, named Ptolemy II, married his sister Arsinoe. The Greek rulers of Egypt were happy to adopt the status as living gods among the Egyptian populace. Ptolemy died in 283 BC of natural causes. He did not live to see the completion of the Library and Lighthouse. After the death of this enlightened Greek ruler, Alexandria continued to be a major center of Hellenistic civilization. The cosmopolitan city produced some of the era’s greatest thinkers. It was in Alexandria, during the reign of Ptolemy II, that the Hebrew Bible was first translated into Greek. In the first century AD, Alexandria produced one of the ancient world’s greatest mechanical engineers. His name was Hero. He had many brilliant ideas, including for fire extinguishers, odometers, and even automatic doors. He even conducted early experiments in steam power, which would not be perfected until the English did it in the 18th century AD. Hero built an early version of the steam engine, called the aeolipile. However, because of Egypt’s brutal system of slave labor, there was no need for inventors to usher in a Steam Age. Although Alexandria burned down in unclear circumstances, the glorious legacy of this flourishing ancient city continues to inspire people today.

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