Hi there! I'm Ms. Roberts, and welcome to this history lesson.

This is the final lesson in our unit all about one very important Ancient Greek.

That person was Alexander the Great.

And this lesson is going to consider why we call him "The Great." So by the end of the lesson today, you will be able to explain why Alexander is referred to as Alexander the Great.

Let's begin by looking at some keywords that we're going to use in the lesson today.

You should be able to use these keywords yourself when you're talking about Alexander the Great.

You may or may not have heard some of these words before, but don't worry, I'm going to explain exactly what they mean.

Our first word is epithet.

Can you say epithet? That's tricky, isn't it? Don't worry, you're doing really well.

Our next word is Ancient Romans.

Can you say Ancient Romans? Well done! And then we have this word, prowess.

Can you say prowess? Good job.

I'm going to go through what these words mean for you now.

So first of all, we had the word epithet.

You've heard that we refer to Alexander as Alexander the Great.

"The Great" is his epithet.

An epithet is a word or a phrase that is attached to someone's name.

Usually, these epithets are given after a person has died, but sometimes, they are used when people are alive.

Next, we had the Ancient Romans.

You may have heard of the Romans before.

The Ancient Romans were a very powerful ancient civilization that began in Italy, in Europe.

And then finally, we had the word prowess.

Prowess is when you have a great skill, a talent, or an ability to do something.

So when you are very, very good, or very, very talented at something, you can say that you have great prowess.

In the lesson today, there will be two halves.

First, we're going to think about who began calling Alexander "The Great." Where did this epithet come from? Later we'll be thinking about what else Alexander did that made him "Great." So let's begin, and find out who first called Alexander the Great.

The picture shows a marble bust of what Alexander probably looked like.

A bust is a statue of the head, neck, and sometimes shoulders of an important historical figure, or an important person.

Alexander's epithet is "The Great." Now remember, an epithet is a description that's tagged onto a person's name, and it's a description that's based on how other people see that person, or what they think of them.

So Alexander was given this epithet after his death.

It wasn't used while he was alive.

This is another picture depicting Alexander the Great.

This is actually an Ancient Roman medallion, that was probably made of gold or bronze.

It was the Ancient Romans that first used the epithet of "The Great." They really, really admired how much Alexander had achieved during his very short lifetime.

So they began to refer to him as "The Great," because of all the great things he did.

Let's pause briefly here to check on our learning so far.

Quick multiple choice question.

Which group of people first referred to Alexander using the epithet, "The Great?" Was it A, the Ancient Greeks, B, the Ancient Romans, or C, the Ancient Egyptians? Make your choice now.

Have you chosen? Did you choose option B? Well done, that's right.

It was the Ancient Romans that first used the epithet, "The Great," to refer to Alexander.

Now, the reason they used that epithet was because they admired his military prowess.

You see, Alexander wasn't the kind of ruler that would watch on from a distance while his army went into battle.

In fact, Alexander would go into battle himself, and he would bravely fight alongside the men in his armies.

For example, at the battle of Issus in 333 BCE.

This was a huge battle, and Alexander and his armies defeated the Persians at that battle.

He is also known because he used great tactics.

Tactics are plans or strategies to help you win.

It was his great tactics that helped Alexander and his armies to win another battle at Gaugamela in 331 BCE.

In fact, Alexander was never defeated in battle during his life.

Listen to this statement and decide if it is true, or if it is false.

Alexander was admired for being a strong and successful soldier.

Is that true or is that false? Ready? I'd say that's definitely true.

Do you agree? Good job.

Now, we can't just make statements, especially about people from the past, without having some sort of extra explanation or historical evidence to back up the statement we are making.

So I'm going to share two more sentences with you now, and I'd like you to pick which of these is the most useful here in this situation.

Sentence A says that Alexander only lost a few battles and the Ancient Romans admired his military prowess.

Statement B says that Alexander never lost a battle, and the Ancient Romans admired his military prowess and tactics.

