#头条创作挑战赛 #
Alexander's Empire was another name for the Macedonian kingdom during the reign of Alexander the Great.
During the reign of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian kingdom expanded to its limits, stretching from the Indus River in the east, Greece in the west, Egypt in the south, and the Black Sea and Amu Darya in Central Asia in the north. Spanning three continents in Asia, Africa and Europe, it is a vast empire built on military power.
Because Alexander the Great directly implemented a military repressive policy toward the conquered countries, forcing them to merge into the imperial territory by force, and there were no special measures for local management and governance, soon after Alexander the Great's death, the empire soon fell into civil strife and power struggle, and the huge empire suddenly fell apart.
But this does not mean that the huge empire established by Alexander the Great has no influence in the historical development of later generations, on the contrary, its influence in the subsequent historical development is even far more far-reaching than the huge empire he established in the territory.
The Kingdom of Macedonia is located in the northern part of the Greek peninsula, and for a long period of history, Macedonia was regarded as a barbaric foreign tribe by the Greek city-states.
At that time, the Persian Empire became powerful and continued to expand into Europe, and Greece, as the center of European civilization at that time, had many battles with the Persian Empire, and the famous Greek-Polish War took place during this period.
After the 6th century BC, Macedonia formed the early state through a series of reforms. During the Persian War, Macedonia was forced to depend on Persia.
For a time, Macedonia was unpopular with the Persians as charging forces and the Greeks as barbarian aliens. The Kingdom of Macedonia is on the brink of an extremely passive crisis.
In the 4th century BC, Macedonia was in a state of internal turmoil due to enemies on all sides, and its regent Philip II deposed the young emperor, eliminated political enemies, and proclaimed himself king.
During the reign of Philip II, Macedonia grew stronger. Although the Kingdom of Macedonia was not recognized by the Greek city-states, due to its proximity to Greece, the most prosperous Greek culture at that time certainly greatly affected the social and cultural development of Macedonia.
During this period, Philip II hired the famous Greek polymath Aristotle as his teacher for his son, the young Alexander.
Macedonia was greatly influenced by Persia militarily and politically, which was the basis of the later military-political system of the Alexander Empire.
In 338 BC, the Macedonian kingdom of Philip II defeated the Greek forces of Athens and Thebes, and Macedonia began to rule the Greek region, but Sparta remained independent as an important Greek city-state. At the same time, Greek city-states allied to form the Corinthian League, laying the foundation for the subsequent unification of Greece.
After the victory of Philip II over Greece, he took measures to strengthen Macedonian rule and influence by stationing troops throughout Greece, the same measure that Alexander the Great did for the conquered areas.
In 336 BC, Philip II was assassinated by the Persians and was succeeded by the twenty-year-old Alexander. Prior to this, the sudden death of Philip II led to chaos and power struggle within the Macedonian kingdom. Alexander, with his ingenuity and scheming, suppressed various forces in the country, and his political enemies were eliminated one by one.
Alexander's ascension to the throne, like that of his father Philip II, stood out in the fierce struggle for regime change, and used iron blood to subdue all sides.
At this time, the Greek city-states took advantage of the situation to launch an uprising against Macedonian rule, but it was suppressed by Alexander in a short time. Alexander then embarked on his crusade, an important goal of defeating the Persian Empire, which also included the purpose of avenging Philip II.
After quelling the revolt of the Greek city-states, in 334 AD, Alexander began the crusade.
Persia was a vast territory, rich in resources, and located at the main point of communication between the East and the West, and Alexander the Great's crusade was also a brutal war of plunder.
At that time, Persia was under the faint reign of Darius III, and Alexander defeated Persia at the Battle of Issus and continued his conquest to the east.
By 325 BC, Alexander had to end the crusade and withdraw from India because his soldiers refused to continue their conquest in India.
In 324 BC, after nearly 10 years of conquest, Alexander stopped at Babylon on his way back and established Alexander's Empire with Babylon as the capital.
Alexander himself was deeply influenced by Greek culture, and he always believed that Greek culture was the best and most civilized civilization in the world, and with this concept, his crusade also had a very strong idea of spreading Greek civilization.
In order to permeate his idea of establishing a "Hellenistic world", Alexander built a large number of new cities during the conquest, modeled on the Greek city-states, and migrated the nearby inhabitants and the population of the Greek region.
In the process, more than seventy ports, fortresses, and towns named Alexandria alone.
At the same time, Alexander violently destroyed the cities of a large number of conquered areas, forcing people to live in the new cities he had established.
This period is also known as the Hellenistic era, when the city of Alexandria, located at the mouth of the Nile River in Egypt, was the largest of the cities built, and the library in the city had a collection of 500,000 books, gathering scholars and outstanding talents from various countries at that time, which was also the largest library in the world at that time.
