Ancient Greece and Rome - Activity 2. Alexander

the Great

*** If you have not gone through the preparation of this topic yet, please click here. ***

*** The red circle(s) on the screen shots indicate the location of the tool or button you must use. ***

1. After the decline of the city-states (poleis), Macedon, which was located in north eastern Greece, conquered

Greece in the 4th century BCE. In BCE 336, Alexander III became a king, and from BCE 334, he invaded

neighboring countries. When he died in BCE 323 his empire stretched across Europe, Africa, and Asia. In this

activity, we will look at his empire and trace the course of its conquest.

2. Click this link.

The map layer was created based on maps in The House of Ptolemy, Mapping Globalization, and Wikimedia

Commons. If you want to know about a layer, click here.

3. This is the prepared map for this activity. Once the map is loaded, save this map in your Esri account using

“Save.”

4. Explain to students how large the area of the empire was. It covered parts of today’s Europe (Greece,

Bulgaria, Turkey, and Armenia), Africa (Egypt), and Asia (Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran,

Afghanistan, and Pakistan). If you would like, you can use the “Measure” tool to measure the approximate

distance of the empire.

5. Click the far left side of the territory, and then move your mouse cursor to the far right side. Double click to

finish measuring.

6. You can change the tool’s unit of measurement by clicking the drop-down menu shown below. Once you are

done, click “Done.”

7. Here is a list of major cities in the order in which they were conquered by Alexander. You need to search for

these places using their current names.

No. Ancient Name Current Name

1 Pella Pella, Greece

2 Miletus Didim, Turkey

3 Gordium Cekirdeksiz, Turkey

4 Memphis Helwan, Egypt

5 Siwa Siwa, Egypt

6 Alexandria Alexandria, Egypt

7 Damascus Damascus, Syria

8 Arbela Mosul, Iraq

9 Babylon Babil, Iraq

10 Susa Susa, Iran

11 Persepolis and Pasargadae Shiraz, Iran

12 Ecbatana Hamadan, Iran

13 Bactra Balkh, Afghanistan

14 Samarkand Samarkand, Uzbekistan

15 Nicaea Morang, India

16 Pattala Thatta, Parkistan

After No. 16, Alexander returned to Persepolis and Pasargadae (No. 11).

8. We will mark the locations of the above cities by adding a point feature on the map. First, we need to find the

locations of the above cities. Type “Pella, Greece” in the “Find Places” box in the upper-right corner, and hit the

enter key. You might see the message “Map data not yet available” because there is no detailed map data at this

scale. Therefore, we need to zoom out until we can see the map. Once you mouse-over the bottom-left corner,

you will see the navigator. If your mouse has a wheel, you can use the wheel to zoom in (scrolling up) and out

(scrolling down).

9. Zoom out from the map until you can see the location of Pella, Greece.

10. Click the “+” sign, and then choose “Map Notes.”

11. Now you can see a green point symbol.

12. You can also add the label for this point on the map by adding a text box. Click the “Add features” tool on

the left side of your map.

13. Click “Text.”

14. Click right next to the symbol on the map. You can change the location of the text box later. Type its order

and ancient name like “1. Pella.” You can change the text color, size, and style on the “Change Symbol” panel.

15. Once you are done, click “Done.”

16. Follow the previous steps from #8 to #15 for the other city-states (go to the above table). Once you have

finished marking all sixteen cities, your map may look like the following:

17. We will draw the conquest course on the map to connect the above cities in order. In the “Add Features”

window, click the “Freehand Line” tool.

18. Once you choose appropriate color and width of the line, it can be saved as a template. Therefore, you do

not need to change it later by clicking every single line. First, draw the first line on the map by connecting the

first city, Pella, and the second city, Miletus, and then click “Change Symbol.” Choose the color, and adjust

width. Then click “Create Feature Template.”

19. Type the name, and click “OK.”

20. In the “Add Features” window, you might see the one you just created. From now on, click your template,

and draw the line on the map to connect the above cities in order.

21. Your final map may look like the following:

Discussion questions

o How big is the territory? (compare it to the U.S.)

o How many years did it take Alexander to conquer this territory?

o What happened to the empire once Alexander died?

o Are there any archaeological remains of Alexander’s empire? Where?

o If this empire still existed as modern nation, would it be a strong country in today’s world?