And that's why pretty soon after his death, his empire broke into three empires, called the Hellenistic Kingdoms. Each was ruled by one of Alexander's generals, and they became important dynasties – the Antigonids in Greece and Macedonia, the Ptolemies in Egypt, the Seleucids in Persia – all of which lasted longer than Alexander's empire itself. A second kind of greatness – maybe Alexander was great because he had an enormous impact on the world after his death. Like King Tut, Alexander the Great was amazingly good at being a dead person. Let's go to the Thought Bubble. So after Alexander of Macedon died, everyone – from the Romans to Napoleon to Oliver Stone – loved him. And he was an important military model for many generals throughout history.