Alexander's empire split, and Greek stayed in the towns of the east
TL;DR — Alexander died at Babylon in 323 BC and his generals split the empire into three kingdoms, but Greek stayed the language of eastern towns and of Bactria.
Alexander’s empire did not survive him, but the Greek language did. He died at Babylon on June 11, 323 BC, and his generals divided his conquests; by 280 BC, the historian Jona Lendering writes, the map had settled into “three great states: Antigonid Macedonia, Ptolemaic Egypt, and the Seleucid kingdom in Asia.” Across the east, Greek remained the speech of the towns, and in Bactria, in today’s Afghanistan, it became the official language.
Quick facts
- When
- Alexander died June 11, 323 BC; three large parts by 300 BC; three stable kingdoms after 280 BC
- Where
- From Macedonia and Egypt to Bactria, in today's Afghanistan
- Who
- Alexander's successors, the Diadochi; the Antigonid, Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties
- Outcome
- The empire broke into three kingdoms, while Greek remained the speech of towns and, in Bactria, the official language
A death at Babylon
The end came quickly. “At the end of May, he fell ill, and on 11 June, he died,” Lendering records. Arrian’s history quotes the court’s Royal Diary, which follows a fever day by day, without naming the illness. Arrian also knew the rumor that Antipater had him poisoned, and set it down, he wrote, “rather that I may not seem to be ignorant that they have been made, than because I consider them worthy of credence.” By Aristobulus’s count, Alexander had lived 32 years and eight months.
Alexander was succeeded, Lendering writes, by “his brother Arridaeus,” and a few weeks later his wife Roxane gave birth to a son, also called Alexander. By then, Lendering writes, “the Greeks had already revolted and civil war between Alexander’s officers was about to begin.”
Three kingdoms out of one
The officers, the Diadochi or “successors,” fought for four decades. “The result, reached by 300 BCE, was a division into three large parts,” Lendering writes, and “after 280, the period of state-forming came to an end with three great states: Antigonid Macedonia, Ptolemaic Egypt, and the Seleucid kingdom in Asia.”
A Greek city on the Oxus
Greek settlers stayed in the east. At Ai Khanum on the Oxus, in Afghanistan, French archaeologists excavated a city about 2 kilometers long and 600 meters wide with temples, a gymnasium, a main street, Corinthian columns and “a theater with 5,000 seats.” An inscription records that a man named Clearchus copied the maxims of Delphi and “set them up, shining from afar, in the sanctuary of Cineas,” the city’s founder. Among the settlers, Lendering notes, were Thessalian cavalrymen.
Whether Alexander founded it is uncertain. An “Alexandria on the Oxus” was founded during his campaigns, “probably by Hephaestion,” Lendering writes; “perhaps, this city was identical to Ai Khanum,” though “a more likely candidate is Kampyr Tepe in Uzbekistan.”
Greek in the towns of the east
The language held in the cities. Mansour Shaki, in the Encyclopaedia Iranica, writes that “the urban population would have spoken much Greek, whereas the peasantry and tribesmen hardly needed more than a few words,” and that “the only region where Greek became the official language and script was Bactria.”
It outlasted the Seleucids. The Parthian kings who took Iran, Laurianne Martinez-Sève writes in the same encyclopedia, used Greek “in their relations with the Greek communities of their empire, who had kept their institutions,” and from Mithridates I onward “regularly adopted the title ‘Philhellenic’ on their coins.”
Alexandria's Museum
In Egypt, the Ptolemies’ capital kept a home for scholars. Strabo, writing under Roman rule, describes the Museum of Alexandria as “a part of the palaces,” with “a public walk and a place furnished with seats, and a large hall, in which the men of learning, who belong to the Museum, take their common meal,” and a priest at its head, “formerly appointed by the kings, but at present by Cæsar.”
Key facts
- Alexander fell ill at the end of May and died at Babylon on June 11, 323 BC (Lendering).
- Arrian recorded the poisoning rumor only so as not to seem unaware of it (Arrian 7.27).
- By 300 BC the empire was in three large parts; after 280 BC, three states remained: Antigonid Macedonia, Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid kingdom (Lendering).
- Ai Khanum, about 2 km long, had a gymnasium and a theater of 5,000 seats; its identification with Alexander’s “Alexandria on the Oxus” is uncertain (Lendering).
- Greek became the official language and script in Bactria (Shaki, Encyclopaedia Iranica).
- Parthian kings put the title “Philhellenic” on their coins from Mithridates I onward (Martinez-Sève, Encyclopaedia Iranica).
FAQ
What happened to Alexander's empire after he died?
His generals fought over it. By 300 BC it was divided into three large parts, and after 280 BC three kingdoms remained: Antigonid Macedonia, Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid kingdom in Asia.
How did Alexander die?
Of a fever at Babylon, ending on June 11, 323 BC. The Royal Diary that Arrian quotes follows the fever without naming the illness, and Arrian did not believe the rumor of poison.
Why did Greek survive after the empire split?
The kingdoms and the eastern towns kept using it. Greek was widely spoken by town dwellers, was the official language of Bactria, and was still used by the Parthian kings with the Greek communities of their empire.
Did Alexander found Ai Khanum?
It is not certain. An "Alexandria on the Oxus" was founded during his campaigns, but Jona Lendering writes that Kampyr Tepe in Uzbekistan is a more likely candidate than Ai Khanum.
What was the Museum of Alexandria?
A community of scholars within the palace quarter of Alexandria, with a covered walk, seats, a common dining hall and a priest at its head, as Strabo described it.
Sources
- Jona Lendering, "Alexander the Great," Livius.org
- Jona Lendering, "Alexander's successors: the Diadochi," Livius.org
- Jona Lendering, "Ai Khanum," Livius.org
- Arrian, The Anabasis of Alexander, translated by E. J. Chinnock (1884), Book 7, Project Gutenberg
- Strabo, Geography 17.1.8, translated by H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer (1903), Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University
- Mansour Shaki, "GREECE iv. Greek influence on Persian thought," Encyclopaedia Iranica
- Laurianne Martinez-Sève, "HELLENISM," Encyclopaedia Iranica
Cite this article
- APA
- Song Letter. (2026, October 11). Alexander's empire split, and Greek stayed in the towns of the east. Our Earth's History. https://ourearthshistory.com/europe/classical/alexander-empire-split-greek-hellenistic/
- Chicago
- Song Letter. “Alexander's empire split, and Greek stayed in the towns of the east.” Our Earth's History, October 11, 2026. https://ourearthshistory.com/europe/classical/alexander-empire-split-greek-hellenistic/.
- MLA
- Song Letter. “Alexander's empire split, and Greek stayed in the towns of the east.” Our Earth's History, 11 Oct. 2026, https://ourearthshistory.com/europe/classical/alexander-empire-split-greek-hellenistic/.
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