After learning about the Hellenistic Age (Chapter 4 lecture), answer the following question. Follow the directions carefully in order to receive full credit.? Chapter 4 Lecture Questi

In my last lecture, I discussed the development of Greek civilization in the Greek peninsula. In

this lecture, we're going to discuss the expansion of Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean

and beyond. This expanded Greek culture created what is known as Hellenistic civilization. Just

a quick review– in my last lecture, I explained that Greek civilization started with the Minoan

civilization, then developed into the Mycenaean civilization. The Greeks experienced a dark age

during which everyone was fighting with each other and laying claim to territory that evolved

into independent city-states. And after this, Greek civilization saw two ages– an archaic age, and

a classical age. These ages are Athens formed a democracy and Sparta formed an oligarchy. This

was also when the Greeks fought the Persians and won and then turned to fight each other in the

Peloponnesian War.

[SLIDE] During the archaic and classical ages, which took place between 750 and 338 BCE,

large numbers of Greeks from different city-states left their homeland to settle in distant lands. In

that, so many Greek communities were established in southern Italy that the Romans later called

this area "Magna Graecia" or "Great Greece" because so many Greeks lived there. [SLIDE]

Greek settlements were also established in southern France, eastern Spain, and Egypt, and west

of Egypt, throughout Northern Africa. And in the east, the Greeks settled along the shores of the

Black Sea in what is today, Turkey. On the map on your screen, the green shading represents the

Greek colonies in the east and the west. The Greeks settled in other lands, primarily to make

money through trade. The Greeks traded their pottery, wine, and olive oil for the resources in

these new areas. They obtained grain, metals, fish, timber, wheat, and slaves. Wherever the

Greeks went, they took their culture. But even though the Greeks introduced their culture to a lot

of different people in the archaic and classical ages, this was nothing in comparison to what

would happen in the fourth century BCE. Beginning in the 300s BCE, new rulers built the

biggest empire the world had seen up to this point. And they carried Greek culture to the far

reaches of the Earth. In doing so, they established a new civilization– the Hellenistic civilization.

This civilization existed from 323 BCE to 31 BCE.

[SLIDE] So our questions for this lecture are, who were the Macedonians? And how did they

conquer the Greeks and other civilizations? How did Macedonian rulers spread Greek culture in

the Hellenistic world? And how did the development of Hellenistic civilization impact Greek

culture?

[SLIDE] In 338 BCE, independent Greek civilization came to an end. And that year, a man

named Philip II of Macedonia invaded the Greek city-states with his armies and conquered the

entire Greek peninsula. Let's stop for just a moment and look at the development of Macedonian

civilization before we talk about why the Macedonians were able to conquer Greece. The

Macedonians were located just north of the Greek peninsula. You can see Macedonia in a light

blue color at the top-left side of the map on your screen. The Macedonians were not Greek. Prior

to the 300s BCE, the Macedonians were organized into tribes instead of city-states. And as a

result, they were very weak when it came to armies and the military. As a result, the Greeks

viewed the Macedonians as barbarians, as inferior strangers. This perspective changed, of course,

when Philip II led the Macedonians into Greece and conquered the city-states in 338 BCE.

[SLIDE] Let's look now at how Philip was able to conquer the Greeks. First, he changed the

composition of the Army. When Philip II became king, he changed the composition of the

Macedonian army. Instead of calling on regular citizens to be occasional soldiers, he created a

standing army of professional soldiers who were skilled at fighting and always ready to fight. He

also created a corps of engineers to develop siege weapons, like towers and catapults. Philip also

adopted the Greek phalanx system- remember this was the military formation used by the

hoplites in which they stood shoulder to shoulder in a rectangular shape. In addition to this,

Philip developed an effective military hierarchy within his Macedonian army. He provided each

military unit with its own commander, which allowed for better communication with the king,

who stood at the center of everything. He also developed the weapons of the military.

