CN: Lecture 16: The Hellenistic World: Post-Alexander Succession and the Rise of the Three Kingdoms
Alexander the great dies 323BCE at 33
had made no arrangements for succession - died young
rumors about him being poisoned or foul play was involved
however
he suffered very badly on the battlefield one which paralyses him for a few days
also had very serious illnesses - fevers would last weeks
pushed himself very hard for 13 years
alcoholic
overall surprised he lived that long
he had three wives - all were political
one - Roxanne was pregnant - due to give birth
compromise was reached
his successor would be his brother - Philip 3rd
feeble older brother
the unborn child would be co king
the empire needed a regent - since one was feeble and one was a newborn
regent was Perdiccus - senior marshal
he was to make arrangements for the empire
one of his appointments was Ptolemy was to be a satrapy
he was made a satrap of the outlining region of the empire
only one narrow road connecting it to the empire
Egypt - had been independent from the empire for about 30 years before Alexander came through
his first project was fortifying Egypt
end of 322BC
civil war broke out between the Marshals of Alexander
Perdiccus was trying to get rid of Ptolemy in Egypt
Perdiccus was assassinated
Ptolemy essentially became the king of Egypt
made coins with his face on it - before this it was coins with alexander on it
Ptolemy changes this - legend of King Ptolemy - called himself a Satrap in 321BCE
with Perdiccus dead a new regent was appointed
this was Antipater - became regent of the full empire
his most significant thing was with a soldier (seleucus) 323BCE he came the Satrap of Babylon
Antipater was old and died young
no new regent was imposed
the empire was left to the war lords
he was shy and didn't put his face on coins
only when he died did his face appear
Antigonus also didn't put his face on coins
his son however did
the wars continue on and off with shifting alliances
when on was on the edge on winning the people would shift alliances to him
eastern half of empire enters into a treaty with Maur you Empire and Chandragupta Maurya who established this
seleucus was able to get elephants from India
he didn't put his face on coins but did put the elephants on the coins
elephants appear a lot in the stories around seleucus - terreacotta war elephant
final show down was at the battle of Ipsus
most war lords had formed against the war lords ... and his son who put coins on...
Lysimuchus had slowly built around Thrace
had very nice coins
he was very rich and could hire mercenaries however many it took
many men with nothing to do and willing to fight
Lysimuchus was very careful with his finances
describes Seleucus as and elephant keeper and Lysimuchs as a money Keeper
antiouns and his son were defeated
Tellemy heard a rumor
retreats to Egypt but leaves a lot of garrisons in the area above Egypt
full division of the empire
tellemy took Egypt to Syprus
Lysimuchs got the west half Asia minor and Greece
seleucus got majority of the east
seleucus bided his time two decades after waiting to invade Lysimuchs kingdom
lysimuchs was old and had problems in his court
he was growing unpopular since he was on top of his money
put taxes too high
Seleucus took advantage of this battle 241BCE at Cyrupedium and wins
goes to add his kingdom into his own
first time back since 334
he was assassinated very quickly
person who emerges on top was Antigonus Gonatas the grandson of Antigonus
they often named after father but would not add roman numerals after the name and gave nicknames to differentiate
he was one eye Antigonus
he was in charge on Macedonia
stable Hellenistic world again
Egypt was never fully integrated into Persian empire
Seleucus ended with the old Persian empire
it survived Alexander invasion and 30 + years of war
it was very well politically managed hence it survived
Cedrus atlantica - atlas cedar - very good for building ships
navel strength - was very important to Egypt - they controlled the area where the Cedar grew had one of the only navels
tellomy was a boat keeper
Alexander’s kingdom was divided into three sections
Pyrrhus of Epirus:
west to Macedonia in Pyrrhus
when the war stabilized
Pyrrhus went east and tries creates an empire in the west into Italy
fights against the romans in Italy and Sicily before giving up and heading back into Pyrrhus
Hellenization:
Greek ware conqueres in a very not Greek world
created a ruling class over the non-Greek peoples
they started trying to Hellenise over the territories over they ruled
they didn't learn any language and forced everyone to learn Greek if you were in their kingdom
refused to acknowledge that not everyone spoke Greek
imported people from Greece to populate other areas/cities across the Hellenistic world
the kings founded cities and would build them on the Greek model
everything was Greek
a prominent new place was Alexandria
stuff you always find in a Greek city
it had a theater
gymnasium - the men needed to exercise and play sports in it
if you find a gymnasium it was a Greek city
Judaea:
flanked by two cities founded by Ptolemy - Ptolemais and Philadelphia
they exerted a great deal of influence on the surrounding area
if they ever went from Ptolemais they had to speak Greek
if Judaea had problems and went out to Ptolemais they would speak Greek
seleud kingdom:
Syria
they founded four cities
Seleucera - Antiochera - Laodiceia - Apamea
they introduced Greek ideas and the names of the cities were Hellenistic
colonnade of Apamea is very Greek - new feature of Greek cities
Laodicea on the Lycus had a colonnade, gymnasium, theater
the Greeks go all the way into Iran and left their footprint wherever they went
cultural centers of the satrapies where they lie
they would influence the areas around them
Ai Khanoum in far northeast - Afghanistan
had gymnasium, theater
inscriptions of decrees in Greek
they are spreading Greek culture into the surrounding cities
sometimes it is forced assimilation
sometimes the people just want to follow the big cities
the Greek language takes hold in the Hellenistic kingdom