Greek Culture and the Hellenistic Period

Doric Columns

Simple columns with no bases.

Ionic Columns

Columns with volutes (Spiral decorations), and bases.

Corinthian Columns

Detailed columns with elaborate, floral volutes and bases.

Vases

Used for storage but also as art.

Greek Art

Classical period sculptures display arete, through only the most perfect or ideal form.

Greek Women

• Women had limited rights.

• They focused on house/family duties and did not go into public except for religious festivals, visiting family, or getting water.

Symposiums

• Large male-only social gatherings, featuring heavy wine consumption.

• Women were present only as entertainers.

Greek Godesses

• Artemis: Goddess of the moon and hunt. Remained childless and hunted unlike normal Greek women.

• Athena: Goddess of wisdom and war. Remained childless and known for war unlike normal Greek women.

• Hera: Goddess of marriage who represented the ideal Greek woman.

Greek Theatre

• Greeks invented the formal setting for drama, the theater, a large semi circular structure with tiered seating, allowing for good acoustics/focus.

• The largest theater was at Epidauros and could seat 15,000 people.

Greek Drama

• Was performed by all male casts, who wore masks.

• Came in two varieties, tragedy and comedy.

• Tragedy was more reputable and popular.

Philosophy

• Meant love of wisdom.

• Was originally tied to science, though over time they parted ways, as science explained the material world, and philosophy focused on ethics and metaphysical matters.

Hellenistic

• “Greek like”, or “Greek influenced”.

• Indicates the spread of Greek culture outside of Greece.

Macedonia

• A Kingdom that existed on the margins of the Greek world.

• Differed from Greece because Macedons retained a king (Monarchy), who was a vassal of Persia.

• Were still accepted as a Greek area because the king was thought to be descended from Hercules.

• This Greek identity was amplified by their inclusion in Olympic competitions.

• However, most Greeks considered them as weak and inferior.

Diadokhoi Origin

• After the death of Alexander, five of his generals divide up his empire among themselves and proclaim themselves kings.

• They fight each other for 40 years, after which 3 dynasties survive.

Diadokhoi

• Antigonids in Macedon

• Ptolemies in Egypt

• Seleucids in Syria and the eastern provinces.

The Hellenistic World

• Witnesses the triumph of Greek culture and societal institutions.

• Also witnessed new, ostentatious kinds of monarchy.

• Leads to the failure of the polis or Greek city state as a viable political unit.

• The hybrid culture of the Greeks and Persian cultures is exemplified by the royal lines of Alexander’s successors.

Ptolemy Kings

• They all descended from Alexander’s general “Ptolemy”

• Philadelphos: “Sibling-Loving”, Married his sister

• Eurgetes: “Benefactor”

• Philopator: “Father Loving”. Believed to killed his father to take the throne, so he took this name to avoid suspicion.

Ptolemies

• They adopted various non Greek traditions such as royal inc*st, and royal kingship (Kings are considered gods).

• Ruled from Alexandria but presided over a Greek world, worshiping in Greek temples, and inviting Greek intellectuals.

• At Alexandria, they built a huge lighthouse and huge library which was the center of Greek culture and learning.

• Over time, the Greek and Egyptian cultures merged in areas such as religion (Ex: Isis was worshiped in Greece).

Serapis

• A hybrid deity that emerged during the merge of Greek and Egyptian culture.

• Part Osiris and the Sacred Bull of Egypt, and part Zeus and Dionysus from Greece.

• Became a popular deity throughout Hellenistic Egypt and the Mediterranean.

Syncretism

• Means the ability to recognize gods of other cultures.

• For example Isis was one goddess but was represented in different ways by different cultures.

Seleucids

• Descended from Alexander’s general Seleukos and acted similar to the Ptolemies.

• They preferred newly founded Greek cities in their area over their native kingdom (Babylon).

• Practiced royal inc*st and royal kingship.

• Hellenistic tradition reaches its peak as they founded many new cities that helped import Greek culture/society into new lands, though the cities are no longer independent city states.

Hellenistic Influence Example

• Over time, leaders of smaller areas asserted their independence, and claimed Greek royal title of Basileus.

• Such places wanted to be viewed as Greek as the Hellenistic tradition is now associated with power and sophistication.

Pergamom

• A new kingdom emerged and it’s capital was built up as a perfect Greek city, complete with an acropolis, theaters, temples etc.