Comprehensive Notes on Late Classical and Early Hellenistic Periods

Class Information

  • This is class 12, the final class of the semester.

  • The final exam is on Monday from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM (3 hours).

  • The format is the same as the midterm but doubled in length.

    • 20 multiple-choice questions.

    • 16 term identifications (2 sentences or 1 long sentence explaining historical significance).

    • Two essay questions (answer both). Be sure to include a thesis statement.

  • Material should be from class or the course book.

  • Closed book examination: no outside sources (no word, no AI, no internet).

  • Zoom is required for the password and to keep screens on.

  • Do not close the Zoom chat or camera until finished.

  • Message the instructor or TA upon finishing before submitting.

  • Paragraphs in essays must be substantial (more than just a couple of sentences).

  • The more pertinent information, the better the grade.

Alexander's Conquests

  • Last class ended on the Priney decree, focusing on foreign policy in Alexander’s early empire.

  • Moving forward, will look at Alexander's Persian campaigns in more detail, followed by the Hellenistic period and the Roman conquest of Alexander's successor states.

Early Campaigns

  • Alexander moved quickly through Asia Minor (less than a year).

  • He gathered support through force and calculated influence.

    • Cities that resisted were punished harshly.

    • Those that opened their gates were rewarded.

  • Offered decrees and public rituals in various Greek cities throughout Asia Minor, paying homage to local gods and promising self-government.

  • Hosted Greek athletic competitions.

  • Alexander’s early foreign policy was a building block in constructing a novel transregional Hellenic world.

  • Conquest was not only military but also ideological, expanding Greek culture, language, and identity while retaining real power.

Levant and Egypt

  • The army moved south towards the Levant and Egypt instead of continuing eastward into the Persian Empire’s heartland.

  • Egypt was a long-standing Persian satrapy with a unique culture.

  • Alexander's arrival was met with cautious hope; many Egyptians saw him as a liberator, avenging Persian sacrilege.

  • Priests at Memphis welcomed him, inviting him to participate in their rites.

  • Alexander presented himself as both a pharaoh in the Egyptian style and a champion of Greek civilization.

Oracle of Zeus Ammon

  • Alexander journeyed to the Oracle of Zeus Ammon at the Siwa Oasis.

  • Amun (Amun-Ra) was assimilated to Zeus in Greek eyes, and Alexander sought to anchor his authority within this divine sanction.

  • The oracle confirmed that Alexander was the son of God (Zeus Amun), destined for greatness and conquest.

Founding of Alexandria

  • Founded on March 31st, located on the mouth of the Nile, designed to be a bridge between cultures and a monument to his legacy.

  • Unlike other ancient cities that grew haphazardly, Alexandria was the product of a well-thought-out blueprint.

  • Streets were laid out in a grid, harbors were dug for ships, and the city featured Greek temples, Egyptian shrines, palaces, and theaters.

  • It would eventually house the greatest library in the known world and a famous lighthouse (\text{Pharos}\, lighthouse).

  • Intended for Greeks (soldiers, merchants, artisans) and welcoming to native Egyptians, Jews, Syrians, Persians, and others.

  • Being Greek was less about birthplace or blood and more about culture, language, and willingness to participate in a shared cosmopolitan project.

  • The rise of Alexandria unsettled the old Greek world (Athens, Thebes, Corinth) because the meaning of being Greek was now in doubt.

Battle of Gaugamela

  • After founding Alexandria, Alexander confronted Darius III’s forces in the Battle of Gaugamela.

  • The Macedonians won, leading to Darius’s flight and the disintegration of the Persian Empire.

Persepolis

  • Alexander entered Persepolis and allowed his troops to sack the city, burning the palace.

  • This act was later seen as revenge for Xerxes’ destruction of Athens.

  • The burning signaled the end of the ancient balance of power; Macedon became the master of Asia.

Death of Darius

  • Alexander pursued Darius eastward, but Darius was eventually betrayed and murdered by his own satraps, led by Bessus.

  • Alexander honored Darius with funerary rites, presenting himself as the conqueror and rightful heir to both the East and the West.

Alexander's Transformation

  • Crossed deserts and mountain ranges, founded new cities (often named Alexandria), and married local princesses (including daughters of Darius III and Artaxerxes III).

  • Adopted Persian dress and court ceremonies and compelled Macedonian nobles to bow before him (proskunēsis), which was an affront to Greek sensibilities.

  • Accumulated titles, including king of Macedon, hegemon of the League of Corinth, pharaoh of Egypt, king of Asia, and king of kings.

  • Back in Greece, these developments were watched with a mix of awe and unease.

  • The old ideal of the autonomous polis was fading, replaced by the spectacle of a single man remaking the world in his image.

  • Coinage depicted Alexander in different attires (Zeus Ammon, elephant skin, lion pelt like Hercules), blurring the lines between the divine and human.

Perspectives

  • For some Greeks, Alexander’s conquests were a source of pride and a triumph of Greek arms over barbarian decadence.

  • For others, especially among the older generations, there was confusion and grief over the loss of old values (equality before the law, self-sufficiency).

  • The Hellenistic transformation was not just a Greek story; it affected Persians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Jews, Bactrians, and Phoenicians.

  • Some found themselves dispossessed, while others discovered new opportunities.

  • Local rulers pledged loyalty to Alexander, kept their positions, and sent their sons to serve in his administration.

  • Trade expanded, and old boundaries dissolved.

