THE WORLD ATLAS

Chapter · Hellenistic Age

The Death of Alexander

The world in 323 BCE

In June 323 BCE Alexander the Great dies in Babylon at the age of 32, leaving the largest empire yet built by conquest, from Greece and Egypt to the Indus. In just eleven years he destroyed the Persian Empire and marched to India, founding cities named Alexandria along the way.

Now his generals meet in Babylon: Perdiccas becomes regent for Alexander's half-brother Philip III and his unborn son Alexander IV, Ptolemy takes Egypt, and Antipater holds Macedonia, where the Greek cities have revolted in the Lamian War. Within a few years the generals, the Diadochi, will tear the empire apart. In India, the Nanda kings of Magadha rule the Ganges, but a young Chandragupta Maurya is about to overthrow them. In China, the Warring States are locked in conflict, and Qin is growing stronger. Rome is fighting the Samnites for central Italy, Carthage rules the western seas, and in the Americas the Maya and Zapotecs build cities.

Open the map in 323 BCE

The great powers

Region by region

Southern Africa

Southern Africa is still home to Khoisan hunter-gatherers. Iron-using Bantu farmers are spreading south through the regions of present-day Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania.

Northern Africa

Egypt, taken by Alexander in 332 BCE, is now governed by his general Ptolemy, who will soon make it his own kingdom with its capital at Alexandria. The kingdom of Kush under King Nastasen rules Nubia from Napata and Meroë, and Carthage dominates the coast of North Africa. The Nok culture flourishes in Nigeria, and small kingdoms that followed D'mt rule the Ethiopian highlands.

Europe

Macedonia rules Greece through the regent Antipater, but Athens and its allies have just risen in the Lamian War. Rome is fighting the Second Samnite War for control of central Italy, and Carthage holds western Sicily and Sardinia. Celtic tribes of the La Tène culture spread across Gaul and central Europe, and the Bosporan Kingdom rules the Crimea.

Middle East & South Asia

Alexander's empire covers Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Iran and Afghanistan up to the Indus, but local dynasts keep Cappadocia, Armenia and Atropatene (Media) partly independent. In India, the Nanda dynasty under Dhana Nanda rules a large and wealthy kingdom from Pataliputra, while the Punjab is held by Alexander's satraps and allied kings such as Porus. In South Arabia, the incense kingdoms of Saba, Qataban, Hadramaut and Ma'in prosper.

Northern & Central Asia

Sogdiana and Bactria were conquered by Alexander after fierce resistance and are held by Macedonian garrisons and new cities. Beyond the Syr Darya, Saka nomads rule the steppe, Sarmatians the lands north of the Caspian, and the forests of Siberia are home to hunters and fishers.

East Asia

China's Warring States fight for supremacy: Qin, reformed by Shang Yang and now ruled by King Huiwen, has become the most powerful, while Qi, Chu, Zhao, Wei, Han and Yan resist. King Xian of Zhou is a figurehead. Gojoseon rules north-western Korea, Yayoi rice farming spreads across Japan, and western Tibet is home to Iron Age peoples later remembered in Tibetan tradition as the kingdom of Zhangzhung.

Southeast Asia

Bronze-drum-making Đông Sơn chiefdoms rule northern Vietnam, and Sa Huỳnh traders live on the central coast. Austronesian peoples sail between the islands, and trade with India across the Bay of Bengal is growing.

Northern North America

The Dorset culture hunts seals and walrus in Arctic Canada and Greenland. The Norton tradition lives in Alaska, and forest hunters and Pacific Northwest fishing peoples live across the rest of Canada.

Southern North America

Maya chiefdoms and early states build pyramids at El Mirador and other lowland cities, and the Zapotecs rule the Oaxaca valley from Monte Albán. The Adena culture builds burial mounds in the Ohio valley, and bison hunters roam the Plains.

Northern South America

The Chavín cult is fading in the Peruvian highlands, while the Paracas culture flourishes on the south coast with its famous textiles. Farming peoples of the Amazon create rich dark soils, and the Wankarani culture lives on the Bolivian high plateau.

Southern Cone

Hunter-gatherers live across the Pampas, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Small farming villages influenced by the Andes grow in north-west Argentina and northern Chile.

Australasia & Oceania

Aboriginal Australians and Papuan farmers live as before. Polynesians inhabit Tonga and Samoa, and the islands of eastern Polynesia and New Zealand remain uninhabited.

Events

  1. Alexander becomes king of Macedon after the murder of Philip II
  2. Alexander defeats Darius III at Issus
  3. Alexandria founded in Egypt; Battle of Gaugamela ends Persian power
  4. Battle of the Hydaspes against Porus in the Punjab
  5. Alexander dies in Babylon; Perdiccas becomes regent
  6. Athens and its allies revolt against Macedon in the Lamian War

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