history question

Question

1. At the time of his death at the age of 32, Alexander the Great had conquered all of what was once the Persian empire, which included land stretching from Egypt to the western edge of India. What had he hoped to achieve in doing this? Did he seek to unify or to destroy? Did his ideal vision of empire get carried out after his death? Use 4.5 (“Alexander and the Hellenistic Era”) to answer this question. 

Answer 1

Alexander wanted to unite all of Persia under his rule and mix the non-Greek cultures with the Greek. Therefore, his vision, at least as far as it could be implemented, was characterized mainly by an interest in disseminating and preserving Greek culture, as opposed to replacing or destroying cultures. He married two Persian princesses and encouraged his generals to do the same. Greek architects and sculptors were brought to construct his new cities. Two of the greatest ancient libraries built at Alexandria and Pergamum were the home to hundreds of thousands of texts and attracted all sorts of scholars and artists. The Greeks also adopted Eastern beliefs and customs. The fusion of cultures gave rise to a new dialect known as Koine, Greek. Egyptian gods were worshipped under the Ptolemaic dynasty. However, after Alexander died his empire quickly divided into four parts around 300 BC due to competing power struggles amongst his generals. Those kingdoms would all be occupied by Rome.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_period

Glencoe World History, Chapter 4 Ancient Greece