Timeline

Historical Dictionary

First posted on June 6th 2004

Narratives : Hellenism http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sat/texts/narrhellenism.html

In 336 B.C., a 20 year old Alexander inherited the Kingdom of Macedonia, the claim for hegemony over Greece and the challenge - to invade and conquer the Persian Empire. When Athens and Sparta had contested for hegemony in Greece, the leaders of Athens and Sparta were products of their respective constitutions, Athenian democracy and Spartan military society. Alexander, by contrast, was, at the beginning of his reign, an unknown entity, Macedonia a kingdom long despised by the Greeks as semi-Barbaric, because the Macedonians had no poleis. Arrian's account of the life and deeds of Alexander, written 4 centuries after the events, is somewhat hagiographic. Alexander managed, with audacity, determination and skill, to conquer an empire fore than 20 times larger than all of Greece combined. He never lost a battle, broke off his campaign in India only when his soldiers refused to follow, died young of disease. He was admired by generations of rulers, many of whom regarded him a role model to follow, setting themselves up for failure. Alexander accomplished the military conquest of the Persian Empire. His attempt to set up a new political structure, administrated by a Macedonian-Persian elite, was interrupted by his sudden death (323 B.C.). Alexander's death created a power vacuum; Macedonia itself lacked the institutions to ensure stability during the years of Alexander IV.'s minority. Alexander had begun the cultural process of Hellenization of the Near East; new cities Greek in outlook were founded, such as Alexandria in Egypt in 332, existing oriental cities were reformed and given a Greek name, such as in the case of Zion, Greek Hierosolymam, better known as Jerusalem. Macedonians, Greeks settled in the former Persian Empire. The various regions of the latter became, to a different degree, more Greek. On the other hand, Alexander, while in Egypt in 332/331, had permitted Egyptian priests to lead him through the process of deification (regarded essential to present Alexander to the Egyptians as the new Pharaoh); in 327 he introduced the Persian custom of proskynesis at his court - a custom despised by the Greeks. During the years 323 to 301, the integrity of Alexander's Empire was held up in theory; the regency was contested, regents frequently changed and a series of wars - the Wars of the Diadochi - involving a large number of participants unfolded. Finally the Battle of Ipsus in 301 resulted in a clarification of the situation; the Empire was partitioned, Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria, the latter theoretically ruling over the entire east - Mesopotamia, Persia, Bactria, the Indus Valley - emerged. The situation in Greece, Macedonia, Anatolia was still unstable; the Antigonid Dynasty managed to establish herself in Macedonia; the Aetolian and Achaean Leagues became the foremost powers in mainland Greece, Rhodes an important economic and military power in the Aegaean. Anatolia was contested and fragmented, Pergamon emerging as the strongest entity. The Seleucids established their capital Antioch in the far west of their extensive domains; they neglected the east; Bactria broke away; the Parni conquered the province of Parthia and established the Parthian Empire. Alexandria, Antioch, Syracuse (on Sicily) emerged as the cultural centers of Hellenist Antiquity. The majority of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World is located outside of Greece; Alexandria is believed to have been the largest city in the world, the Great Library of Alexandria the leading center of education of her time. The Hellenistic rulers of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid Dynasties continued the process of accepting eastern traditions; the Ptolemies in Egypt married their sisters, according to Egyptian custom; this custom had been taken over by the dynasty of Caria opposite Rhodes (Maussolus). Cleopatra was regarded the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria were almost constantly at war; Antigonid Macedonia almost constantly fought wars in mainland Greece. Greek historiography describes the battles in some detail. While Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire was, from Macedonian perspective, hugely profitable, opening up enormous economic opportunities, the Hellenistic Wars failed to result in lasting conquests, established a balance between Hellenistic powers. These wars were costly and destructive. The Hellenistic powers wore themselves down, Seleucid Syria shrinking in the process from a world power to a regional power. During the same period, Rome grew from a peripheral power to the heir of the Hellenistic world, annexing the Hellenistic states one by one. The eastern half of the Roman Empire spoke Greek as lingua franca; her Latin was to have a negligible impact. The defense of Syracuse against an assaulting Roman fleet in 215 - Archimedes' machinery defeating Roman brute power - describes the difference between Greek ingenuity and Roman backwardness, as sensed by contemporary Greeks. Plutarch, in his lives, attempted to explain why the Romans had been able to conquer the Greek world, a matter which, obviously, in his lifetime, still required explanation. Hellenism was the leading cultural trend during the Roman Empire; Roman literature, philosophy, historiography, architecture is a continuation of Greek literature, philosophy, historiography, architecture. Vergil's Aeneid was an attempt to create for Rome what the Greeks had in the Odyssey. Hellenistic science, in Greek or Latin, declined during the period of the Roman Empire. There was a tendency away from philosophy, toward religion. Religious cults hitherto limited to certain regions spread throughout the Roman Empire - the Egyptian cult of Isis, the Persian cult of Mithras (in a Hellenistic adaptation). Jewish communities emerged all over the Empire, more a consequence of migration than of conversion. And new religions, partially synchretistic, emerged and spread, most notably Christianity and Manichaeism (perhaps, the cult of Mithras also has to be listed here). These show that the phenomenon was not limited to the Roman Empire; Manichaeism and Christianity were influenced by Buddhism. Early christianity identified Hellenism and Paganism. When Christianity became sole state religion under Theodosius, the Great Library of Alexandria was sacked (the books used as fuel), the Olympic Games terminated, finally the Platonian Academy closed down - the end of antiquity in the east. see the chapters on the Roman Empire and on Early Christianity.

click here for an older WHKMLA narrative on the history of Hellenism

EXTERNAL FILES

Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University Hellenistic Coins (Replicas), from Antiqua Nova (commercial site)

REFERENCE

Graham Shipley, The Greek World After Alexander, 323-30 BC, Routledge 2000, KMLA Lib.Sign. 938.08 S557g

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