Macedonian soldiers looked very similar to the Greek hoplites, but with a few small but

important differences. Macedonian soldiers carried a smaller shield and a shorter sword than

Greek hoplites. And their spears were much longer. Instead of the 9-foot spear that the Greek

hoplites carried, Macedonian soldiers carried an 18-foot spear– double the size. The result was

that Macedonian soldiers could reach their opponents quicker. Philip also strengthened the bond

between the king and soldiers. To give each soldier a sense of unity and solidarity, Philip

provided uniforms and required an oath of allegiance to him. Each soldier would no longer be

loyal to a particular tribe, but would be faithful only to the king. Finally and perhaps most

importantly, King Philip fought alongside his soldiers and shared directly in the dangers of

battle. This gave his soldiers the perception that they were all in this together.

Due to these innovations, Philip's army easily crushed the Greeks in 338 BCE. The Greeks made

it all the easier due to the fact that by the time that Philip invaded, they no longer had a common

enemy. And they had a tendency to fight with each other, which weakened them. When it was

clear that Philip II had won and would be in control, he offered Greek leaders a pretty good deal.

He brought the Greek leaders together in the Greek city of Corinth and formed what became

known as the Corinthian League. Philip offered this league control over the internal affairs of

their own city-states if they agreed to submit to Philip’s authority and take an oath of loyalty to

him. This was their oath. They said, I swear by Zeus, Earth, Sun, Poseidon, Athena, Aries, and

all the gods and goddesses, I will abide by the peace. And I will not break the agreements with

Philip the Macedonian. Nor will I take up arms with hostile intent against any one of those who

abide by the oaths, either by land or by sea. Although the Greeks would now have a king rather

than forms of elected government, they could still run their city-states without too much outside

interference. At the same time, this allowed Philip to focus on continuing to expand his

kingdom- now an empire with the conquest of Greece. Ultimately, Philip intended to conquer the

Persians to the east. Unfortunately, before he could do so, he was assassinated in 336 BCE. And

his son, Alexander, took over.

[SLIDE] Alexander was only 20 years old when he became King of Macedonia. Alexander

would only be King for 12 years. But he achieved so much during those 12 years that he has ever

since been called "Alexander the Great". As a boy, Philip II had taken Alexander with him on his

military campaigns and allowed him to practice leading troops and going into battle. In fact,

Alexander had fought alongside Philip when he conquered the Greek city-states. Consequently,

Alexander was groomed from birth to be a military leader. But since Alexander was pretty young

when his father died, other military leaders threatened to take the throne from Alexander.

Recognizing this threat, Alexander moved quickly to assert his authority as soon as his father

died and he became king. One of the ways that he did this was by putting down a small Greek

rebellion in the city of Thebes. When Philip II died, the people of Thebes saw it as a good

opportunity to regain their complete independence from the Macedonians. Now, although putting

down the rebellion of Thebes was relatively easy for Alexander, he used extreme force to do so.

He sacked the city, killing most of its male residents, and selling the women and children into

slavery. And in doing so, he demonstrated his military strength and political power. And his

competition backed down.

After he demonstrated his control over Macedonia and Greece, Alexander pursued his father's

previous goal, which was to conquer the Persian Empire to the east. There's no doubt that

Alexander was taking a chance in attacking the Persian Empire. It was still a strong empire. And

Alexander's army was inferior to that of the Persians. In addition, Alexander was lacking in

money, which meant that his army was going to be forced to live off the countryside and win

quick victories in order to gain the resources it needed to continue. [SLIDE] In the spring of 334

BCE, Alexander entered the Persian Empire through Turkey with his army. Today, Turkey is

located in the region colored purple in the map on your screen. [SLIDE] Like his father before

him, Alexander also took a group of architects and engineers. He wanted them to continue to

develop weapons and instruments that would help him conquer the land. In addition, he took

historians with him so that they could document his successes. Within a year, in 333 BCE,

Alexander had conquered the western half of Turkey, which was part of the Persian Empire. It's

really interesting, because Alexander described his victories there as a liberation of people from

their Persian oppressors. With the exception of the Egyptians, most people living in the Persian

Empire didn’t wish to be liberated by Alexander. If you remember back to my previous lectures,

I mentioned that the Greeks had this tendency to think of themselves and their ways of doing

things as superior to everyone else. Alexander had adopted this way of thinking. And he thought

that he was bringing civilization to the people that he conquered. But the Persians had

historically been very tolerant of the customs of the people they conquered. After Alexander

conquered Turkey, he kept moving east. By the winter of 332, about a year and a half later,

Alexander had possession of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. As he went along, Alexander had new

cities built and named after him– for example, Alexandria in Egypt. Alexandria became, and

remains today, one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean. By this time, Alexander

had made a really big dent in the Persian Empire. And the Persian Emperor Darius III was

feeling a little scared. He had underestimated Alexander. The Persian emperor offered Alexander

all the land west of the Euphrates River in an effort to stop his progress. But Alexander refused.

