Whee Did Greece Come From? (From Alexander the Great to Rome)

Alexander the Great

     Alexander the Great is a pretty familiar name to most people. He united almost all of Greece and conquered other areas to add to his kingdom. His personality is known to be fiery and sometimes impulsive. He came from Macedonia, a small kingdom on the sideline of Greece. However, when Alexander's father, Phillip II came into power, Macedonia started to grow. It pushed back its Grecian enemies and started to take back territory. Philip II loved war (and women); he wasn't usually around with Alexander, but by the time he was murdered, he had managed to conquer most of Greece, Thrace, and Illyria. He left his biggest dream, to conquer Persia, to Alexander. Olympia, Alexander's mother, and Aristotle, Alexander's tutor, were very influential in his life, and when his father died, Alexander was ready to murder all other heirs, take the throne, and carry on that dream. That's exactly what he did.
     Withe the help of his mother, he disposed of other competition, used the army to crown himself as king, and moved swiftly onward to subdue his own territory. Next, he gathered up the Macedonian troops for a long march, and he added Persia and Egypt to his kingdom. Then, he grabbed Northern India and Iran, setting up colonies in the latter. He wanted to pursue land past the Ganges River, but when his troops resisted, he decided to head back home. On the way, he was wounded, but that didn't stop him from having big ambitions. Next on his agenda was Carthage and Rome, but he had current matters to think about first. His own Macedonian troops were beginning to complain, and his efforts to keep the peace with Persia was turning his own country against him. He died at the age of 32, only a few months before his Iranian wife, Rhoxana , gave birth to a child. Alexander is known for creating one of the seven Wonders of the World: the Lighthouse at Alexandria. This Wonder actually had a practical use, (to help ships find their way) but it was destroyed, probably by an earthquake. Alexander is also known for expanding the Macedonian kingdom.
     After Alexander died, Greece passed into what is known as the Hellenistic Age. The blending of cultures that Alexander had accomplished did not work out as well as he had wished. Eventually, Macedonia and its territories split into four different kingdoms: Macedonia, Egypt, Pergamon, and Syria. For different periods of time, these kingdoms were relatively stable, but one by one, they all were joined to Rome.

 The Greek Flag

     When Rome split in the Third Century, the Eastern Roman Empire became the Byzantine Empire, ruling Greece for almost 1,000 years. After that, the Byzantine Empire was conquered by Ottoman Turks who ruled Greece from 1453 AD to 1831 AD when the first independent Greek state was formed a result of the Greek War for Independence. Since then, Greece has suffered as a result of WW2 and its own civil wars. Now, Greece is famous for re-starting the Olympics, which it hosted in 1896 and in 2004. Its capital is Athens, and you will frequently hear of it on the news as a result of its participation in the European Union, which it entered in 1981. Greece has such a rich and complicated history. Imagine the country that we know today and the country more than 4000 years ago. How different they are, but there are still ways that the Ancient Greeks influence the Greeks and the whole world today.