Halsall Home Page | Hellenistic Culture

Paul Halsall

I.  Introduction

1. Imagine a City:

• One of the biggest most important cities in the world, in terms of economics, art, scholarship. It has one of the world’s largest libraries at its center.
• The city is based on a harbor. In the center of the harbor is a huge construction, one of the wonders of the world, seeking as a beacon to all who come there.
• This city is on the edge of one of the world’s richest countries, but has a culture that is very different from the rest of the country. It is more the "Capital of the world" than capital of its country.
• Finally, the population of the city is a mix of people of local origin and immigrants and their children. About a quarter of the population is Jewish.

New York? IMG (New York)

No, Alexandria IMG (Alexandria Serapeum) - probably the most important city of the Greek-speaking world from soon after its founding. This Greek city, named after Alexander the Great, was situated on the edge of Egypt, at its core was the greatest library of the time, and in its harbor a lighthouse – the Pharos. Its population was mixed, and perhaps the most important Jewish texts of the time were written there.

This presentation is one that sees Alexandria as a city just as representative of Greek culture as Athens. The culture of Alexandria and other Greek cities after Alexander the Great is called "Hellenistic" to distinguish it from the classical "Hellenic" culture.

2. Classical and Syncretistic Cultures:

"Classical Greece" has long been an important cultural symbol in Western education because,

• The Greeks, especially the Athenians, invented "democracy"
• The standard of restraint and moderation in art accorded well with the elite culture of the west.
• The dramatic confluence of great figures in so many areas of human life.

A "Classical" culture is one which has achieved, at least in retrospect, a unique cultural cohesion, a culture in which many threads come together to create a special moment of creativity and definition for later times. Other examples would be Rome of the 1^st century BC, China under the Zhou dynasty, and for the United States, perhaps, the first years after the American Revolution.

But much longer periods of history – including out current period are not "classical". They are "Syncretistic" – that is cultures which fuse together, or mix up, different types of culture in a way which is sometimes crude, but at other times innovative and creative.

The Hellenistic period was syncretistic. Here we will seek to uncover what its contributions were.

II. Diffusion of Greek Culture

Under Alexander and his successors Greek culture was diffused throughout the Mediterranean and as far east as India.

1. Alexander the Great IMG (Pella Bust) IMG (Sarcophagus Scene)

• Persia IMG (Map)
• Origins
• Conquests
• Map of Empire H/O 1
• New Cities – Alexandria IMG (Map of Egypt)
• Death

2. Funeral Games – the New Politics

• Greek cities – now "independent" but minor players in a world of kings and dynasties.
• Macedonia – The most powerful of the Greek states, but over-extended by Alexander’s efforts.
• Anatolia becomes a major Greek cultural center [until 1922]
  – Pergamum IMG (Acropolis) IMG (Map)
• Seleucia - Syria/Iraq/Persia
• Egypt - Ptolemies

3. Cultural Diffusion

• Greek Polis – new cities (ref H/O Map 1)
  • Alexandrias
  • Antiochs
  • Features – agoras (market places), gymnasia.
• Greek Language
  • Koine – the "common language"
• Greek Religion
  • Other peoples assimilated gods to Greek Gods. Rome is the most extreme example.
• Greek Art
  • In India – began Buddhist Art IMG (Greco-Roman) and IMG (Buddhist)
  • In Egypt – effect on Grave art IMG (Old Mummy) IMG (Mummified Animals), IMG (Mummy with Hellenistic Painting), IMG (Male portrait) IMG (Female Portrait)
• Greeks and Jews
  • Alexandria
  • Septuagint
  • Philo Judeus
  • Jews knew Greeks. Greeks much less aware of Jewish culture.
  • Conflict: in Alexandria, and in Jerusalem (Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Macabbees.)
    

III.  Greek Assimilation of Other Cultures: Change & Creativity

The cultural exchange was not one way. Greek culture was profoundly affected by the cultures that were conquered, as well as by the process of conquest itself..

1. Polis, Empire and the Self

The Classical Greeks had understood human beings primarily in relation to the polis. Aristotle famously argued "man is a political animal" – that is a person who achieves "his" highest potential in the context of a city.

But now Kings ruled.

The new empires did not destroy the polis, but did disrupt its central position. As a result in many areas of life avenues of thought – ones which emphasized a certain individualism was opened up. We see this in such areas as religion, art and literature, as well as science and philosophy. Sometimes change occurred simply because of the new circumstances, but at other times because of direct assimilation of the new cultural mix.

Usually all this is seen as less of an achievement than that of the classical period. But we might evaluate if differently today.: E.g. The relatively greater freedom of women in Hellenistic period; the reduction of inter-city warfare.

[Discussion: How does what we value effect how we interpret history?]