The Hellenistic Age Alexander the Great Hellenistic Intellectual

The Hellenistic Age Alexander the Great Hellenistic Intellectual Advances

Decline of the City-States n n n Sparta and their allies felt threatened by Athenian imperialism They go to war Athens is struck by a plague in 430 which killed about 1/3 of their population including Pericles Also at that time, Athens was involved with a bitter battle with Sicily Athens was the only city that might have unified the Greek world but it lost its chance Culturally stagnated Sparta had taken control n Their rule was short-lived and city-states gained independence

The Macedonians As the Greeks battled each other groups of Greek-dialect speaking mountain people were growing strong in the north n At the age of 23 Philip II became king of Macedonia n He converted them into a world-class military power and made Greece his target n In 338 he defeated the Greeks and the citystates lost their independence n

Alexander the Great n n n Alexander was the son of Phillip of Macedon Phillip organized the Greek states into a powerful league under his command He planned to launch an attack on the Persians Alexander carried out his father’s plan The attack on Persia was revenge for the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC.

Alexander’s Empire n Won some major battles in Asia minor and made his way into Egypt n n He marched into western Asia and defeated the Persians n n n Seized the land, honored the priestly class and was declared pharaoh As an act of retribution he burned all the buildings of Xerxes He continued on his war path and pursued the Persian king to his death He set out to conquer the rest of Asia and made it as far as India when his men refused to go any further n He headed south to the Arabian Sea waging bloody, unnecessary war

Alexander’s War Path

The Political Legacy n Alex died at the age of 32 in 323 BC while he awaited replacement troops because his army refused to march n Causes of death? n n n Named his lover Hephaestion the heir n n n Drinking binge Syphilis Typhoid Fever Poison He was killed too Had an infant son that was murdered His most powerful generals then fought for control but the empire was divided into large monarchies

Hellenistic Intellectual Advances Widespread conquest brought not only a spread of Hellenism but Hellenistic exposure to foreign ideas n This cultural and intellectual dispersion went on to influence the Roman, Jews and Christians n

Religion in the Hellenistic World When kings founded cities they built temples and priesthoods that honored the traditional Olympic gods- see Paestum n These new cults received public money and were attractive because of their rituals and festivities n n n Literary, musical and athletic competitions The civic cults never addressed sin and redemption which was becoming a concern after exposure to other cultures n Zoroastrianism

Mystery Religions Emerged to fill the void n Attracted both Greeks and easterners with a promise of immortality n Required initiation processes n Devotees become one with god, who had himself died and risen from the dead n The sacrifice of the god and his triumph over death saved the devotee from the power of eternal death n Initiation represented birth into a new life n n The cult of Isis, the wife of Osiris who conquered Tyche

Epicureanism n n Epicurus based his philosophy on scientific theories and taught that the gods had no impact on the lives of humans The principal good of human life is pleasure n The absence of pain n n Violent emotions are undesirable Mild self-discipline is necessary Epicureans basically ignored the political arena n n Three kinds of desires: natural and necessary desires, natural but nonnecessary desires, and "vain and empty" desires Static vs. moving pleasures It was disturbing to the soul Modern Hedonism

Stoicism The philosophy of Zeno n Based on moral obligation n Saw nature as an expression of divine will n Happiness would result from living life in accord with nature n Created the concept of natural law n Lived like actors in play, not changing the script n Men are brothers and are obliged to help one another n

Science Aristarchus- astronomer who argued against Aristotle's heliocentric theory n Euclid- The Elements of Geometry n Archimedes- catapults, grappling devices, compound pulleys, the Archimedean screw n n Founded hydrostatics Eratosthenes- declared that a ship could sail westward to India n Dogmatic school of medicine- speculation and anatomy n Empiric school of medicine- observation and the curing of illness with drugs n

The Archimedean Screw