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The Rise of Macedonia and the Conquests of Alexander the Great

• 
  Box mirror with the head of Pan, late 4th century b.c.; Hellenistic
  Greek
  Bronze

  Diam. 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm)
  Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25.78.44a-d)

• 
  Ring with head of Herakles, late 4th–3rd century b.c.; Hellenistic
  Greek
  Gold

  63/64 x 47/64 in. (25 x 18.7 mm)
  Funds from various donors, 1910 (10.132.1)

• 
  The Madytos Jewelry, ca. 330–300 b.c.; Hellenistic
  Greek; Said to be from Madytos
  Gold

  Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1906 (06.1217.1-.13)

• 
  Ganymede Jewelry, Hellenistic, 330–300 b.c.
  Greek
  Gold, rock crystal, emerald

  L. of necklace 13 in. (33 cm), H. of earrings 2 3/8 in. (6 cm), W. of bracelets 3 1/8 in. (8 cm), W. of fibulae 1 15/16 in. (5 cm), H. of ring 13/16 in. (2.1 cm)
  Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937 (37.11.8–.17)

• 
  Stater with head of Alexander the Great, 286–281 b.c.; Hellenistic
  Greek; Lysimachos, Pella
  Gold

  Diam. 3/4 in. (1.9 cm)
  Gift of Edmund Kerper, Esq., 1952 (52.127.4)

• 
  Head of a Ptolemaic queen, Hellenistic, ca. 270–250 b.c.
  Greek
  Marble

  H. 15 in. (38.1 cm)
  Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, The Bothmer Purchase Fund, Malcolm Hewitt Wiener, The Concordia Foundation and Christo G. Bastis Gifts and Marguerite and Frank Cosgrove Jr. Fund, 2002 (2002.66)

• 
  Statuette of a horse or elephant rider, 3rd century b.c.; Hellenistic
  Greek; Said to be from ancient Athribis, Egypt
  Bronze

  H. 9 3/4 in. (24.8 cm)
  Edith Perry Chapman Fund, 1955 (55.11.11)

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During the first half of the fourth century B.C., Greek poleis, or city-states, remained autonomous. As each polis tended to its own interests, frequent disputes and temporary alliances between rival factions resulted. In 360 B.C., an extraordinary individual, Philip II of Macedonia (northern Greece), came to power. In less than a decade, he had defeated most of Macedonia's neighboring enemies: the Illyrians and the Paionians to the west and northwest, and the Thracians to the north and northeast. Phillip II instituted far-reaching reforms at home and abroad. Innovations—improved catapults and siege machinery, as well as a new kind of infantry in which each soldier was equipped with an enormous pike known as a sarissa—placed his armies at the forefront of military technology. In 338 B.C., at the pivotal battle of Chaeronea in Boeotia, Philip II completed what was to be the last phase of his domination when he became the undisputed ruler of Greece. His plans for war against Asia were cut short when he was assassinated in 336 B.C. Excavations of the royal tombs at Vergina in northern Greece give a glimpse of the vibrant wall paintings and rich decorative arts produced for the Macedonian royal court (37.11.8-.17), which had become the leading center of Greek culture.

In 360 B.C., an extraordinary individual, Philip II of Macedonia (northern Greece), came to power. In less than a decade, he had defeated most of Macedonia's neighboring enemies.

Related

Timelines (4)

• Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Egypt, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Iran, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Mesopotamia, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Primary Thematic Essays (4)

• The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 b.c.)
• Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition
• List of Rulers of the Ancient Greek World
• Warfare in Ancient Greece

Other Thematic Essays (24)