Which of those two sentences can help us to explain this situation? Have you selected? Good job! I think that on this occasion, we have to choose option B, and the reason is that Alexander never ever lost a single battle during his entire lifetime.

Every battle that Alexander went into with his army, he was victorious.

So Alexander was definitely admired for being a strong and successful soldier, because he never lost a battle, and the Ancient Romans admired his military prowess and his tactics.

Let's continue now and find out more about why Alexander was called "The Great." Thanks to Alexander's military prowess, in a very short space of time, by the year 326 BCE, in fact, he managed to conquer all of the huge Persian Empire.

This included the city of Babylon.

Babylon was the largest and the most beautiful city in the Persian Empire.

It was situated on the Euphrates River.

You can see Babylon is circled on the map.

The arrows on the map show the route that Alexander took, as he went on his conquests of the Persian Empire.

The red shaded area shows all of the lands that were eventually brought under Greek control by Alexander.

Conquering the Persian Empire and bringing Babylon under Greek control were very great achievements, because this meant that Ancient Greece now had the largest empire in ancient history.

Throughout Alexander's conquests, it wasn't only being a brave warrior and soldier that he became known for.

He became known for something else that was actually quite unusual at that time, especially for a military ruler.

When he conquered the towns and villages and cities of Persia, Alexander was not awful to the people there.

He was not horrible to the Persians.

In fact, he showed them a lot of mercy, and this became something that he was known for.

Showing mercy to the people gained Alexander great respect from the people of Persia and from the people around him in Ancient Greece.

Another of Alexander's great achievements happened in Egypt.

In Egypt, Alexander finally brought to an end, over 200 years of Persian control over the Ancient Egyptians.

The people were finally free.

And they were so happy and so grateful to Alexander for doing this, that they made him the pharaoh of the country.

In Egypt, Alexander also built a great city called Alexandria, which you can see on the map.

The pink areas on this map were once part of the Persian empire.

And then, thanks to Alexander, the Persians were driven away.

So time for another quick check on our learning with a multiple choice question.

Which of the following are great things that Alexander did? Listen to the options.

There could be more than one correct answer.

A, he showed military prowess.

B, he freed Persia from Egyptian control.

C, he showed mercy to the Persian people.

And D, he freed Egypt from Persian control.

Have a think, and make your choice now.

Ready? There's definitely more than one correct answer here, isn't there? He certainly did show military prowess.

And he certainly did show mercy to the Persian people.

Options B and D, only one of these can be correct.

Did he free Persia from Egyptian control? Or did he free Egypt from Persian control? He freed the Egyptians because they later made him pharaoh.

So let's use what we now know about Alexander's great achievements to complete this activity.

We have here a statue which shows Alexander as a warrior on horseback.

We also have a photograph of an Ancient Roman medallion, showing Alexander the Great.

What do these two things tell you about how he is remembered? I would like you to talk to a learning partner and share your ideas.

Pause the video now while you chat to your partner.

All done? Good job.

Let's have a look together at some examples from the Oak Academy children.

Sofia said that Alexander the Great is remembered as a great soldier who showed military prowess because he's wearing armour in both the statue and on the medallion.

Jun says, "Yes, and he's carrying weapons in both of them too.

He is also remembered for conquering the Persian Empire, and for showing mercy to the Persian people." Well done, Sofia, and well done Jun.

And well done, you, as well.

You're doing really well today.

We are going to move into the second half of our lesson now, and think about what else Alexander did that made him great.

There was lots of war and fighting at the time that Alexander conquered the Persian Empire.

But when he conquered the lands in Persia, they became peaceful places.

They remained at peace and united.

That means they were not at war, and this did not change until much later in 321 BCE, which was after Alexander had died.

I agree with Jacob.

Jacob says this was a great achievement at a time when so many places were at war.

It certainly was.

Across all of the lands that Alexander conquered, there was lots of change, and lots of progress took place at that time, which probably wouldn't have occurred if it hadn't have been for Alexander's conquests.

