10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

The new world of Alexander the Great ushered in a new era of Greek culture, rooted in, but different from, that of the Classical Age

Expansion of Macedonia under Philip II

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

18a. The Hellenistic World

10/7/2005

A New Crusade
Both Philip and and Alexander had shared Isocrates panhellenic dream
unite all Greece under a strong leader launch an invasion of Persia to expand the realm of Greece and Greek culture

When Alexander succeeded his father, he quickly organized the Greeks and Macedonians and then invaded and conquered Persia and much of the known world

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

Empire of Alexander the Great

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

18a. The Hellenistic World

10/7/2005

Alexanders Dream
The establishment of a world state where Greek culture would be the unifying factor The brotherhood of mankind These noble ideas may partly have been the result of Alexanders education under the tutelage of the great thinker, Aristotle

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

Alexanders Successors
When Alexander died unexpectedly at the age of 33, he reportedly left his empire to the strongest After a struggle, his leading successors divided up his empire and set up kingdoms for themselves where they ruled as Greek kings, often over non-Greek populations Political unity was lost, but a common culture, called Hellenistic, nonetheless developed

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

18a. The Hellenistic World

10/7/2005

Hellenistic Kingdoms
Antigonid Macedonia Seleucid Syria Ptolemaic Egypt
Pergamuma new Athens Greek Leagues These would later fall, one by one, to the rising power of Rome

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

Hellenistic World, map of major kingdoms

18a. The Hellenistic World

10/7/2005

Hellenistic Culture
Urban: new Greek cities founded in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East
Alexandria, the Ptolemaic capital, becomes the largest Greek metropolis

Cosmopolitan: Free movements of people and ideas Ethnically varied society Common or koine version of Greek becomes a common tongue Greek literature, athletics, philosophy, religion, and other ideas spread
Library and Museion of Alexandria

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

Hellenistic Literature
New Comedy: Menander and comedy of manners romantic comedy with stock characters Pastoral and Idyllic Poetry: Theocritus wrote idealized, artificial shepherd poems and little pictures of every day life (see MP p. 86)

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

10

18a. The Hellenistic World

10/7/2005

Hellenistic Religion and Philosophy

Countering feelings of isolation, loneliness, and helplessness in a changing world . . .

New Religions
Worship of the Classical Greek pantheon continued, but the old gods, which had been focused on the vitality of the polis, lost much of their appeal Fate (Tyche) was personified Mystery Religionstraditional Greek and new eastern varieties, giving the individual hope for the afterlife, a sense of belonging, etc.

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

12

18a. The Hellenistic World

10/7/2005

Philosophies
Platonic thought in the Academy and Aristotles school in the Lyceum (also known as the Peripatetic School) continued but did not always meet individual needs New schools arose to treat the individual condition
Cynicism (Dog-like!)autarkeia (self-sufficiency) through not wanting anything, live like dogs! Diogenes and Alexander Skepticismsenses unreliable (opposite Aristotles empiricism), nothing can be known for certain, question everything

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

13

Epicureanism
Epicurus founded a materialistic school, called the Garden, that focused on a quiet life
Largely reliant upon later writers for Epicurus beliefs; only surviving original document is his Letter to Menoeceus (see MPR, 98-101)

Preconditions of happiness
Understand that the gods exist but are uninvolved in mens lives Death is nothing but the deprivation of senses, should not be feared Twin goals of happy living: a healthy body and a sound mind

Greatest good is pleasure, defined as absence of pain

When I say that pleasure is the goal of living I do not mean the pleasures of the libertines . . . I mean, on the contrary, the pleasure that consists in freedom from bodily pain and mental agitation. (MPR, 100) Ataraxia through moderate enjoyment of simple pleasures Avoid seeking wealth on power; focus on friendship

Epicurus on Fate
fate moderated by choices (deterministic universe organized by atoms which nonetheless swerve)
the soul dissolves into its constituent atoms at death

Certain events are determined, others are chance, others are the results of our own actions
10/7/2005 18a. The Hellenistic World 14

18a. The Hellenistic World

10/7/2005

Stoicism
Zeno and his porch God = nature = logos or reason
nature operates in accordance with divine laws

Sought autarkeia (self-sufficiency) through a virtuous life Sought ataraxia (impassiveness, not being disturbed) by subliminating emotions Largely deterministic, God is in charge of everything, accept ones lot
fatalistic tendency moderated by duties or tasks required of each individual

Divine sparkkinship with divinity and hence worldwide brotherhood of man

10/7/2005

18a. The Hellenistic World

15

18a. The Hellenistic World