BC330-311 Alexander the Great of Macedon
In the twenty years from 330-311 BC the entire known world east of Rome was controlled by a Macedonian Greek, Alexander the Great (pictured) who died in Babylon in 323 BC
By 324 BC, when Rome was engaged in the conquest of Italy -- and the patricians and the plebeians were engaged in internal politics -- Alexander the Great, Philip of Macedon's son, was riding high on his amazing conquests and Pytheas, a Greek merchant, geographer and explorer from the Greek colony of Massilia (Marseille) was exploring Great Britain and the northern lands.
The Macedonian Greeks first conquered the Greek mainland and peninsula, and then, literally, the whole of the known world. While there were numerous Greek cities on the Italian peninsula and Rome itself was heavily influenced by Greek culture and thought, the Romans didn't see Alexander as a threat.
At that stage in the development of the Roman Republic, the Romans were more interested in their own immediate security than with world domination.
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's Macedonian generals, was appointed satrap of Egypt in 323 BC and successfully started the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, declaring himself King Ptolemy I and winning acceptance as the successor to the pharaohs of independent Egypt.
Alexander pressed on in his ambition to conquer the world, advancing through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indus river valley. By 326 BC he had reached Punjab and could have advanced down the Ganges to Bengal but his army were superstitious -- convinced they were at the end of the world -- and refused to go any further. Alexander reluctantly turned back, and died of a fever in Babylon in 323 BC.
In the power struggle after Alexander's death his empire broke up quickly. The part of his empire that included Israel changed hands at least five times in just over twenty years. Babylonia and Syria were ruled by the Seleucids, and Egypt by the Ptolemies.
Nevertheless, his conquests permanently changed the Greek world. Thousands of Greeks travelled with him or after him to settle in the new Greek cities he had founded as he advanced, the most important being Alexandria in Egypt where Ptolemy, one of Alexander's Macedonian generals, would become pharoah.
Greek-speaking kingdoms in Egypt, Syria, Persia and Bactria were established and the knowledge and cultures of east and west began to permeate and interact.
Helping this dissemination of knowledge was was a Greek merchant, geographer and explorer from the Greek colony of Massilia (Marseille) called Pytheas (d. 310 BC) . He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe around 325 BC, travelling around a considerable part of Great Britain and circumnavigating it between 330 and 320 BC.
Pytheas is the first person on record to describe the Midnight Sun, the aurora and Polar ice, and the first to mention the name Britannia and Germanic tribes.
Pytheas estimated the circumference of Great Britain, and used the Pole Star to fix latitude. In northern Spain, he studied the tides, and understood the relationships between tides and phases of the Moon.
Pytheas was not the first person to sail up into the North Sea territories and around Great Britain.
Trade between Gaul and Great Britain was already routine; fishermen and others would travel to Orkney, Norway or Shetland.
In Cornwall, Great Britain, Pytheas studied the production and processing of tin, and referred to the British Isles as the 'Isles of the Pretani' possibly because the coastal inhabitants of Cornwall may have called themselves Pretani or Priteni, 'Painted' or 'Tattooed' people.
Pytheas also visited an island six days sailing north of Great Britain, called Thule which may have been Shetland. Pytheas says Thule was an agricultural country that produced honey and its inhabitants ate fruits and drank milk, and made a drink out of grain and honey. Unlike the people from Southern Europe, they had barns, and threshed their grain there rather than outside.
He also visited an island rich in amber that the inhabitants used for fuel and sold it to their neighbours, the Teutones. The island could have been Helgoland, Zealand in the Baltic Sea or even the shores of the Bay of Gdansk -- Sambia or the Curonian Lagoon -- which were historically the richest sources of amber in the North Europe.
By 324 BC, when Rome was engaged in the conquest of Italy -- and the patricians and the plebeians were engaged in internal politics -- Alexander the Great, Philip of Macedon's son, was riding high on his amazing conquests and Pytheas, a Greek merchant, geographer and explorer from the Greek colony of Massilia (Marseille) was exploring Great Britain and the northern lands.
The Macedonian Greeks first conquered the Greek mainland and peninsula, and then, literally, the whole of the known world. While there were numerous Greek cities on the Italian peninsula and Rome itself was heavily influenced by Greek culture and thought, the Romans didn't see Alexander as a threat.
At that stage in the development of the Roman Republic, the Romans were more interested in their own immediate security than with world domination.
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's Macedonian generals, was appointed satrap of Egypt in 323 BC and successfully started the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, declaring himself King Ptolemy I and winning acceptance as the successor to the pharaohs of independent Egypt.
Alexander pressed on in his ambition to conquer the world, advancing through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indus river valley. By 326 BC he had reached Punjab and could have advanced down the Ganges to Bengal but his army were superstitious -- convinced they were at the end of the world -- and refused to go any further. Alexander reluctantly turned back, and died of a fever in Babylon in 323 BC.
In the power struggle after Alexander's death his empire broke up quickly. The part of his empire that included Israel changed hands at least five times in just over twenty years. Babylonia and Syria were ruled by the Seleucids, and Egypt by the Ptolemies.
Nevertheless, his conquests permanently changed the Greek world. Thousands of Greeks travelled with him or after him to settle in the new Greek cities he had founded as he advanced, the most important being Alexandria in Egypt where Ptolemy, one of Alexander's Macedonian generals, would become pharoah.
Greek-speaking kingdoms in Egypt, Syria, Persia and Bactria were established and the knowledge and cultures of east and west began to permeate and interact.
Helping this dissemination of knowledge was was a Greek merchant, geographer and explorer from the Greek colony of Massilia (Marseille) called Pytheas (d. 310 BC) . He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe around 325 BC, travelling around a considerable part of Great Britain and circumnavigating it between 330 and 320 BC.
Pytheas is the first person on record to describe the Midnight Sun, the aurora and Polar ice, and the first to mention the name Britannia and Germanic tribes.
Pytheas estimated the circumference of Great Britain, and used the Pole Star to fix latitude. In northern Spain, he studied the tides, and understood the relationships between tides and phases of the Moon.
Pytheas was not the first person to sail up into the North Sea territories and around Great Britain.
Trade between Gaul and Great Britain was already routine; fishermen and others would travel to Orkney, Norway or Shetland.
In Cornwall, Great Britain, Pytheas studied the production and processing of tin, and referred to the British Isles as the 'Isles of the Pretani' possibly because the coastal inhabitants of Cornwall may have called themselves Pretani or Priteni, 'Painted' or 'Tattooed' people.
Pytheas also visited an island six days sailing north of Great Britain, called Thule which may have been Shetland. Pytheas says Thule was an agricultural country that produced honey and its inhabitants ate fruits and drank milk, and made a drink out of grain and honey. Unlike the people from Southern Europe, they had barns, and threshed their grain there rather than outside.
He also visited an island rich in amber that the inhabitants used for fuel and sold it to their neighbours, the Teutones. The island could have been Helgoland, Zealand in the Baltic Sea or even the shores of the Bay of Gdansk -- Sambia or the Curonian Lagoon -- which were historically the richest sources of amber in the North Europe.
Labels: alexander the great, bc330, indus, macedonian war, phytheas, pretani, ptolemy
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