The culture of the
Hellenistic world
History 100, February 27, 2006
Alexander the Great (coin "om
just after his death in 323 BC)
Tyche of Antioch (coin "om reign of
Septimius Severus, AD 202-207)
A couple announcements
• The response paper topic for Friday will be
posted and e-mailed by noon tomorrow.
• You’ll get a study guide for the midterm exam
next week.
Hellenistic-Roman world
BC
1000
500
500
1000
1500
AD
The rise of Macedonia
•
338 BC: Philip of Macedon establishes hegemony over
Greece
•
336 BC: Philip is assassinated; his 20-year-old son
Alexander comes to power
•
336-323 BC: Alexander’s campaigns in the East
Alexander’s campaigns and
cities
Alexander and his successors
Tetradrachm issued by Lysimachos, 305-281 BC
The end of Alexander’s empire
•
Alexander attempted to blend Greek and Persian
elites by marrying his generals to Persian wives; he
married Roxane
•
323 BC: Alexander dies; succession struggle begins.
Successors repudiate Persian wives.
•
Result: several independent kingdoms and empires,
joined by common culture
The Hellenistic World, c. 240 BC
The spread of
Hellenistic culture
•
Question: how did an empire of
conquest establish a common
culture?
•
Foundation of cities (many
named Alexandria)
•
Greeks remained a small,
monolingual elite
• “Hellenization” limited to Greeks
and to local elites
Tyche of Antioch (copy in
Worcester Art Museum)
What was “Greek culture”?
•
Way of life, including:
1) Education in Homer and the liberal arts
2) Care of the body: gymnasium, athletics
3) Common language (koine Greek)
4) Common cult of the gods
An example: Scholarship in
Alexandria
•
Ptolemy I Soter, first Ptolemaic king of
Egypt, est. Library and Museum
•
Museum (temple to the Muses)
•
Library was response to threat of literary
loss: 490,000 scrolls at height
•
Critical scholarship developed through
comparison of manuscripts and need to
explain archaic language
•
Literature was highly allusive, classicized