Study Notes 8: Hellenistic Greece.

• A. The Origin of the Term "Hellenistic": "Hellenistic" is an adjective that was first used in the nineteenth century to describe the age and civilization which emerged from the conquests of Alexander the Great (d. 323 B.C. to 7 B.C.). During this period Greek culture spread from the Mediterranean eastwards to the Indus River Valley and westwards to the Atlantic. Hellenistic civilization represented the fusion of Greek and Near Eastern civilizations. The "founder" of Hellenistic world was Alexander the Great of Macedonia.
• B. The Rise of Macedonia: The decline of the Greek city-states in the 4th century B.C. was a turning point in world history. While Athens and Sparta were destroying one another in the Peloponnesian War, the northern Greek Kingdom of Macedonia was in the process of consolidating its power. Macedonia was on the periphery of Greece, and although they were Greeks, the Macedonians were considered semi-barbaric by their southern relatives. The polis or city-state system never developed in Macedonia. Thus Macedonia possessed a larger population and more fertile land than any of the poleis.
  • 1. Philip II (359-336 B.C.): In 359 B.C., Philip became King of Macedonia. The quarrels between the Greek city-states made them vulnerable to Macedonian expansionism, and Philip desperately needed a seaport on the Aegean and money to finance his state. Three years as a hostage in Greek polis of Thebes (367-364 B.C.) had made him sensitive to the weaknesses of the Greek poleis. Between 357 and 336, Philip launched a series of successful campaigns against individual city-states. However, the city-states were unable to see beyond their own interests and join together against the Macedonian onslaught. For example, Athens' response to Philip's expansionism was typical. Demosthenes (ca. 384-322 B.C.), the orator, tried to alert his countrymen to the dangers of Macedonian power, while the leader of another rhetorical school, Isocrates (ea. 436-338 B.C.), applauded Philip's actions. As a result of these divisions, Philip was able to conquer Athens in 338 B.C. All the while, Philip maintained the fiction that the city-states were independent. Following his conquests in Greece, he claimed for himself the tit1e of "hegemon" (leader). Philip was assassinated in 336 B.C., two years after launching a war against Persia.
  • 2. Alexander the Great (ca. 356-323 B.C.): Little is known about Alexander's childhood except for his close attachment to his mother and that Aristotle served as his tutor between 343 and 341 B.C. Alexander ascended to throne under suspicious circumstances. Philip had abandoned Alexander's mother and married another woman shortly before his death. But whatever his role in his father's death, Alexander either killed or exiled his rivals for the throne.
  • a. Alexander's Conquests: Once Alexander had brought his own house into order, he resumed his father's war against Persia. In 334 B.C., Alexander led 34,000 troops across the Hellespont into Asia Minor. By 333 he had conquered Syria. Three years later' he defeated the Persians (at Gaugamela) and occupied the Persian capital of Persepolis. Alexander continued his drive to the east, passing through the Khyber Pass into the Indus River Valley. In 325 B.C. his troops threatened to mutiny. They demanded that Alexander allow them to return to Macedonia. Alexander brought his army back to Babylon in 324. Apparently, he had planned to organize a new army which would not force him to depend on the questionable loyalty of his Macedonian troops. To that end he married a Persian princess named Roxana and ordered eighty of his generals to do the same. Alexander died of a fever in 323 B.C., before he was able to put his new plans into action.
  • b. Alexander's Legacy: By the time of his death Alexander had founded seventy cities and had created a trading network which reached from the Mediterranean across the Near East to India. Yet, Alexander died without a plan for succession to preserve this vast empire. Alexander had been one of the greatest military commanders in history. Thus, one tradition says that on his deathbed he bequeathed his realm "to the strongest." Whatever, his death provoked an immediate struggle between his most powerful generals. Later commentators have argued that his marrying a Persian princess and encouraging his officers and troops to intermarry with the local population give evidence that Alexander held a vision of the unity of humankind, but that seems pretty farfetched.
• C. The Hellenistic Kingdoms: Alexander's realm was divided between three of his top ranking generals. Seleucus established a dynasty in Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria; Ptolemy seized control of Egypt, Phoenicia, and Palestine; while Antigonus attempted to control Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor. Meanwhile, back in Greece, a number of the poleis rebelled against the Macedonians, forming the Achaean and Aetolian Leagues (NW Peloponnesus and W Greece). These confederations were the closest the Greeks ever came to achieving national unity until modern times. At any rate, by 30 B.C., each of the Hellenistic successor states and city states had fallen to Rome.
• D. Hellenistic Government and Society: The polis had been the basis of society in the classical Greek world. However, in the Hellenistic Age the role of the city-state was eclipsed. Alexander's conquests created a trading network that generated an economic transformation throughout Greece and the Near East. Wealth and the ownership of land was increasingly concentrated in the aristocracy, widening the gulf between rich and poor. The influx of Persian gold into Europe at the end of the fourth century caused an inflationary cycle in which wages lagged behind the rising cost of living. As a result, many Greeks emigrated to the new Hellenistic monarchies as soldiers, merchants, craftsmen and administrators. Greece itself went into a period of decline, both in population and economic importance, from which it was to recover only in the 19th century. This period showed a tremendous variety of philosophical systems and religious beliefs. Simultaneously the Hellenistic Age showed tremendous interest in science and technology.
• E. Hellenistic Culture: In addition the huge megalopoleis of Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch in Syria became the most important centers of learning and art. There the knowledge of east and west met in such institutions as the Great Library and Museum of Alexandria, which housed over 300,000 scrolls. The Museum was a place where scientists and scholers conducted research. Nevertheless these megalopoleis were a far cry from the poleis, while there was more money and resources, there was less freedom of inquiry.
