HIS 101 – Western Civilization I
Lecture 5 -- The Hellenistic World
I. Greece in the 4th century B.C.E.
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Sparta won the Peloponnesian War but failed to establish a new Greek order
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It took over the Athenian empire, but it quickly had a falling out with
its former allies, Corinth and Thebes
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What followed was roughly 60 years of one polis or league after another
struggling to become the main power in Greece (often doing so with the
help of the Persians who enjoyed the divisions within Greece since it allowed
them to do what they wanted over in Asia Minor
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Phillip of Macedonia
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Macedonia
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At the same time that the Greeks were fighting among themselves, just to
the north of them a new power was arising
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The kingdom of Macedonia was a Greek-speaking area (although it was a dialect
that many in the south could not understand)
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It was an area rich in resources and manpower, but was poorly organized—consisting
primarily of tribal groups under the control of a king
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In 359 BCE, Philip II gains control of Macedonia and quickly proves himself
to be a brilliant soldier and statesman
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He reorganized the Macedonian army, opening up the hoplite ranks to almost
anyone, equipping it with longer spears (12 feet), and making the
Macedonian cavalry a weapon to be feared
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He then gradually began a conquest of Greece, playing the different poleis
and leagues against each other.
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After his victory at the battle of Chaeronea (in Boeotia) in 338, Philip
became the ruler of almost all Greece (a couple of minor areas in western
Greece remained free—mainly because Philip did not see them as being worth
the effort)
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Philip had made many enemies during his rise to power
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He was proud and boastful
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He was arrogant and a womanizer (he had four wives and a number of mistresses)
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Two years after he gained control of Greece, he was assassinated—debate
over who did it (a jealous wife of his or a jealous husband of one of his
mistresses) still rages
II. Alexander the Great
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Upon Philip’s death, the Macedonian crown went to his 20-year old son Alexander
III
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Alexander is a hard person to understand (because there is as much legend
about him as there is historical evidence)
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As a teenager, Alexander had been tutored by Aristotle (Alexander picked
up his love of sciences from him)
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He had led the Macedonian cavalry since he was 18
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Alexander was handsome, charismatic, intelligent, and ambitious
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He also possessed a streak of ruthlessness (he had most of his male relatives
killed upon becoming king so there would be no one else in the family that
could possibly claim the crown)
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Still, Alexander proved to be a remarkable soldier, using propoaganda to
demoralize the enemy and sharing the same risks as his soldiers in battle
and hardships in camp
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Upon becoming king, Alexander turned his sights on Persia (claiming he
wanted revenge for the invasions of Darius and Xerxes in the 5th century)
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In 334 BCE, he began an invasion of Persian territory (starting at Troy
where he sacrificed animals and spoke of beoming the new Greek Achilles)
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Alexander had to move quickly to win—he had a much smaller army than the
Persians and had almost no money (conquering enemy areas was the only way
he could get more money)
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During the first two years of the war, he conquered all of Asia Minor,
Palestine, and Egypt (the last declaring him a god, after the way of the
pharoahs—something Alexander thoroughly enjoyed but annoyed many Greeks)
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Two years later, he conquered Assyria (including modern day Syria and Iraq)
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In the final four years of his campaign, he conquered Persia (including
modern day Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) and advanced all the way to
the Indus River in India by 326 BCE
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After his conquests, Alexander began moving back toward Macedonia, solidifying
his conquests
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However, in 323 (at the age of 33), Alexander died—reasons are disputed
(malaria, drunkeness, or poison)
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During his life, Alexander had destroyed much, but had also built much—his
legacy is still very much disputed today as to whether he was someone solely
intent on his own ambitions or whether he truly sought to spread the Greek
ways and culture to a large area
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The legacy of Alexander
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Alexander left a young son at his death, but the son was quickly pushed
out of power
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The Macedonian generals fought amongst each other for control, and basically
carved out kingdoms for themselves—three of which, Macedon, Ptolemaic Kingdom,
and the Seleucid Kingdom (along with a significant number of semi-independent
city-states)
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These kingdoms ruled vast stretches of territory throughout the Mediterranean
and Middle Eastern areas
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The age of the polis was basically dead
III. Life in the Hellenistic World
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Cities
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Although most were no longer independent, cities played a vital role in
the Hellenistic world
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Many grew to great size
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They served as administrative hubs, trading posts, and the heart of Hellenistic
culture
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Of these cities, Alexandria, Egypt became the most important
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Located where the Nile River flows into the Mediterranean, Alexandria quickly
grew to be the largest city in the region (and would remain so well into
the Roman period)
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Its location made it an ideal spot for trading (bringing Egyptian and other
Middle Eastern goods) to the sea where they could easily be transported
throughout the Hellenistic kingdoms
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Its great library (the largest in the ancient world, with over 700,000
scrolls—equal to about 50,000 modern books) attracted scholars and artists
from all over
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It also served as the capital for Ptolemaic Egypt
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Culture and Society
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Hellenic culture vs. Hellenistic culture
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Hellenic culture (the ways of the Classic Age of Greece and before)
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tended to be primarily inward looking
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often gloomy and pessimistic (not surprising considering all the strife)
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Hellenic literature focused more on public affairs than private lives
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Hellenistic culture
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More optimistic than Hellenic
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Big difference is the focus on the private, inner lives of individuals
rather than the public world
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Hellenistic writing also gives women a larger place in society
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Alexandrian writer, Appolonius, wrote an epic poem titled the Voyage
of the Argo about Jason and the Argonauts
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In the poem, Jason is quite different from earlier Greek heroes such as
