RULER OF THE UNIVERSE: ALEXANDER OF MACEDON, HELLENISTIC WORLD-HISTORICAL OUTLINE.

The three-hundred-year period of Hellenism falls on the time between the reign of Alexander the Great (336-323 BC), so after the classical period, "Athenian" at its beginning and the moment of August's victory and the control of the Hellenistic world by Rome in 31 AD.

It is interesting because of the wide changes that have taken place in politics and other areas of Greek life, and above all because of the inclusion of territories ruled by Alexander, which stretched from Greece to Afghanistan. The influence of the empire on the occupied areas was exerted by newly founded or extended cities, which quickly gained dominance over local cultures.

Alexander inherited from his father Philip, a state that fully dominated over Greece. He undertook the creation of a universal Monarchy based on possessing classes originating from Greece, Macedonia or eastern countries. However, the culture was strictly Greek, and the cultural and political scene was far from liberal pluralism. Then he took the crusade to the east, motivated by the desire to punish the Persians for the actions of Xerxes from 150 years ago. Alexander’s further history is arranged in a romantic tale - half real and half mythologized. During one-year he gained control over Asia Minor, and the prophecy from Gordium describing him as the future ruler of Asia was to be fulfilled a month later, when Darrius’s army was defeated in the Battle of Issos (although Darius himself escaped). Then Alexander reached for Phoenicia and Egypt, and in the oracle, in Siwa Oasis he obtained the title of "ruler of the universe" and "son of Zeus-Ammon", set off for Mesopotamia, where he eventually defeated Darius.

He left behind conquered lands and the monarchical system. Until now, this system was foreign to the Greeks but typical of the Macedonians. His style of domination aroused expectations of the successors to the throne and forged a canon of the future ruler, who stood out against the background of his appearance, attitude, and arrogance of his subjects.

After Alexander's death, there was a period of fighting for succession that lasted about 20 years. In 275 BC there were four Hellenistic kingdoms that had control over the Mediterranean basin. This state of affairs continued until Rome conquered Greece. The first of the kingdoms was Egypt, ruled by Ptolemy’s dynasty. This dynasty remained in power until its last representative Cleopatra, defeated by August in 31 BC. The Ptolemies controlled Libya, southern Syria, Cyprus, the areas of today's southern Turkey and the Aegean Islands.

In the east, Babylon was under the rule of the Seleucids from the year 312, who had the largest territory among the Hellenic rulers. The centre of their state was in Syria, and the power reached the areas from western Turkey to Afghanistan. The first signal of the approaching end of this state of affairs was the liberation of Bactria (Afghanistan) in 256 BC and the Partia, which detached a vast area in the East. In addition, the western territories, together with their centre in Pergamum, have become detached due to the actions of the Attalides, in particular, Attalos I, who in 238 BC became the first king of the newly created state. In 133 BC the state was given back to Rome and the Seleucid authority, due to internal conflicts, decreased to only a fragment of Syria, which in 64 BC was also absorbed by Rome. Macedonia became an arena of murder committed on Alexander’s dynasty, and in 276, when Antigonus II Gonatas seized power, Antagonids took over for the period up to 168 BC.

The spread of the Hellenic empire led to dramatic cultural changes in the conquered lands. Already from the Peloponnesian Wars, the economic and political collapse of Greek rule followed and cultural centres began to move eastward. New or expanded Hellenistic cities, including Alexandria, Antioch, and others, gained independence and attracted the Greek emigrants - more independent and entrepreneurial subjects looking for better living conditions in the newly acquired areas. In Greece, there was a drop in the number of births, which Polybius from Megalopolis attributed to the desire of the Greeks to lead a comfortable life. Greece was poor, and the economic and social crisis was the cause of riots. King Cleomenes III undertook the reform of the ossified political and social system, strengthening, among others, the king's authority, which also did not reverse the crisis. In addition to Athens, new cultural centres developed and political life was concentrated in the homes of Hellenic rulers. Culturally, this world showed a great cosmopolitanism, where the culture was reserved for the cultural elite with centres in Alexandria and Pergamum (II BC). The philosophical schools were still strong in Athens.

The first state that succumbed to Rome was Syracuse. Then, Macedonia fell in three wars. Thanks to the internal conflicts, in 146 BC Rome conquered the Achaean Union. The armed conflict led to the transformation of Greece into the Roman province. Thus, the last trace of Greek political independence disappeared. In the second and first century BC, all of Hellenistic Greece had succumbed to Rome, including Pergamum in 133 BC. The last of these countries was Egypt, where Antony and Cleopatra lost in 31 BC at Aksum, thus closing the conventional boundary of Hellenic Greece.

The events in politics, history and culture of the Greek world have made Macedonia and Greece the terms that have taken on a new meaning over time. The rule of the Macedonian rulers amounted this small and underdeveloped country to the rank of hegemon of the world known to the people of that time. Alexander, a thirty-two-year-old man, conquered all nations encountered between the Adriatic Sea and the Indus River, could have also taken over Rome and Carthage, if he had lived twice as many, Macedonia and Greece could be the center instead of lying on the outskirts of the empire.