Chapter 4 - The Hellenistic World

Chapter 4.1 - Macedonia and the Conquests of Alexander

• While the Greek city-states were continuing their fratricidal warfare, to their north a new and ultimately powerful kingdom was emerging in its own right.
  • Unlike the Greeks, the Macedonians were mostly rural folk and were organized in tribes, not city-states.
  • He used Macedonian countrymen, sturdy peasants, and shepherds, as the core of his phalanx of infantrymen.
  • In this way, Macedonian infantrymen could impale an opposing hoplite force before the hoplites could even reach them.
• The Macedonian phalanx was supported by strong cavalry contingents that helped to break the opposing line of battle and create disorder in the enemy’s ranks.
  • Philip also recognized the value of technological improvements in warfare and created a group of engineers to design new catapults to destroy an enemy’s fortifications.
  • Finally, Philip strengthened the bonds between the army and its leaders.
  • Philip’s new army defeated the Illyrians to the west and the Thracians to the north and east and was then drawn into the Greeks’ interstate conflicts.
• The Greeks had mixed reactions to Philip’s growing strength.
• Many Athenians, especially the orator Demosthenes, came to have a strong distrust of the Macedonian leader’s intentions. Demosthenes delivered a series of orations, known as the Philippics, in which he portrayed Philip as ruthless, deceitful, treacherous, and barbaric and called on the Athenians to oppose him.
• Other Athenians, such as Isocrates, a teacher of rhetoric, viewed Philip as a savior who would rescue the Greeks from themselves by uniting them and organizing the entire Greek world in a crusade against the common enemy, the Persians.
• Demosthenes’s repeated calls for action, combined with Philip’s rapid expansion, finally spurred Athens into action.
• The Macedonian army crushed the Greek allies, and Philip was now free to consolidate his control over the Greek peninsula.
• The Greek states were joined together in an alliance that we call the Corinthian League because they met at Corinth.
• I will abide by the peace, and I will not break the agreements with Philip the Macedonian, nor will I take up arms with hostile intent against any one of those who abide by the oaths either by land or by sea.
• Philip of Macedon was recognized as the hegemon of the league and its army.
• Although Philip allowed the Greek city-states autonomy in domestic affairs, he retained the general direction of their foreign affairs.
• Many Greeks still objected to being subject to the less civilized master from the north, but Philip insisted that the Greek states end their bitter rivalries and cooperate with him in a war against Persia.

Chapter 4.2 - The World of the Hellenistic Kingdoms

• The united empire that Alexander created by his conquests disintegrated after his death. ANTIGONID KINGDOM OF MACEDONIA In Macedonia, the struggles for power led to the extermination of Alexander the Great’s dynasty. did Antigonus Gonatus, the grandson of one of Alexander’s generals, succeed in establishing the Antigonid dynasty as rulers of Macedonia. Macedonia was, of course, also important to the Greeks.
• As one ancient commentator noted, ‘‘It is in the interest of the Greeks that the Macedonian do-minion should be humbled for long, but by no means that it should be destroyed.
• The Threat from the Celts The Celts, also known as the Gauls, were a people who had occupied large areas of Europe north of the Alps during the Early Iron Age, especially the region to the south and west of the Rhine River, west of the Alps, and north of the Pyrenees.
• After the death of Alexander the Great, other groups of Celts began to threaten the Hellenistic world. Celts attacked Macedonia early in the third century B.
• Other groups of Celts later attacked Asia Minor, where Attalus I bested them in 230 B.C.

Economic Trends in the Hellenistic World

• Agriculture was still of primary importance to both the native populations and the new Greek cities of the Hellenistic world.
  • The Greek cities continued their old agrarian patterns. Indeed, trading contacts linked much of the Hellenistic world.
  • Although Hellenistic monarchs still fought wars, the conquests of Alexander and the policies of his successors made possible greater trade between east and west.
• Two major trade routes connected the east with the Mediterranean.
• The central route was the major one and led by sea from India to the Persian Gulf, up the Tigris River to Seleucia on the Tigris, which replaced Babylon as the center for water-borne traffic from the Persian Gulf and overland caravan routes as well.
• Overland routes from Seleucia then led to Antioch and Ephesus.

Chapter 4.3 - Hellenistic Society

• In Macedonia, a pattern of alliances between mothers and sons provided openings for women to take an active role in politics, especially in political intrigue.

• In Egypt, opportunities for royal women were even greater after the Ptolemaic rulers adopted the Egyptian custom of kings marrying their own sisters.