the bold Achilles or the ever-composed Odysseus—instead he is frequently
at a loss over what he should do
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Throughout the poem, Medea (who loves Jason) frequently provides the answers
to problems faced by the crew of the Argo
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Spread of Greek Culture
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The interaction between the Greeks and the peoples they ruled led to a
spread of Greek ideas and culture throughout a vast region
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Still, Greek ideas were not the only ones available
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The ways and languages of other societies melded together with the Greek
to form a new synthesis
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Aramaic, a semitic language from the Middle East competed with Greek for
dominance in the Hellenistic world
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Changing Status of Women
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The literature from the Hellenistic world indicates that the status of
women began to change somewhat from the old Greek ways
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Stories dealt with romantic love, eroticism, and domesticity much more
than before
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Hellenistic art frequently portrayed hermaphrodites, a mythical creature
that was half male, half female—suggesting that the feminine was as important
a part of human nature as the masculine
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Hellenistic women gained some small improvements in political and legal
status, but made considerable improvements in economic rights (even becoming
able to own property on their own) and social rights (in Alexandria, it
was not uncommon to see women at the gymnasium--unheard of in the Hellenic
world)
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Philosophy and Religion
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Cynics
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Diogenes of Sinope was the founder of the Cynic movement
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Developed a philosophy that rejected all conventions of society
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He decided that happiness could best be found by satisfying one’s natural
needs with simplicity—thus he lived as a beggar
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He was laughed at and called the dog—his followers were known as the doglike
(kunikoi—from which our word cynic is derived)
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Meeting between Alexander and Diogenes
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Legend of Diogenes and the lamp
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Epicurians and Stoics
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Both began at roughly the same time (probably around 310 BCE)
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Both schools were empiricist and materialistic (that is they trusted only
what they could detect with the senses)
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Epicurians
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Counseled that the best way to be happy was to withdraw from public life
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“Calm” and “Live in hiding” are famous sayings of the Epicureans
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They did not believe in life after death (you could not see a soul, therefore
it did not exist)
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If there was no soul, no life after death, then what was the purpose of
life
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To Epicureans, it was to avoid pain and pursue pleasure (though at moderation)
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Although some Greeks derided the Epicureans as atheists and sensualists,
many (particularly the wealthy) found the Epicurean way offered both friendship
and a sense of community
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Stoics
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Around 300 B.C., Zeno began a new school of philosophy that became a major
influence on Hellenistic culture
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Stoicism was close to a religion, arguing that humans must live in harmony
with nature (God) and within themselves (inner harmony)
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Stoics saw every thought and action as being good, evil, or indifferent.
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Examples of good include courage, wisdom, justice, and prudence
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Evil was exemplified by cowardice, spendthrift, injustice, and foolishness
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Indifferent were those thoughts and acts that were neither good nor evil--life,
health, beauty, and strength
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Stoics viewed passion as the root of all human misery--saw passion as being
an illness of a person's soul
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Given the Hellenistic world they inhabited, the Stoics fit in with their
view of the world as a single entity--everyone was part of a worldwide
polis and were children of the same god.
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Mystery Cults
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The traditional Greek religions came under attack on every front during
the Hellenistic period
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One of the reasons for this was that many Greeks found the Olypian gods
to be quite cold and distant and the ritual ways of worship too formalistic
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As a result, many people turned to new religions
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Key among these were a group of religions that become known as the “Mystery
Cults”
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They offered not only ethical guidance, comfort, release from worries,
reassurances about death, and a sense of unity—they also offered the chance
at an afterlife and the joys of belonging to a secretive organization
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Some of these cults worshipped Demeter, Dionysius, and Serapis (a combination
of the Egyptian Osiris and Greek Hades, the gods of the underworld)
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The most popular mystery cult was the one that centered around the Egyptian
goddess Isis (who also became a popular Greek and Roman goddess)
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Isis was thought to combine the element of all female deities of antiquity
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The cult of Isis focused on the afterlife and the suffering of females—Isis
was a tender and loving mother figure
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As might be expected, this cult became immensely popular among women (although
men could belong also)
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Some of the attributes of these cults—the suffering mother figure, the
Last Judgement, and blessed eternal life after death for those who were
good—helped influence early Christian beliefs
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Hellenistic Judaism
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One of the most important consequences of Alexander's conquests was the
mixing of Greeks and Jews--before this time, the two peoples had little
contact with one another
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During the Hellenistic period, Greeks governed Judea for a while before
a Jewish independence movement overthrew their rule
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Millions of Jews settled throughout the Hellenistic kingdoms--in Egypt,
Anatolia, Syria, and even Greece
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This mixing of the "people of the book" with those of philosophy and myth
often brought about violent, but creative results
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Jews were often persecuted, but many of them assimilated into the Greek
culture and worked their way up in society
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During the struggle against Hellenism, the Jews developed a literature
that dealt with spirtual resistance to foreign invaders, one that often
revealed apocalyptic (hidden or secret) traditions, and predited a cataclysmic
event that bring about a new redeemer known as "the annointed one" or Messiah
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The variety of different sects of Judaism (Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes,
and Hellenizers) meant there was no longer one united view of the religion,
which opened the door to new theories and ideas
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By the end of the Hellenistic period, the diaspora (spreading of the Hebrews
over a wide area) meant that the word Jew began to refer more to their
religious beliefs than someone from Judea