• Africans in Ancient Greek Art
• Ancient Greek Colonization and Trade and their Influence on Greek Art
• The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 b.c.)
• Classical Cyprus (ca. 480–ca. 310 b.c.)
• Contexts for the Display of Statues in Classical Antiquity
• Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece
• Egypt in the Late Period (ca. 712–332 b.c.)
• Funerary Vases in Southern Italy and Sicily
• Gandhara
• Greek Gods and Religious Practices
• Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus
• Hellenistic Jewelry
• Images of Antiquity in Limoges Enamels in the French Renaissance
• Intellectual Pursuits of the Hellenistic Age
• List of Rulers of the Roman Empire
• Music in Ancient Greece
• The Parthian Empire (247 b.c.–224 a.d.)
• Phrygia, Gordion, and King Midas in the Late Eighth Century b.c.
• Polychromy of Roman Marble Sculpture
• Roman Painting
• Sardis
• The Seleucid Empire (323–64 b.c.)
• The Technique of Bronze Statuary in Ancient Greece
• Women in Classical Greece

Maps (2)

• Europe, 1000 b.c.–1 a.d.
• World, 1000 b.c.–1 a.d.

Index Terms (17)

Art Movement/Style

• Egyptian Art in the Hellenistic Period
• Egyptian Art in the Ptolemaic Period
• Hellenistic Period in Greek Art

Geography/Place

• Iran
• Rome (Ancient)
• The Balkan Peninsula
• The Eastern Mediterranean

Material and Technique

• Gold from Europe

Object

• Accessories for Clothing
• Armlet
• Diadem
• Fibula
• Numismatics

Subject Matter/Theme

• Archaeology from Asia
• Archaeology from Europe
• Ruler from Europe
• Ruler from West Asia

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The reign of Alexander the Great (336–323 B.C.) would change the face of Europe and Asia forever (10.132.1; 55.11.11). As crown prince, he received the finest education in the Macedonian court under his celebrated tutor Aristotle. At the age of twenty, already a charismatic and decisive leader, Alexander quickly harnessed the Macedonian forces that his father's reforms had made into the premier military power in the region. In 334 B.C., he led a grand army across the Hellespont in Asia. With some 43,000 infantry and 5,500 cavalry, it was the most formidable military expedition ever to leave Greece. The first to reach Asiatic soil, Alexander leapt ashore, cast a spear into the land, and dramatically claimed the continent as "spear won." In a remarkable campaign that lasted eleven years, he went on to fulfill his claim and more by conquering the Persian empire of western Asia and Egypt, and by continuing into Central Asia as far as the Indus Valley. In the end, he was defeated by his own army, which insisted on returning to Greece. On the way back, he died of fever in Babylon at the age of thirty-three. All the lands that he had conquered were divided up among his generals (52.127.4), and it was these political divisions that comprised the many kingdoms of the Hellenistic period (323–31 B.C.).

Colette Hemingway Independent Scholar

Seán Hemingway Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Citation Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. "The Rise of Macedonia and the Conquests of Alexander the Great". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/alex/hd_alex.htm (October 2004) Further Reading Adams, W. Lindsay, and Eugene N. Borza, eds. Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Macedonian Heritage. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982. Barr-Sharrar, Beryl, and Eugene N. Borza, eds. Macedonia and Greece in Late Classical and Early Hellenistic Times. Studies in the History of Art, vol. 10. Washington, D.C.: The National Gallery of Art, 1982. Grant, Michael, and John Hazel. Who's Who in Classical Mythology. London: Dent, 1993. Hornblower, Simon, and Antony Spawforth, eds. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3d ed., rev. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Mertens, Joan R. Greek Bronzes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. MMA Bulletin 43. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985. Greece and Rome. Introduction by Joan Mertens. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. Troxell, Hyla A. Studies in the Macedonian Coinage of Alexander the Great. New York: American Numismatic Society, 1997. Williams, Dyfri, and Jack Ogden. Greek Gold: Jewelry of the Classical World. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994. Related exhibitions and online features Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past exhibitions) The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions

These related Museum Bulletin or Journal articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship. Mertens, Joan R. "Greek Bronzes: In The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 43, no. 2 (Fall, 1985). JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs "Director's Note" PDF "Introduction" PDF