He wanted everything– not just a piece of the Persian Empire. By 330 BCE, Alexander had

conquered all of Persia. But Alexander wasn't content with Persia. He wanted more. Over the

next three years, he moved east and northeast, as far as modern Pakistan. By 326 BCE,

Alexander had conquered the Indus Valley, which is today the northwestern part of India. Up to

this point, Alexander's army had been really supportive. But by the time they got to India, they

had been fighting for eight years. They were tired. And they wanted to go home. So when

Alexander indicated that he intended to keep going, his army revolted. And they refused to go

any further. So Alexander agreed to their demands. [SLIDE] He'd led his troops through

southern Persia across the Gedrosian Desert, where, unfortunately, many died due to the heat and

the lack of food and water. You can track Alexander's route on the map on your screen by

following the purple arrows and lines. The Gedrosian Desert is located just to the bottom right

side of your screen. Alexander and his army made it back to the city of Babylon by 323 BCE.

The city of Babylon is located in the center of your map. There in Babylon, Alexander died at the

young age of 32. Historians aren’t entirely sure what Alexander died of. It may have been

malaria. Some have speculated that he was poisoned. Others believe that he died as a result of his

battle wounds and excessive alcohol. Regardless, everyone agrees that Alexander was the most

successful military leader and king in the history of mankind up to that time.

[SLIDE] Now there are a few reasons why Alexander was so successful. First, he demonstrated

superb tactical skills. He often had a much smaller army than his enemy. But Alexander was able

to assess the topography of the battlefield and make plans that took advantage of the strengths

and weaknesses of his enemies’ forces, as well as his own. He also inspired his troops through a

personal example. Alexander pushed his troops mercilessly, often catching his enemy by surprise

as a result of the quick march. But he also maintained a personal interest in his troops. And for

the most part, until his campaign in India, he kept their intense loyalty. This was because, like his

father before him, Alexander participated personally in all of the battles, often endangering his

own life. In fact, we knew that he was wounded at least eight times over the course of his long

military campaign. Alexander also recruited anywhere he could. Over time, his original troops

declined. This was due to death or because Alexander assigned his men to be administrators in

the new lands he conquered. So as he went along, Alexander recruited conquered men to

replenish his troops. And finally, Alexander encouraged the advancement of new weapons and

military technology that helped him gain an advantage over his enemies.

[SLID] But as I mentioned before, Alexander only ruled his humongous empire for 12 years and

he had no heir. His infant son, Alexander IV, was unfortunately murdered soon after his death.

With no appointed heir, Alexander’s giant kingdom was quickly divided. By 275 BCE, there

were three main kingdoms carved out by Alexander’s former generals. These generals went on to

establish dynasties that would maintain control over the Hellenistic kingdoms for the next couple

of centuries. Dynasties are families of rulers who passed down control of the kingdom to

members of that family. The three Hellenistic kingdoms and their dynasties were Ptolemaic

Egypt, Seleucid Asia, and Antigonid Macedonia and Greece.

[SLIDE] As I mentioned before, the Macedonians weren't Greek per se. But both Alexander the

Great and his father, Philip II had a huge appreciation for Greek culture. And the Macedonians

adopted much of that Greek culture for themselves. As Alexander took over new lands and

expanded his territory, he spread Greek culture. In doing so, he continued a practice that the

Greeks had begun during the archaic age, when they began moving into other parts of the

Mediterranean because of trade. But Alexander spread Greek culture and ideas far beyond what

these previous Greeks could ever imagine. The word "Hellenistic" comes from a Greek word that

means, "to imitate the Greeks". Wherever Alexander went, he established Greek culture that

conquered people adopted into their ways of living. In doing so, Alexander helped to create a

new Hellenistic civilization that extended from the western part of the Mediterranean through the

Persian Empire all the way to the northwestern part of India. Alexander died in 323 BCE. But the

Hellenistic civilization he helped to establish existed until at least 31 BCE. The years between

323 and 31 BCE are thus known as the Hellenistic era. This era marks a time when most of the

known world shared one culture- Greek culture.

