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Hellenism
Alexander spread Greek ideas all across the area he conquered. Greek ideas and culture are called Hellenism.
Alexander brought his military and his culture with him as he conquered a land. He spread many Hellenic ideas across his kingdom. Ideas such as:
- The philosophy of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers spread to the Middle East. Remember, Aristotle was a teacher of Alexander.
- Architectural ideas like columns were copied by people in the Middle East.
Other things spread as well. The Greek language spread to places that Alexander conquered.
Remember that Alexander allowed those he conquered the freedom to worship whatever god they chose. So if a person had been worshiping a god before Alexander arrived, they could keep worshiping that same god.
Alexander also allowed local rulers to continue to rule as long as they pledged loyalty to him.
Economy
Alexander also influenced trade.
Across his unified empire people from many different civilizations were now connected. People could travel safely across the empire and trade goods.
Today our trade system is so good, we can eat pineapples in the winter. We can order a toy from China and have it in a day or two.
Let's take a look at these two maps:
Silk Road
The first map is of the Silk Road. It was a network of roads that merchants traveled. See how it connects China and the Middle East.
The second map is of Alexander's empire. If you put both maps on top of each other you can see that Alexander’s empire and the Silk Road connected Egypt and Greece with places as far away as China. You can see this influence when you look at the art also.
Art
Let's start by comparing a couple of statues.
Do you see the similarities? They are both statues of standing people. They both look realistic. They both are wearing robes.
How does this relate to Alexander?
The first is a statue of Buddha. The Indian philosopher and founder of Buddhism. In this statue he is shown in the Hellenic style. Buddha is shown as a standing realistic statue with a robe. The same style as the second image of the Greek goddess statue. Why would people in Asia make art in this style? Because Alexander’s culture spread as he conquered.
Similarly years ago the United States took over places like Hawaii. Today in Hawaii they still use American money, they vote for President, and they speak English. American culture spread to these islands because the United States took over the land. Alexander brought the ideas of Greek philosophers and scientist with him as he conquered new land.
Geography
Look at this map.
What do you notice about the names of many of the towns? Alexander liked to name towns after himself. Today many of these cities still have his name.
