mckaywest11e

Introduction for Chapter 4

4 Life in the Hellenistic World

336–30 B.C.E.

When his father was assassinated in 336 B.C.E., twenty-year-old Alexander inherited not only Philip’s crown but also his determination to lead a united Greek force in fighting Persia. Alexander’s invasion of the Persian Empire led to its downfall, but he died while planning his next campaign, only a little more than a decade after he had started. He left behind an empire that quickly broke into smaller kingdoms, but more importantly, his death ushered in an era, the Hellenistic, in which Greek culture, the Greek language, and Greek thought spread as far as India, blending with local traditions. The end of the Hellenistic period is generally set at 30 B.C.E., the year of the death of Cleopatra VII — a Greek ruler — and the Roman conquest of her kingdom of Egypt. The Romans had conquered much of what had been Alexander’s empire long before this, but many aspects of Hellenistic culture continued to flourish under Roman governance, adapting to Roman ways of life. Thus rather than coming to an abrupt end in one specific year, the Hellenistic world gradually evolved into the Roman.

In many ways, life in the Hellenistic world was not much different from life in Hellenic Greece or from that in any other Iron Age agricultural society: most people continued to be farmers, raising crops and animals for their own needs and for paying rents and taxes to their superiors. Those who lived in cities, however, often ate foods and drank wine that came from far away, did business with people who were quite unlike them, and adopted religious practices and ways of thinking unknown to their parents. Hellenistic cities thus offer striking parallels to those of today. ■

Hellenistic Married Life. This small terra-cotta figurine from Myrina in what is now Turkey, made in the second century B.C.E., shows a newly married couple sitting on a bridal bed. The groom is drawing back the bride’s veil, and she is exhibiting the modesty that was a desired quality in young women. Figurines representing every stage of life became popular in the Hellenistic period and were used for religious offerings in temples and sacred places. This one was found in a tomb. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)

CHAPTER PREVIEW

Alexander’s Conquests and Their Political Legacy

How and why did Alexander the Great create an empire, and what was its political legacy?

Building a Hellenized Society

How did Greek ideas and traditions spread across the eastern Mediterranean and Near East?

The Economy of the Hellenistic World

What new economic connections were created in the Hellenistic period?

Religion and Philosophy in the Hellenistic World

How did religion and philosophy shape everyday life in the Hellenistic world?

Hellenistic Science and Medicine

How did science and medicine serve the needs of Hellenistic society?

Chronology

ca. 342–291 B.C.E.	Life of comedy writer Menander
340–270 B.C.E.	Life of Epicurus, on whose ideas Epicureanism was based
335–262 B.C.E.	Life of Zeno, on whose ideas Stoicism was based
334–324 B.C.E.	Alexander the Great’s military campaigns
ca. 330–200 B.C.E.	Establishment of new Hellenistic cities
323 B.C.E.	Alexander dies at age thirty-two
323–ca. 300 B.C.E.	War of succession leads to the establishment of Antigonid, Ptolemaic, and Seleucid dynasties
ca. 287–212 B.C.E.	Life of Archimedes
ca. 280 B.C.E.	Founding of the library of Alexandria by the Ptolemies
168 B.C.E.	Roman overthrow of the Antigonid dynasty
166–164 B.C.E.	Revolt of the Maccabees in Judaea
30 B.C.E.	Roman conquest of Egypt; Ptolemaic dynasty ends