[SLIDE] So the question is, how did Alexander instill Greek culture into areas he conquered?

Well, he did this in a number of different ways. First, in the places he conquered, Alexander

primarily appointed Greeks and Macedonians into important administrative positions. Starting

out, it was important for Alexander to put people in leadership positions who he knew would be

loyal to him. As a result, from the perspective of the conquered people, being Greek meant

power. Since everyone in power knew the Greek language and had Greek political ideals, if a

native person wanted to gain an administrative office, he also had to know the Greek language

and accept Greek political ideals. This gave an incentive to local people to become Greek if they

wanted political offices. Alexander and his successors also built new settlements and cities in

conquered territory. As I mentioned before, Alexander founded the city of Alexandria in Egypt.

And that city became one of the most important in the Mediterranean. [SLIDE] If you look

carefully at the map on your screen, you'll notice a few red dots. Those are all cities that

Alexander founded as he went along. And when he founded a new city, he often used Greek and

Macedonian architects and engineers to build it. [SLIDE] As a result, these new cities were laid

out in the same fashion as Greeks cities. Political buildings, temples, and amphitheaters stood at

the center of these newly established cities just like they did back in Greece. These cities also

tended to use the same Greek codes of laws. And when the cities were built, thousands of Greeks

and Macedonians moved to them in the hopes of making money through trade or acquiring

political positions. These immigrants brought with them their Greek culture and ideas. And since

the new cities that Alexander and his successors built looked nearly identical to Greek ones, this

forced the native population to live like the Greeks. Adding to this, the fact so many different

lands were combined into one giant empire under Alexander and then three Hellenistic kingdoms

that shared a Greek culture- this encouraged the trade of Greek products throughout the known

world. Being able to obtain Greek products became a symbol of elite status in conquered

territories, which made Greek culture even more widespread.

[SLIDE] But the spreading of culture didn't just happen in one direction. As people brought

Greek culture to the far reaches of the world, these people also absorbed the ideas and customs of

the new conquered territories. As a result, the Hellenistic age, over time, reveals a sort of fusion

of Greek with non-Greek ideas and practices. Let's look at the developments that were

introduced by non-Greek societies. Now, as I mentioned, Alexander's empire was eventually

split into three successor kingdoms. And the rulers of these kingdoms often mixed local practices

and traditions with their own Greek ones. This was partly due to the fact that adopting native

practices made these foreign rulers look more legitimate and thus discouraged revolts against

them. And it was partly because the Hellenistic rulers came to appreciate and see the validity of

local practices and traditions. For example, many Ptolemaic rulers in Egypt adopted the Egyptian

custom of marrying their sisters in order to keep power within the family. Of the first eight

Ptolemaic rulers, four of them married their own sister. The Seleucid rulers in what was formerly

Persia adopted the royal titles that ancient rulers like Hammurabi and Cyrus had used.

But the mixing of Greek with native practices and ideas extended beyond just the rulers of the

Hellenistic kingdoms. The Greeks who moved into other parts of the Hellenistic world were

introduced new to scientific and mathematic ideas that they integrated into their own practices.

Greeks in Alexandria picked up the practice of dissection and vivisection. Dissection is cutting

apart and examination of dead bodies. Vivisection, on the other hand, is the dissection of living

bodies. These living bodies often belong to criminals. And as a result of this practice of

dissection and vivisection, Greek society gained huge amounts of knowledge about how the

brain, eye, liver, and the reproductive and nervous systems work. In addition, Greeks and

Macedonians learned new things about the world around them, using knowledge they picked up

from the conquered societies. During the third century BCE, some Greek thinkers accepted a

heliocentric view of the universe. In other words, they believed the Sun stayed still, while the

earth and the other planets rotated around it. Prior to this time, people tended to believe that the

