Lecture 1 - Hellenistic World: Dates and Places

What is a primary source?

1. = ancient source

2. = written/visual source or artifact (i.e., object/monument) from the past

What is a secondary source?

1. = modern scholarly source

BCE

Before Common Era

• years counted BACKWARDS

CE

Common Era

• Years counted forwards

BC and AD

(Before Christ) and (After Christ/Anno Domini)

• BC → counted backwards

• AD → counted forwards

ca.

abbreviation for Latin circa = “around/about”

cf.

abbreviation for Latin cōnfer

“compare”

e.g.

abbreviation for Latin exemplī grātiā

“for example”

etc.

abbreviation for Latin et cetera

“and so on”

i.e.

abbreviation for Latin id est

“that is…” (clarification)

acc. to.

according to

esp.

especially

incl.

including

List the centuries/dates from 13th century BCE to 2nd century BCE

• Thirteenth Century BCE = 1299-1200 BCE = 1200s BCE

• Tenth Century BCE = 999-900 BCE = 900s BCE

• Eighth Century BCE = 799-700 BCE = 700s BCE

• Sixth Century BCE = 599-500 BCE = 500s BCE

• Fourth Century BCE = 399-300 BCE = 300s BCE

• Third Century BCE = 299-200 BCE = 200s BCE

• Second Century BCE = 199-100 BCE = 100s BCE

• First Century BCE = 99-1 BCE

• First Century CE = 1-99 CE

• Second Century CE = 100-199 CE = 100s CE

Periods of Ancient Greek History (for Quiz 1)

• 3000-1100 BCE: Bronze Age

• 1600-1100 BCE: Late Bronze Age (= Mycenaean Age/Period)

• 1100-750 BCE: Dark Age

• 750-480 BCE: Archaic Period

• 480-323 BCE: Classical Period

• 323-31 BCE: Hellenistic Period

• 31 BCE-330 CE: Imperial (Roman) Period

• 330-1453 CE: Byzantine Period

Greece

country in modern-day southeastern Europe

mainland Greece

land of ancient Greece minus Greek islands

• bounded:

  • to east by Aegean Sea (pronounced “uh-JEE-uhn”)

  • to south by Mediterranean Sea

basic sections of mainland/ancient Greece

1. northern Greece

2. central Greece

3. southern Greece = the Peloponnese

• 1. Peloponnesos (Greek spelling)/Peloponnesus (Latin spelling)

• the island (nēsos) of Pelops (a mythic Greek hero)

basic regions of Mainland Greece to know

• in northern Greece: Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia (or Macedon)

• in central Greece: Boeotia (pronounced “bee-OH-shuh”), Attica

• in Peloponnese: Laconia

basic regions outside of mainland Greece to know

• Ionia = western coast of modern-day Turkey

• Asia = ancient Greek name for the whole of modern-day Turkey

• Anatolia or Asia Minor = name for modern-day Turkey used by modern scholars of ancient Greece

• Thrace = non-Greek region (modern-day Bulgaria) northeast of Greece

basic Greek islands to know

• Euboea (pronounced “you-BEE-uh”)

• Rhodes

• Cyprus

basic ancient Greek cities to know

• in northern Greece: in Macedonia: Aegae (modern Vergina), Pella

• in central Greece:

  • Delphi

  • in Boeotia: Thebes, Plataea, Chaeronea

  • in Attica: Athens

• on Euboea: Eretria (“eh-REH-trih-uh”)

  • (don’t confuse with Eritrea = modern African country)

• Peloponnese

  • at isthmus of Corinth: Corinth

  • in Laconia: Sparta

• in Ionia:

  • Troy

  • Miletus (“my-LEE-tuhs”)

What regions make up the Ancient Near East (ANE)?

Anatolia/Asia Minor

Mesopotamia

Phoenicia

Persia

c) neither ancient Greece nor ancient Egypt technically part of ANE d) still, many cultural contacts between ancient Greece and both ANE and ancient Egypt e) cultural contacts between Greece and ANE expand during Hellenistic Period

Important places in Anatolia/Asia Minor

• a. Lydia = non-Greek region in western Anatolia

• b. Sardis = capital city of Lydia

Important places in Mesopotamia

• a. = modern-day Iraq and Syria

• b. Mesopotamia = “land between [Tigris/Euphrates] rivers” in Greek

• c. Assyria = northern Mesopotamia

• d. Babylon = city in southern Mesopotamia (= Babylonia = area controlled by Babylon)

Important places in Phoenicia

• a. = modern-day Lebanon

• b. one of its main cities: Tyre

Important places in Persia

• 1) in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq): Babylon

• 2) in Elam (modern Iran): Susa

• 3) in Media (modern Iran): Ecbatana

• 4) in Persia (modern Iran): Persepolis (built by Darius I/Xerxes)

• c. royal investiture city (modern Iran): Pasargadae (built by Cyrus II)

Ancient Egypt

1. Upper Egypt (to south; because Nile River flows S to N)

2. Lower Egypt (to north; includes Nile Delta)

3. Siwa = oasis west of ancient Egypt (in modern-day Libya)

4. Alexandria = Ptolemaic capital city of Egypt (founded by Alexander?)