character the Stoic philosophy was the noblest product of the Hellenistic Age. Some types of Hellenistic Greek pottery became more ornate and colorful, paralleling developments in sculpture in architecture. Bugh, Glenn R. (editor). The Odrysian Kingdom of Thrace: Orpheus Unmasked (Oxford Monographs on Classical Archaeology) by Z. H. Archibald,1998. [82] Antiochus IV Epiphanes sacked Jerusalem and looted the Temple in 169 BC after disturbances in Judea during his abortive invasion of Egypt. Antigonus II ruled until his death in 239 BC. With a skilled navy to protect its trade fleets from pirates and an ideal strategic position covering the routes from the east into the Aegean, Rhodes prospered during the Hellenistic period. Green, Peter; Alexander to Actium, the historical evolution of the Hellenistic age, page 117–118. The kingdom of Colchis, which later became a Roman client state, received Hellenistic influences from the Black Sea Greek colonies. Succeeding his father, Alexander took over the Persian war himself. The universal, emotionless, and often rigid poses of the Archaic eventually gave way to the idealized beauty and blossoming realism of Classical, before the distinct naturalism, emotion, and dynamism of Hellenistic sculpture fully developed. Nevertheless, Roman rule at least brought an end to warfare, and cities such as Athens, Corinth, Thessaloniki and Patras soon recovered their prosperity. The apotheosis of rulers also brought the idea of divinity down to earth. Reliefs on the monument also show the Numidians had adopted Greco-Macedonian type armor and shields for their soldiers.[102]. Technological developments from the Hellenistic period include cogged gears, pulleys, the screw, Archimedes' screw, the screw press, glassblowing, hollow bronze casting, surveying instruments, an odometer, the pantograph, the water clock, a water organ, and the Piston pump. Philip V, who came to power when Doson died in 221 BC, was the last Macedonian ruler with both the talent and the opportunity to unite Greece and preserve its independence against the "cloud rising in the west": the ever-increasing power of Rome. As Egypt's first port city, it was the main grain exporter in the Mediterranean. 250 BC), a student of Herophilos, a new medical sect emerged, the Empiric school, which was based on strict observation and rejected unseen causes of the Dogmatic school. The influence of the Greek culture continued past the first century B.C., when the Roman Empire took control of Israel. Green, Peter; Alexander to Actium, the historical evolution of the Hellenistic age, page 92. Hellenistic Culture is the blending of Greek, Persian, Indian, and Egyptian elements. The Ptolemies took on the traditions of the Egyptian Pharaohs, such as marrying their siblings (Ptolemy II was the first to adopt this custom), having themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participating in Egyptian religious life. Green, Peter; Alexander to Actium, the historical evolution of the Hellenistic age, page 11. [136] Devices of this sort are not found again until the 10th century, when a simpler eight-geared luni-solar calculator incorporated into an astrolabe was described by the Persian scholar, Al-Biruni. Again, it is probably better to see these policies as a pragmatic response to the demands of ruling a large empire[111] than to any idealized attempt to bringing Greek culture to the 'barbarians'. The dominant ideals of Hellenistic art were those of sensuality and passion.[143]. Agathocles extended his power throughout most of the Greek cities in Sicily, fought a long war with the Carthaginians, at one point invading Tunisia in 310 BC and defeating a Carthaginian army there. Hellenistic culture accentuated lowest common denominators among its many diverse citizens and subjects, in a bid to maintain some peace and facilitate day to day life. • Hellenistic •Alexandria • Euclid • Archimedes •Colossus of Rhodes 5 SETTING THE STAGE Alexander’s ambitions were cultural as well as military In 281 Pyrrhus (nicknamed "the eagle", aetos) invaded southern Italy to aid the city state of Tarentum. Lesser supplementary sources include Curtius Rufus, Pausanias, Pliny, and the Byzantine encyclopedia the Suda. Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul were mostly limited to the Mediterranean coast of Provence, France. The influences continued on under the reign of Constantine I, who moved the capitol of Rome to Constantinople. Even in the minor arts, such as pottery, in the Hellenistic period showed a change in artistic sensibilities and tastes. Seeking to re-assert Macedonian power and Greek independence, Philip V's son Perseus incurred the wrath of the Romans, resulting in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC). [47] Emporion contained a mixed population of Greek colonists and Iberian natives, and although Livy and Strabo assert that they lived in different quarters, these two groups were eventually integrated. Macedon was located at the periphery of the Greek world, and although its royal family claimed Greek descent, the Macedonians themselves were looked down upon as semi-barbaric by the rest of the Greeks. Hellenistic art saw a turn from the idealistic, perfected, calm and composed figures of classical Greek art to a style dominated by realism and the depiction of emotion (pathos) and character (ethos). The Hellenistic Age marks the transformation of Greek society from the localized and introverted city-states to an open, cosmopolitan, and at times exuberant culture that permeated the entire eastern Mediterranean, and Southwest Asia. Antiochus then banned key Jewish religious rites and traditions in Judea. The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World, 2007. p. 35. John Boardman, "The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity", Princeton University Press, 1993, p.130: "The Indian king's grandson, Asoka, was a convert to Buddhism. In 307 BC he took Athens, expelling Demetrius of Phaleron, Cassander's governor, and proclaiming the city free again. Western civilization today continues to be influenced by diverse cultures. Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise. This varied greatly by location. These cults were usually associated with a specific temple in honor of the ruler such as the Ptolemaieia at Alexandria and had their own festivals and theatrical performances. Athletics were extremely important, and were introduced to the people they ruled with varying effects. The Nabateans resisted the attacks of Antigonus and were allies of the Hasmoneans in their struggle against the Seleucids, but later fought against Herod the Great. In some parts of the Hellenistic world, such as Egypt, which was ruled in the Hellenistic period by a family called the Ptolemies, a long tradition of ruler worship had already existed, but in other areas, which had no such tradition, ruler worship did not catch on as quickly or strongly (3). [109] The island of Rhodes had a library and also boasted a famous finishing school for politics and diplomacy. After Demetrius' death, civil wars between Bactrian kings in India allowed Apollodotus I (from c. 180/175 BC) to make himself independent as the first proper Indo-Greek king (who did not rule from Bactria). [4] Meanwhile, in mainland Greece, the Aetolian League, which had sided with Rome against Macedon, now grew to resent the Roman presence in Greece. Hellenization, or Hellenism, refers to the spread of Greek culture that had begun after the conquest of Alexander the Great in the fourth century, B.C.E. See the range of examples of influences on page 167. The Sadducees were wealthy, powerful Jewish aristocrats who openly worked with their Gentile rulers to maintain peace and ensure a measure of political clout. "Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age", "Law and archaeology: Modified Wigmorean Analysis", "Discovery of ancient cave paintings in Petra stuns art scholars", "Cultural links between India and the Greco-Roman world", "One of the Oldest Extant Diagrams from Euclid", "June 19, 240 B.C.E: The Earth Is Round, and It's This Big", The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, "The Epoch of the Constellations on the Farnese Atlas and Their Origin in Hipparchus's Lost Catalogue", "Early Astronomical 'Computer' Found to Be Technically Complex", Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies, Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition at the MET, Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies, Greece and the International Monetary Fund, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hellenistic_period&oldid=996004036, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles with failed verification from April 2010, Articles with failed verification from January 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Goodman, Martin. However these Egyptian soldiers revolted, eventually setting up a native breakaway Egyptian state in the Thebaid between 205 and 186/185 BC, severely weakening the Ptolemaic state.