Introduction
The Hellenistic Age represented a time in ancient Greece that succeeded the Classical Age and was preceded by the period when Greece was incorporated within the Roman Empire. The term “Hellenistic” is taken from a Greek word “Héllēn” that the locals use to refer to themselves; it began by the death of Alexander (Grant, p.41). The Era witnessed a widespread use of Greece culture and language throughout the world. The culture spread to every corner of known world, thanks to the Macedonian Builders. Not even Africa was spared in the move. The era boasts of several technological advancements, literally all sectors of life; be it science, culture and literature. The failure by Alexander to name a successor led to a state of internecine warfare among his Generals. These are the wars that characterized the domain of change during the Hellenistic Age as every leader jealously pulled towards his side to seek superiority. This paper will look at the events which occurred during this period and their significance then and presently.
The Historical Context
When talking of the Hellenistic Age, it refers to the time period of about 30 years between the death of Alexander the Great and the rise of the Roman Empire under the leadership of Augustus [the period from 323B.C to 30B.C]. Alexander was Macedonian by birth, but he took up Hellenistic education, thereby being highly Hellenized in character (thoughts and deeds). He was highly ambitious and his ego drove him to a point that he believed he could certainly Hellenize the whole world. He therefore amassed a big army to conquer nations and spread his influence far and wide. Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Persian all fell under the Alexander’s receiving end and adopted the Greek Culture. He did succeed in conquering numerous civilized nations and finally died at the age of 33 leaving no successor. This was the birth of Hellenistic Era, where the kingdom split into three different dynasties (Egypt under Ptolemies, Syria and Persia under Seleucids and Macedonia and Greece under Antigonids). There were push and pull factors among these regions, the leadership wrangles characterized the entire era of Hellenistic Era with each party believing that they are the legitimate heir of Alexander (Green, pp.66-67).
Life during the Hellenistic Age
The establishment of the Roman rule failed to bring to an end the Hellenistic Society and cultural practices completely. The traditional practices steadily grew until the advent of Christianity which dealt it a big blow as the Greece political independence experienced its demise. Urbanization brought it to a near halt apart from some isolated areas where the culture was deeply rooted. The three kingdoms were greatly affected by the infiltration by other cultures; this later culminated into cultural fusion with the Near East, South West Asia and Middle East, hence bringing to an end the barbarian attitude of the Greek. The individual groups developed widely to improve their living standards. Despite the ideological differences among them, they never stopped to view themselves as Greeks; they formed alliances, intermarried and small time conflicts also made part of their association, especially those emanating from boarder disputes (Austin, pp.7-11).
Achievements of the Hellenistic Age
Upon successfully defeating the rich Persian nation, resources were now in their control. The wealth enabled Alexander to build a state of the art library in Alexandria with a sole objective of gathering all the books in the world to help scholars produce an encyclopedia. Scholars found it a haven to make their discoveries there. Most of the scientific advancements of the present day are some of the great achievements that were realized during the Hellenistic Age. The theory that the earth revolves around the sun and rotates around its own axis was made by Aristarchus of Samos, thanks to the Hellenistic advancements. Not to mention the great Archimedes with his numerous mathematical principle (Burby et al, pp.17-31).
It is during the Hellenistic period that the importance of education struck the entire population, to be particular, was the growth and expansion of the philosophy. Philosophy enjoyed a wider audience especially among the affluent members of the society during the Hellenistic Era. During the turbulent times that there was, philosophical studies were therefore directed to the problems of human happiness. Under this context, several schools of thought of philosophy arose; each taking a different direction. Crow gives an example of four schools of thought which emerged due to the exposure to the philosophical studies. The first one was that of Stoics group which believed that for humans to enjoy happiness in abundance, the life of virtue had to be sought. Then there were the Epicureans who believed on simple pleasures that could never be simply taken away by chance. Skeptics also had their school of thought; they believed on nothing in particular and doubted literally everything. Skeptics held it that human beings could easily attain a state of ideal tranquility. Finally there arose the Cynical lot, who preached and advocated for the return to nature which they explained was the key to man’s felicity. Cynics opposed the introduction of conventional customs (Crow, pp.23-27).
The Roman Republic brought to an end these wonderful moments of the Greece and their Hellenistic Realms. In 146 B.C they conquered mainland Greece and integrated Macedon into their territory disrupting most of the people’s way of life–both socially and politically. The Roman’s political prominence helped them conquer Greece with easy and the division of Greece after the death of Alexander made it even easier for the conquerors. The armies were divided, hence reducing the resistance force. The acrimony that had existed among the states for over thirty years made things even worse and impossible for them to oppose the attacks as a united front. Other states ganged against each other, completely killing the spirit of collective responsibility that existed during the Alexander times (Hardy, p.51).
Conclusion
From the facts represented in this paper, it can be said that Hellenistic period represented a time of Hellenization which simply means the period of the spread of the Greek culture to the rest of the world. Alexander’s demise facilitated the rivalry which fueled the pace of the spread. The paper has determined that Alexander himself was heavily Hellenized and was at a point of idolizing Hellenistic principles, so his post life period only acted as a continuation of what he started not really an infancy of Hellenization. But his real motives of campaigning so hard to have the whole world Hellenized have still remained unknown to date. Reports in (Walbank, pp.14-22) reveal that the move to popularize the Greek culture was deliberate step by Alexander as a means for him to later use it as a vehicle to drive into effect a series of pragmatic measures to aid his administration. Walbank adds that this allegation can be justified by Alexander’s probable megalomaniac nature towards his later years on the throne. The Hellenistic Age can be concluded to be a time period that represents an era when the region experienced great technological leap.
Works Cited
Austin, M. The Hellenistic world from Alexander to the Roman conquest: a selection of ancient sources in translation. Cambridge University Press. (1981). pp.7-19.
Burby, B. and Barber, A. The Hellenistic Age: Aspects of Hellenistic Civilization. New York: W.W. Norton. (1970). pp.17-31.
Crow, Charles. Greece: The Magic Spring. New York: Harper and Row. (1970).pp.23 27.
Grant, Michael. The Founders of the Western World: A History of Greece and Rome. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. (1991). pp41-77.
Green, Peter. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age. Berkeley: University of California Press. (1990). pp.66-67.
Hardy, W. The Greek and Roman World. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman. (1962). p.51. Walbank, F. The Hellenistic World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (1992). pp.14-24.