• The development of the kingdom as the focus of political life in the Hellenistic era also resulted in fewer restrictions on women.

• In many cities, for example, women of all classes had new freedom of movement.

• The most notable gains, especially for upper-class women, came in the economic area.

• Documents show increasing numbers of women involved in managing slaves, selling property, and making loans.

• Even then, legal contracts made by women had to include their official male guardians, although often these men were listed only to satisfy legal requirements and no longer played an important role.

• In Sparta, women were allowed to own land and manage their own economic affairs.

  Role of Slavery

• Although slaves came from everywhere, Thracians and Syrians were the most numerous.

• Slaves were put to work in numerous ways in the Hellenistic world. States employed slaves as servants for government officials and in government-run industries such as weaving.

• Most slaves were used in domestic service, farming, and mines, but the situation could vary from state to state.

• Egypt had no slave class in the countryside, nor was there much domestic slavery outside Alexandria.

• The effects of slavery could also be important.

• The employment of large numbers of slaves in the Hellenistic kingdoms contributed to the Hellenizing process.

• Slaves working in homes, farms, or factories had opportunities to absorb Greek ways.

• This is especially evident in the case of the slave-wives of Hellenistic soldiers.

• The Transformation of Education In the Hellenistic world, education underwent a significant transformation.

• In the Classical period of Greek history, education had been left largely to private enterprise. Greek cities now began to supervise education in new ways.

• The Greek gymnasium, which had been primarily an athletic institution, evolved into a secondary school. ’’

• The school in Teos was unusual, however, in that education was ordinarily for upper-class male children.

Chapter 4.4 - Culture in the Hellenistic World

• Although the Hellenistic kingdoms encompassed vast areas and many diverse peoples, the Greeks provided a sense of unity as a result of the diffusion of Greek culture throughout the Hellenistic world.
• Rich Hellenistic kings had considerable resources with which to patronize culture.
• The Ptolemies in Egypt made Alexandria an especially important cultural center.
• In addition to being patrons of literary talent, the Hellenistic monarchs were eager to spend their money to beautify and adorn the cities in their states.
• Most noticeable in the construction of temples was the use of the more ornate Corinthian order , which became especially popular during the Hellenistic era.
• Both Hellenistic kings and rich citizens commissioned sculptures. While maintaining the technical skill of the Classical period, Hellenistic sculptors moved away from the idealism of fifth-century classicism to a more emotional and realistic art, seen in numerous statues of old women, drunks, and little children at play.
• The Hellenistic era witnessed a more conscious separation of science from philosophy.
• In the Hellenistic Age, the sciences tended to be studied in their own right. One of the traditional areas of Greek science was astronomy, and two Alexandrian scholars continued this exploration.
• The most famous scientist of the Hellenistic period, Archimedes, came from the western Mediterranean region.
• Archimedes was especially important for his work on the geometry of spheres and cylinders, for establishing the value of the mathematical constant pi, and for creating the science of hydrostatics.
• Archimedes was also a practical inventor. ’’ Archimedes' accomplishments inspired a wealth of semi-legendary stories. ’’
• The king was so impressed that he encouraged Archimedes to lower his sights and build defensive weapons instead.

Chapter 4.5 - Religion in the Hellenistic World

• When the Greeks spread throughout the Near East, they took their gods with them.
• The civic cults based on the traditional gods no longer seemed sufficient to satisfy people’s emotional needs.
  • These left Greeks are receptive to the numerous religious cults of the eastern world. The Greeks were always tolerant of other existing religious institutions.
  • Hence, in the Hellenistic cities of the Near East, the traditional civic cults of their own gods and foreign cults existed side by side.
  • Alexandria had cults of the traditional Greek gods, Egyptian deities such as Isis and Horus, the Babylonian Astarte, and the Syrian Atargatis.
  • Among educated Greeks, the philosophies of Epicureanism and especially Stoicism offered help. Another source of solace came in the form of mystery religions.
• Mystery cults, with their secret initiations and promises of individual salvation, were not new to the Greek world.
• But the Greeks of the Hellenistic era were also strongly influenced by eastern mystery cults, such as those of Egypt, which offered a distinct advantage over the Greek mystery religions.
• In contrast, the eastern mystery religions were readily available since temples to their gods and goddesses were located throughout the Greek cities of the east.
• All of the mystery religions were based on the same fundamental premises.
• The cult of Isis was very ancient but became truly universal in Hellenistic times.
• Isis was also portrayed as the giver of civilization who had brought laws and letters to all humankind.
• In many ways, the mystery religions of the Hellenistic era helped pave the way for Christianity.

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