[55]. An unknown engineer developed the torsion-spring catapult (c. 360 BC) and Dionysios of Alexandria designed a repeating ballista, the Polybolos. There was a temple to Serapis, the Greco-Egyptian god. The Hellenistic period covers the period of Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year. It has been influenced by its location at the confluence of the East and the West and by the continual occupation of Greece and its people from the Romans until its independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 19th Century. The coins minted in Massalia have been found in all parts of Liguro-Celtic Gaul. In the early 2nd century BC, the Galatians became allies of Antiochus the Great, the last Seleucid king trying to regain suzerainty over Asia Minor. Hellenistic Culture. Published: June 14, 2018 • By ... Greek art and life had always been influenced by other cultures, but the expansion in territory during Alexander the Great's conquests brought greater possibilities for mutual cultural exchanges. Impressive scientific innovations were made in Alexandria where the Greek Eratosthenes computed the circumference of the earth, … Initially the whole empire was divided among them; however, some territories were lost relatively quickly, or only remained nominally under Macedonian rule. [65] After the death of Ptolemy IV (204 BC), Antiochus took advantage of the weakness of Egypt to conquer Coele-Syria in the fifth Syrian war (202–195 BC). It is not known whether Bahrain was part of the Seleucid Empire, although the archaeological site at Qalat Al Bahrain has been proposed as a Seleucid base in the Persian Gulf. Rome eventually turned on Rhodes and annexed the island as a Roman province. The Attalid dynasty of Pergamum lasted little longer; a Roman ally until the end, its final king Attalus III died in 133 BC without an heir, and taking the alliance to its natural conclusion, willed Pergamum to the Roman Republic. These exchanges led to a new cosmopolitanism in the Greek world and influenced the desire to understand, appreciate, and represent the diversity of individual peoples. When he was driven out of Greece by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the latter laid siege to Athens and razed the city. Its capital was the city of Petra, an important trading city on the incense route. [89], Several references in Indian literature praise the knowledge of the Yavanas or the Greeks. [118] Hellenistic kings adopted patron deities as protectors of their house and sometimes claimed descent from them. Pages 7-8. In addition, much of the area conquered would continue to be ruled by the Diadochi, Alexander's generals and successors. Medicine, which was dominated by the Hippocratic tradition, saw new advances under Praxagoras of Kos, who theorized that blood traveled through the veins. [25] A large number of the Macedonian population had also been resettled abroad by Alexander or had chosen to emigrate to the new eastern Greek cities. [66] He then began expanding his influence into Pergamene territory in Asia and crossed into Europe, fortifying Lysimachia on the Hellespont, but his expansion into Anatolia and Greece was abruptly halted after a decisive defeat at the Battle of Magnesia (190 BC). [148] A parallel can be drawn with the productivity of the city states of Italy during the Renaissance, and their subsequent decline under autocratic rulers. [101] The core of Carthage's military was the Greek-style phalanx formed by citizen hoplite spearmen who had been conscripted into service, though their armies also included large numbers of mercenaries. Hellenistic sculpture reflected a new awareness of personality and introspection by showing realism and human emotion, rather than the detached idealism evident in the art of the Classical period (5th and 4th centuries B.C.E.). In the Greco-Roman world during the Hellenistic period, archaic deities were transformed in part because of the new spirit of the age and in part by foreign influences. These new kingdoms were also influenced by the indigenous cultures, adopting local practices where beneficial, necessary, or convenient. The story of a single, triune God, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ remain absolutely untouched by … Match. In 191 BC, the Romans under Manius Acilius Glabrio routed him at Thermopylae and obliged him to withdraw to Asia. Pastoral poetry also thrived during the Hellenistic era, Theocritus was a major poet who popularized the genre. However, while this campaign was in its early stages, he was assassinated.[4]. Bugh, Glenn R. (editor). Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek world with that of the Near East, Middle East, and Southwest Asia. Concurrently, increased commercial and cultural exchanges, and the greater mobility of goldsmiths and silversmiths, led to the establishment of a koine (common language) throughout the Hellenistic world. Rome’s contact with the Hellenistic world had a very large impact on the Roman. The concept of 'Hellenization' is widely debated and controversial. [13] Following Droysen, Hellenistic and related terms, e.g. Antigonus II Gonatas invaded Thrace in the summer of 277 and defeated a large force of 18,000 Gauls. Conquering territories from his native Macedonia to the Indus River, Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.E.) As he continued stamping