We briefly mentioned earlier the great new city of Alexandria that was built in the north of Egypt.

This city was built in the year 332 BCE, named Alexandria in his honour, of course.

And this shows that the Ancient Egyptians must have thought he was great too.

Let's stop here for a quick check on our learning about other achievements of Alexander.

Which of these statements do you think is correct? A, the city of Alexandria was built in Greece.

B, the city of Alexandria was built in Egypt.

C, the city of Alexandria was built after Alexander died.

Have you chosen? The correct answer is option B.

The city of Alexandria was built in Egypt.

Well done.

Let's find out some more about this amazing city of Alexandria.

This picture shows a huge building that was found in the ancient city of Alexandria.

It's a lighthouse.

Alexandria grew to become the greatest city of its time.

This huge lighthouse is said to have been at least 100 metres tall.

Because it was so amazing, many, many people were attracted to Alexandria just to try and catch a glimpse of the amazing building.

It became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

As well as the lighthouse, Alexandria had another impressive building.

Alexandria had the biggest known library of the ancient world.

The library attracted many different teachers and students to the city, and so it became an important centre for learning.

Many of history's most important historical teachers studied there, like Euclid, the great mathematician.

This truly was another of Alexander's great achievements.

Time now for some other activities about Alexander's achievements.

There are two questions here.

First, I would like to know what two impressive buildings could be found in the ancient city of Alexandria in Egypt? Have a think.

Would you like a clue? They both begin with the letter L.

Have you got them? It's the lighthouse and the library.

Now, for the second part, I would like you to add a fact about each one.

You might want to pause the video while you do this.

You could write down your fact, or share a fact with a learning partner.

All done? Here's some examples of facts you may have used.

The lighthouse was 100 metres tall.

The library was a centre of learning.

Excellent.

Now, I'd like to use all of your learning from today's lesson to do this next activity.

So you might want to look back at the resources from the lesson for some support.

I want you to write a short speech to convince other people why Alexander deserves to have the epithet "The Great." These bullet points show some ideas of things you can write about.

You can talk about his military prowess.

You can talk about how he conquered the Persian Empire and the city of Babylon.

You can talk about how he freed Egypt from Persian control.

You can talk about the founding of the great city of Alexandria.

You could also talk about the building of the library or the lighthouse in Alexandria.

And remember, you are a historian, so that means that during your explanation, you should try to include some evidence.

Things like dates, names, or places to support your reasons for convincing other people why Alexander deserves to be called "The Great." Pause the video now while you complete your speech.

All done? Excellent.

Now, if you have some time, you can also work with a partner in a small group or even with the whole class, and listen to each other's speeches, to decide who you think is the most convincing.

Here are some examples now from the Oak Academy children.

This is what Alex has written in his speech.

Alex says, "I believe that Alexander deserves to have the epithet "The Great" because he had lots of great achievements.

Firstly, he never lost a single battle.

He fought alongside his men and had great tactics.

Secondly, he conquered the Persian Empire and the city of Babylon.

This proves that he had incredible military prowess.

He also founded Alexandria in 332 BCE, and built an amazing library there.

This shows he cared about learning.

The Ancient Romans called Alexander "The Great" because of all these things, and I agree with them." Thank you, Alex.

Well done.

And well done, you, as well.

You've worked so hard and taken in a lot of information today.

Let's review everything we now know about why Alexander is called "The Great." We now know that the epithet "The Great" was first given to Alexander by the Ancient Romans after his death.

We know that the Ancient Romans called Alexander "The Great" because they admired his military prowess, for fighting alongside his army, his winning tactics, and for never losing a battle.

We know also that Alexander had lots of other great achievements.

So for example, while he was alive, he maintained peace and unity in the lands that he conquered, and that was very unusual at that time in history.

We also know that he founded a great city called Alexandria, and this became a great centre for learning because it had an incredible library.

Wow.

Alexandra really was great, wasn't he? Join me again for another history lesson.

Bye for now!.