4b- 4. Describe relations between Egypt and Persia before Alexander came on the scene.

Before Alexander "came on the scene," tensions between Egypt and Persia were very high. Persia had attacked, conquered, and taken over Egypt before Alexander conquered Persia, so Egypt was under the control of the Persian Empire. This brought much confusion and dissatisfaction, because Egypt's religious beliefs were very different from Persia, so Egypt felt as though their culture had been ripped from their lives and that they were being forced to live a totally different lifestyle. After Alexander conquered Persia, Egypt was so overjoyed that they welcomed him as a god. There was absolutely no military force involved in this takeover; they simply made him pharaoh after he overtook Persia. This probably helped Alexander be more kind to the people of Egypt, and be a little more free-willing when it came to the things that he changed about their civilization. Another thing that made Alexander sort of biased towards Egypt was their deep hate of Persia. Alexander's entire reason for going off on this escapade was to avenge his father and his homeland by taking over Persia. The fact that the Egyptians supported his cause so much really helped him to like them better than he would like another territory that he overtook.