  • 1. Hellenistic Philosophy: The Hellenistic Age produced two major and two minor additions to the history of philosophy. Epicureanism and Stoicism represented the period's dominant philosophical movements, while Skepticism and Cynicism found limited support among those unwilling to accept the Epicureans' and Stoics' confidence in reason. Hellenistic philosophy marked a turning point in the western intellectual tradition. While the classical Greek philosophers had linked the individual's happiness to the community's we1lbeing, the philosophers of the Hellenistic period, however, stressed the individual. The business of philosophy shifted from the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake to the search for the individual's personal happiness.
    • a. Epicureanism: Epicurus (ca. 342-270 B.C.) founded a school in Athens and taught that the goal of philosophy should be to help the individual find happiness. Unlike Socrates and Plato, he did not make citizenship in a polis the basis of happiness. Epicurus argued that a wise man eschewed public affairs and sought self-sufficiency. Later critics accused Epicurus and his followers of advocating a life based on pursuing the pleasures of the flesh. To Epicurus, however, the highest pleasure was to be found in contemplation.
    • b. Stoicism: Zeno (ca. 335-263 B.C.) established a philosophical school under the Stoa, or porch, of the Athenian Agora (marketplace). There are a number of similarities between Stoicism and Epicureanism. Like Epicurus, Zeno emphasized the importance of the individual. Moreover, both schools were based on a materialistic metaphysics. There were, however, significant differences between the two philosophical outlooks. Zeno taught that the cosmos was a unified whole which was based on a universal Logos or "Fire." Every man carried a spark of this Logos in his reason. At death this spark returned to its origin. The Stoics taught that each person should strive to discover the natural law governing the universe and live in accordance with it.
    • c. Skepticism and Cynicism: The Skeptics attacked the Epicureans and the Stoics. The most famous skeptic, Carneades of Cyrene (ca. 213 B.C.), argued that all knowledge was relative, and that our sensory impressions of the external world are flawed. Therefore, individuals should abandon their search for knowledge because nothing can be known for certain: The safest course is to doubt everything. Indifference is the only philosophically defensible position. Diogenes of Sinope (d. 323 B.C.). was the most famous cynic. His goal was to prepare the individual for any disaster. He lived as a beggar and was famous for speaking out against hypocrisy. One story has it that he was sunning himself when he met Alexander the Great, and when the world conqueror asked him what he wanted, Diogenes replied that he wanted Alexander to quit blocking his light. Another story said that he always carried a lighted lantern, even in broad daylight, because he was searching for an honest man.
  • 2. Hellenistic Science. While Hellenistic philosophy became more introspective Hellenistic science and technology were not equalled until the seventeenth century. Several factors account for the expansion of scientific activities. Alexander the Great supported scientific research. Engineers, astronomers, scientists, and historians accompanied his armies on their campaigns. Moreover, Alexander's victories won Hellenistic natural philosophers access to Egyptian and Chaldean records. Technological developments were encouraged by the growing appetite for confort and practical knowledge. Important advances occurred in all of the sciences. Among the views of Hellenistic scientists that were rediscovered in modern times were those of Aristarchus and Eratosthenes. Aristarchus, an astronomer, presented a heliocentric (sun-centered) theory of the solar system 1800 years before Copernicus. Eratosthenes pioneered the study of geography. Eratosthenes believed the earth was round and succeeded in calculating the circumference of the Earth (within 200 miles) and devised the system of longitude and latitude 1800 years before Columbusa and Mercator. Many other Hellenistic scientists were important, such as Euclid (Mathematics), Ptolemy (Astronomy), and Galen (Medicine).
  • 3. Hellenistic Literature: Later poetry included various forms. Hellenistic poetry, like the philosophy of the time became more personal and less community oriented. Epigrams and personal lyrics became popular. In addition poetic and prose romances or novels came into being. During Hellenisitic times Menander (ca 342-291 B.C.) and other Hellenistic playwrights abandoned political themes that were central to Old Comedy. The New Comedy focused on domestic and individual situations in which typically lovers are blocked by interfering parents. Later Hellenistic historians, such as Polybius, Arrian, Diodorus Siculus and others continued Thucydides' tradition with unbiased accounts of the events and trends of their times. The Greek historical tradition continued through Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times until the 15th century A.D.
  • 4. Hellenistic Art and Architecture: In art and architecture, styles became more refined, ornate and naturalistic. The third Greek architectural order, the Corinthian, began its ascendency in Hellenistic times, probably because its opulance reflected the imperial politcal system. There was less idealism and more realism in Hellenistic sculture and painting. Whereas Hellenic art would portray things as they ought to be, Hellenistic art portrayed often portrayed things as they were. An example of this is the Hellenistic statue of a boxer, which shows him exhausted and with a broken nose. Hellenistic art influenced the Romans, who adopted much of the naturalism and splendor of Hellenistic art.
• F. The Hellenistic legacy. The decline of the city state and the rise of hellenistic monarchies had transformed the Greek world from particular civilization which looked upon the rest of the world as barbarians to a cosmopolitan civilization and culture which incorporated the rest of the world. The Greeks of this era increasingly looked upon themeselves not as citizens of city state (polis) but rather as subjects of a world community (cosmopolis). This concept of world community or empire which the Greeks adopted from the Persians and others, would be passed on to a rising commonwealth to the west---the Roman Republic.