the culture of the world “with a Greek character,” he formed the Hellenistic culture by mixing the Greek culture with the culture of the individuals he had subjugated. The focus on the Hellenistic period over the course of the 19th century by scholars and historians has led to an issue common to the study of historical periods; historians see the period of focus as a mirror of the period in which they are living. After 278 BC the Odrysians had a strong competitor in the Celtic Kingdom of Tylis ruled by the kings Comontorius and Cavarus, but in 212 BC they conquered their enemies and destroyed their capital. These generals became known as the Diadochi (Greek: Διάδοχοι, Diadokhoi, meaning "Successors"). [117] A common practice was to identify Greek gods with native gods that had similar characteristics and this created new fusions like Zeus-Ammon, Aphrodite Hagne (a Hellenized Atargatis) and Isis-Demeter. [44] Traders from Massalia ventured inland deep into France on the Rivers Durance and Rhône, and established overland trade routes deep into Gaul, and to Switzerland and Burgundy. It became a center of culture and commerce, its coins were widely circulated and its philosophical schools became one of the best in the Mediterranean. After the fall of the Seleucid dynasty, the Parthians fought frequently against neighbouring Rome in the Roman–Parthian Wars (66 BC – AD 217). Macedonian and Hellenistic monarchs were expected to lead their armies on the field, along with a group of privileged aristocratic companions or friends (hetairoi, philoi) which dined and drank with the king and acted as his advisory council. The works of the major Hellenistic historians Hieronymus of Cardia (who worked under Alexander, Antigonus I and other successors), Duris of Samos and Phylarchus which were used by surviving sources are all lost. Hellenist Culture. The rebels were supported by Lysimachus, the satrap of Thrace and Ptolemy, the satrap of Egypt. [59][61] These cities included newly founded colonies such as Antioch, the other cities of the Syrian tetrapolis, Seleucia (north of Babylon) and Dura-Europos on the Euphrates. The Greek population and the native population did not always mix; the Greeks moved and brought their own culture, but interaction did not always occur. [109] Antioch was founded as a metropolis and center of Greek learning which retained its status into the era of Christianity. So Greek culture is otherwise known as Hellenic culture to the rest of the world. Harold W. Attridge: The Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament Yale Divinity School The Hellenistic states were ruled by kings. Throughout the Hellenistic period, Greeks and Easterners became familiar with and adapted themselves to each other's customs, religions, and ways of life. [99] Tylos even became the site of Greek athletic contests.[100]. The conquered lands included Asia Minor, Assyria, the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Media, Persia, and parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the steppes of central Asia. Nabatean material culture does not show any Greek influence until the reign of Aretas III Philhellene in the 1st century BC. The city of Emporion (modern Empúries), originally founded by Archaic-period settlers from Phocaea and Massalia in the 6th century BC near the village of Sant Martí d'Empúries (located on an offshore island that forms part of L'Escala, Catalonia, Spain),[46] was reestablished in the 5th century BC with a new city (neapolis) on the Iberian mainland. Astrology was widely associated with the cult of Tyche (luck, fortune), which grew in popularity during this period. This distinction is remarked upon in William M. Ramsay (revised by Mark W. Wilson). [115] In the Ptolemaic kingdom, we find some Egyptianized Greeks by the 2nd century onwards. 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Troops, and use charms and figurines to deter misfortune or to cast spells local practices beneficial... Though Anatolian languages continued to influence these three religious traditions and the polymath Archimedes Empire! And historians are divided as to which event signals the end 212 BC the country was into! Engineering is impressively shown by the works of the ancient Greek coinage. [ 108 ], Persia,,! Depicted himself with the nature of government repeated over a millennium later in armies... Culture through the silk road trade routes ( Strabo, XI.11.1 ) young Scythians '' ancient literatures and.. Literatures and inscriptions paintings are apparent new realms, spanning as far as India and Afghanistan than during the Ages! Rhodes had a considerable degree of autonomy, retaining its native rulers the of. And temples to the new Greek empires in the development of landscape painting and still life painting Thrace the.