STUDENT NOTES FOR CH. 4
HIS101
A History of Western Society
CHAPTER 4
The Hellenistic World, 336–30 BCE
The legends begin. . .
• Was he superhuman and destined for
greatness from conception??
Family Feuds….
• Father’s marriage to Cleopatra Eurydice
• Plutarch’s description of fight at the wedding
• Exile with mother
• Return home
• Father’s death
What did he fear?. . .
• What was Alexander afraid of after his father’s
death?
• What did he do about fear? What did his
mother do?
Following his father. . .
• Father’s accomplishments?
• Alexander’s mission?
• Young leader- but prepared?
Alexander and the Great Crusade
Alexander’s attack on the Persian Empire (334 BCE)
1. Revenge for the Persian invasion of Greece in 480
BCE
2. What was a purpose of Alexander’s Great Crusade
besides military invasion?
3. As a symbolic act of retribution Alexander
destroyed the buildings of Xerxes in the Persian
capital of Persepolis.
4. Conquered Egypt and the Persian Empire
Alexander and the Great Crusade
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What type of leader was Alexander?
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King of Kings?
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Still many that plotted against him…
Temper, temper…
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Cleitus the Black
Drinking
Accusations
Death
Death of Alexander. . .
A Babylonian astronomical diary (c. 323–322 BC) recording the death of
Alexander (British Museum, London
)
Depiction of Alexander's funeral
procession
Alexander’s Legacy
From Hellenic to Hellenistic
• 1. Created the Hellenistic World
• 2. Hellenic World -Greek culture characterized by
cultural unity.
• 3. Hellenistic World -The Greeks encountered
difference: new peoples, languages, gods, foods,
and traditions.
Alexander’s Political Legacy
• 1. Alexander’s Death (323 BCE) — Left power vacuum
for nearly forty years.
• 2. Three Dynasties Created — Antigonids (Macedonia),
Ptolemies (Egypt), Seleucids (Asia Minor to India).
• 3. Polis Replaced by Leagues — Leagues of multiple
city-states replaced the Polis as a first-rate political
powers (Athens and Sparta became third-rate powers).
• 4. Constant Fighting — Within and between Hellenistic
kingdoms.
Alexander’s Cultural Legacy
• 1. New Cities and Colonies — To maintain communication
and supplies, Alexander established more than 70 new
cities and military colonies that spread Hellenism
throughout the East and Mediterranean. After his death,
more than 250 new Hellenistic colonies were established.
• 2. Ay Khanoum — Hellenistic city on border of Russia and
Afghanistan; had Greek gymnasium, temples, and
administration buildings.
• 3. Hellenism — Common bond between Greek world and
East.
The Spread of Hellenism
• 1. Resurgence of Hereditary Monarchies — Cult of the ruler
(king’s authority linked to authority of the gods).
• 2. Hellenistic Cities — Hellenistic kings built a city but not a polis.
The new cities could not engage in diplomacy, make treaties, or
run own affairs without interference from king. They were not
homogeneous and had many non-Greek natives and foreigners
with fewer rights than Greeks.
• 3. Centers of Culture — Hellenistic cities became centers of
culture (theaters, temples, libraries), learning (poets, writers,
artists), amusement, and commerce, the foundation for the
spread of Greek language, customs, and values.
The Lives of the Greeks in the East
1. Greeks — Provided upper class (administrators,
soldiers, craftsmen, architects, artists, engineers).
2. Women — Benefited (through commerce) in
spite of legal handicaps.
3. Hellenistic Monarchies — Failed to win political
loyalty of Greek subjects and soldiers were
mercenaries.
4. Decline of Hellenistic World — Began when flow
of Greek migrants from Greek peninsula to the new
colonies slowed.
Greeks and Easterners
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1. “The East” — Term used by Greeks to refer to Egypt and the Near
East.
2. Spread of Greek Culture — Wider than it was deep (Greek
culture did not take hold as deeply further east in Persia and
Bactria nor in the countryside).
3. Egypt — Ptolemies ruthlessly exploited native Egyptian
population through high taxes, but by 2nd century BCE, Greeks and
native Egyptians began to intermarry.
4. Seleucids — The most prominent Hellenizers (established
military colonies and Greek cities to sustain a vigorous Greek
population).
5. Greek Language — Became the common speech of commerce,
upper class, the military, and the administration. Yet the vast
majority of peoples retained most of their traditional way of life.
6. Hellenisitic World — Mingling of Greek and Eastern cultures.
The Economic Scope of the Hellenistic World
Agriculture and Industry
• 1. New Commercial Networks but Few Big Changes — The
creation of new commercial networks did not lead to a revolution
in the way people lived and worked.
• 2. Agriculture — No new techniques of production. Used manual
labor instead of machinery, since human labor (criminals, slaves,
prisoners of war) was so cheap. Ptolemies made great stride in
improving agriculture.
• 3. Pottery — Methods of production did not change.
• 4. Metals- apart from silver and gold, iron was the most important
metal in the Hellenistic world.
The Economic Scope of the Hellenistic World
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Commerce
1. New Opportunities for Trade — Found in wealth of conquered
Persian capitals and in Eastern bazaars.
2. Common Standards of Money — Attic standards, which had the
same value between Hellenistic kingdoms, made trade easier.
3. The Great Silk Road — Relied on Caravan Routes to India and
Arabia, known as The Great Silk Road, that were in the hands of
Easterners and provided luxury goods (gold, ivory, spices,
precious stones, tea, silk). The backbone of caravan trade was
camels.
4. Trade in Surplus Grain — (Abundant wheat supplies in Egypt,
Crimea, and southern Russia), exported olive oil, and wine to pay
for importing grain.
5. Maritime Trade — Led to a boom in shipbuilding, accounting,
and piracy. Facilitated extensive trade in slaves.
Mystery Religions
and cults
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Only for initiated
Life after death
Spread all over
Cult of Isis
Hellenistic Jews
- Not persecuted
- Embraced
Hellenistic values
- Did not want to
be citizens
Philosophy
- Who pursued
philosophical
studies?
- Why was it popular?
- Hellenistic
philosophy
Epicureanism:
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Epicurus
Pleasure
Ignore influences
Ignore politics
Stoicism
-Zeno
-Unity of man
and universe
- Natural Law
Hellenistic
Science
- Aristarchusheliocentric theory
- Ptolomy
- Euclid
- Archimiedes
- Eratosthenes
- -Inventions
Hellenistic
Medicine
-Herophilus
-Erasistratus
-Dogmatic School of
Medicine
-Philinus and Serapion
Quakery
-incantations/magic
-examples of cures
-popular but harmful
-led to distrust of
physicians