Earth was the center of the universe, and everything moved around it. Greeks in the Hellenistic

era also theorized that the Earth was round. And they calculated the Earth's circumference at

24,675 miles. This estimate was only about 200 miles off from the correct number. Greek society

also accepted new ideas about philosophy. In the early 300s BCE, epicureanism became very

popular. The philosophy of epicureanism is based on the idea that one’s experiences were just

random luck. There was no divine plan or higher purpose. Instead, things just happened as they

happened. And since everything that happened to you was random and without meaning, then

one might as well live a life that brought you as an individual the most pleasure. For an

Epicurean, the only duty a person had was to their self, and the only reason to live virtuously was

to increase one’s own happiness. Stoicism also developed, which had the same goal of

epicureanism, which was happiness. But stoicism achieved it through different means. Stoics

believed that happiness was only achieved by living according to divine will. And this was done

through strict, virtuous living in which you denied yourself whatever wasn't absolutely necessary

to survive.

Finally, religion changed. The Greeks and Macedonians practiced syncretism when it came to

religion. This was the merging and acceptance of foreign gods and goddesses and their stories

and ideals with Greek ones. For example, in Alexandria in Egypt, there were shrines to the

traditional Greek gods, as well as the Egyptian gods, the Babylonian gods, and the Syrian gods.

In general, the Greeks had this idea that the foreign gods and goddesses they encountered were

the same Greeks gods and goddesses– just with different names. The Greeks and the conquered

people of the Hellenistic world build a pretty harmonious religious system that allowed for new

religious ideas and practices wherever it was practiced.

[SLIDE] There was one exception to this though. And this was the Jews. Judaism was, and is,

monotheistic and does not permit syncretism. Judaism asserts that Yahweh is the one and only

God and that he is unchanging. Furthermore, Judaism espouses a law code that dictates how

Jews live. Consequently, the Jews in the Hellenistic era did not accept many aspects of the Greek

culture like other conquered peoples did. But, on the other hand, the Gentiles of the Hellenistic

world were very curious about Judaism, just as they were with other religions and gods and

goddesses. Adding to this, many Jews living in places outside of Palestine started speaking

Greek as their native language, which made it difficult for them to read their religious texts.

Consequently, a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible was created. This Greek translation was

known as the Septuagint. Septuagint is the Greek word for “70” and they called it due to the

development of a pretty interesting story. Legend has it that King Ptolemy of Egypt wanted a

copy of the Hebrew Bible for his library in Alexandria. He wrote a letter to the high priest in

Jerusalem requesting 72 interpreters, 6 from each ancient tribe, to translate the Hebrew Bible into

Greek so that the king could read it. When they arrived, the king shut each translator into a

separate cell to each produce a copy of the Hebrew Bible. As each interpreter worked, a miracle

occurred. When they emerged with their finished copies, each version was word-for-word

exactly the same. Now, no one knows the truth of this story. It likely helped Hellenistic Jews

retain their religious and ethnic identities in a civilization that was so prone to mixing everything.

But what we do know is that Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible first appeared in Egypt and

copies were kept in the library of Alexandria for Hellenistic Jews and other Greek speakers to

read.

[SLIDE] So let's return to our original questions. Our first question was, who were the

Macedonians? And how did they conquer the Greeks and other civilizations? What I told you

was that under the direction of Philip the II, the Macedonians conquered the Greek city-states in

the fourthcentury BCE. Philip II and Alexander the Great conquered the Greeks and other

civilizations through the use of their efficient armies, tactical skills, communication systems,

new instruments of war, and by building good relationships with their armies.

[SLIDE] Our second question was, how did Macedonian rulers spread Greek culture in the

Hellenistic civilization? And I told you that they instituted Greek political systems and

conquered areas that encouraged natives to become Greek culturally in order to gain power.

They also established new cities and transplanted Greek urban structures, political institutions,

and codes of law. They expanded trade so that more places received Greek products.

[SLIDE] Out last question was, how did the development of Hellenistic civilization impact

Greek culture? And what I said was that the Greeks also absorbed ideas and practices from the

people they conquered. This included royal titles, innovative scientific and mathematic concepts

and practices, new philosophical ideas, and the gods and goddesses of non-Greek people.

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