In the course of his later conquest of Persia, Alexander gradually realized that in addition to Greece, there were many regions where the culture was also very prosperous, just like Persia, whose civilization was as prosperous as Greece. To this end, Alexander the Great changed his rough conquest methods, trying to promote the integration of Greek and Persian civilizations through some more active means, creating a better foundation for the civilization of Alexander's empire.
Therefore, Alexander the Great personally proposed to Statila, the daughter of the Persian king Darius III, and encouraged soldiers and officers in the army to follow suit. It declared that "Macedonians and oriental women can enjoy the right to tax exemption if they married", and on the same day of Alexander the Great's wedding, ten thousand couples in his army were married at the same time.
The basis of Alexander's initiative to promote the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures was still dominated by Greece and Macedonia, but many of the cities he established became famous commercial centers in later generations, and Alexander the Great's crusade further opened up the passage of trade between the East and the West.
Alexander also built the new capital of Alexander's empire with Babylon as the center, and it intended to use it as a place of exchange for world civilizations, establish a Hellenistic world, and integrate more advanced civilizations.
During Alexander's crusade, the Persian Empire collapsed, the fleeing Darius III was killed by his subordinates, and he took strong revenge on the places that did not actively accept Alexander, especially the burning of royal palaces everywhere, and the destruction of civilization on his way to spread civilization.
After Alexander the Great's sudden illness and death, the vast empire he built quickly fell apart, but several of his divided states further spread Greek culture during his subsequent rule.
The Seleucid Kingdom founded by Seleucus I was the largest of the Hellenistic states, with its capital in Antioch, which ruled parts of Central Asia, West Asia, Asia Minor, and India, where Greek civilization spread, and because of the complexity of the peoples here, cultural exchanges between the East and the West were deep and frequent. Ancient China referred to this place as "Ti Zhi".
The Ptolemaic kingdom established by Ptolemy ruled Egypt and the surrounding areas, and this kingdom had a profound influence on Egypt, leading to the Hellenization of Egypt, and Alexandria at that time became an important center of exchange of Western civilization. It is rich in books and gathers a large number of scholars, supported by the state, and well-known scholars such as Euclid, Eratosthenes, Archimedes, etc. have made academic visits and research in Alexandria.
Cleopatra, the last queen of the Ptolemaic kingdom, also had an important influence when ancient Rome developed into an empire.
The Antigoric dynasty, centered on the original territory of the Macedonian kingdom, ruled the nearby areas and further promoted the spread of Greek culture to the surrounding areas. Under the rule of the Antigorics, Macedonia was able to integrate into the Greek civilization, which guided the development of Greek civilization to a deeper level in the surrounding areas, and in the process defeated the Celtic invasion and protected the Greek culture.
Alexander's main conquest of Persia, parts of India, and Egypt had a profound impact on the development of civilization in these three regions, and the role of the huge empire he established in opening up the trade routes between the East and the West, the Hellenistic civilization in these regions developed tremendously. Alexander was even revered by the people of the Nile Valley as the son and heir of the Pharaoh.
Out of the need to rule and his own love of Greek culture, Alexander believed that the new empire must be placed under the influence of the Greek spirit.
Therefore, he demanded that the people under the rule of the empire (including Egypt) learn Greek and live in cities built in Greek style, which objectively promoted the progress of civilization in some backward areas.
Alexander, the center of Greek culture at that time, Alexandria, did not have a huge collection of books obtained solely in the conquest, but also a large part of which was handed over to Alexander after other surrounding countries demanded that it retain the rubbing, similar to the destruction of local civilization in the conquest.
At that time, the ruler of Alexandria also organized an army to inspect the ships passing by here, and once they found that books and documents were confiscated, the civilization of other countries and regions was also very destructive in the case of slow cultural dissemination and backward transmission channels and media.
In the final analysis, Alexander the Great's act of cultural exchange, centered on Greek culture and with the Mediterranean region at its core, was fundamentally advancing the influence of Greek civilization, despite the expectation of establishing a new center in Babylon.
In addition to establishing Hellenistic cities in various regions, Alexander the Great also built a large number of Greek temples in these cities, and brought Greek social customs, cultural sciences, natural humanities, living habits, production methods and technologies to the various regions he conquered, and some people who followed Alexander became the de facto colonizers of these areas, and after the collapse of Alexander's empire, these people instead formed a ruling class everywhere, and under the rule of these Greek ~ Macedonians, Greek culture continued to spread. And with the local culture to integrate with each other, and then evolve into a new culture.
Ancient Greek culture, the source of this European culture, was more widely disseminated during this period, at the same time, the Indian civilization, Persian civilization, Egyptian civilization, and Greek civilization converged, coupled with the opening of the East-West exchange channel, Arab civilization also gradually participated in the objective activities of this cultural exchange, and the main contents of the Eastern and Western civilizations were further intersected and developed.
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