Ordinary People

  • For the merchant or craftsman in Alexandria or Babylon, it meant new markets, customers, and languages to learn.

  • For the small farmer, it meant the arrival of new landlords.

  • For women, the impact varied; some gained more visibility, while others experienced no change or more rigid patriarchal order.

  • For the enslaved, the poor, it meant the ability to move around, but old patterns of exploitation continued.

  • What united these experiences was a sense of uncertainty and the knowledge that the world order had changed.

  • When Alexander died suddenly in 323 BCE in Babylon, the world he had created was not even a decade old.

Life After Alexander

  • Alexander left behind a world with intentions of grandeur, despite dying very young.

  • He sought to construct an empire city by city, language by language, culture by culture, all managed by himself.

  • Despite not having reached all goals, what followed in his wake gave new meaning to freedom, which the former Greek city-states had not imagined.

  • Membership of Greekness became portable: one could experience Greek culture throughout the region and participate if the customs, language, religion, and architecture were adopted.

  • Cities, particularly Alexandria, became laboratories for identity as being Greek was now an expression of culture rather than ethnicity or birthplace.

  • While migrations and cosmopolitanism accelerated, anxieties also emerged in areas such as identity, citizenship, and community.

Alexander's Legacy: Builder and Conqueror

  • Vision: Alexander conceived an empire of cities, languages, and peoples under his rule.

  • City Foundations: He left behind several dozens of cities (many named Alexandria) located strategically at key river crossings, trade routes, and frontiers.

Intent behind the cities:

  • Secure territory

  • House veterans

  • Project Macedonian/Greek Identity

  • Cities served to

    • Settle retired soldiers

    • Bring in Greek administrators

    • Create centers of loyalty

Marriage

  • Politically significant to quell resistant regions and create ruling class:

  • Included:

    • Roxanne, Sogdian noblewoman.

    • Daughters of Darius the Third and Artaxerxes the Third, and many commanders at Susa mass wedding.

*Note: there was resistance from the Macedonian soldiers.

Key Question

  • Is the goal a single hybrid empire (with fusion of east and west), or is local reality improvised?

  • He maintained the taxation and satrapies of the Persian Empire, respected subject religious customs.

Important Note

  • Alexander sought integration under his singular authority that was both adaptive and not anarchic.

  • He was the culmination of prior history. He modeled travels on mythical characters, and built cities to invoke memories, as well as situate himself at the center of multiple historical, cultural, and religious traditions.

Imperfection

  • Despite ambitions, death left empire to generals

    • Generals or also called

      • Successors

      • Diadochi. D

  • Alexander’s death sent a major tremor through the ancient world given no one to keep it together and no singular heir.

  • General's War: Generals began to maneuver for control over the empire.

  • Those of Blood and General, could not claim:

    • Charisma

    • Ambition.

  • Vacuum:

    • Not a restored ancient state or lasting Macedonian reign, but rather the seed of the Hellenistic World.

Death and Diadochi to Basileus

  • Alexander was not immortal.

  • In 323 BCE, at the age of 32, he died in Babylon.

  • This was unexpected; he died young even for standards.

What happened?

  • Mysterious Death:

    • Did not determine a cause

    • Developed a fever and died after several days

      • Poisons take effect quicker so poisoning unlikely.

  • All of this was consequential.

Unprepared Death: Key point

  • Alexander was at the height of his reign:

    • Construction of fleet

    • Redividing satrapies

    • Building Alexandria on the isthmus.

Results

  • Lack of an Heir opened Vacuum for power given

    • Half Brother being mentally Unfit

    • Unborn Son of Roxanne

Signet Ring

  • Passing of the Ring to Perdiccas

Power Battle

  • Generals moved to divide regions rather than follow the central authority.

  • Roxanne secured alliance and power

    • Orchestrated the Murder of

      • Stateira (Eliminated Rival).

  • Empire was Fragile and Logistical Issues Amplified it.

Satraps

  • Army Waning.

    • Generals Acting Independently.

  • Struggle for Body to Claim: Propaganda

    • Seized by Ptolemy into Egypt.

End Consequence

  • Medical problem turns into large political catastrophe.

    • Scaffolding of Empire Exposed.

NOTE: the vacuum was caused by no one to be an equal to Alexander

Diadochi & Succession (Basileus)

  • Crisis had Roots.

    • Personal Ambition, Strife and Inherent Instability

      • No Formal Structure or Law.
        (No Formal Dynastic Protocol)

  • Territorial Domination was an after thought!

Succession War for Hegemony (War of the Diadochi I)

  • Alliance shifted as the mosaic of land and conquest changed for:

    • Cities, Grain Routes, armies, Control.

Key Players
1) Ptolemy in Egypt 
2) Cassander in Macedon .
3) Lysimachus in Thrace .
4) Antigonus, the One-Eye. 
5) Seleucus (to rise).

ALL Sought Empire and Land
NOTE: No Ideology
The Power Play to Reassign Satrapies

  • Reclaim: Babylon
    by Seleucus

  • War and Struggle - Seleucid Rise

After Math of Alexander (Hellenes)

1) Ruthless Cassander Eliminates Lineage
* Alexander lineage Eliminated & the Argiet line cut off!

Antigonous
* Seized Asia and labeled himself King!
* This was too Much…
* All Generals Form coalition to oppose him

  • Babylonian War

    • Seleucus vs. Antiginous

    • Mesopotamian Struggle to take the land, which Seleucus WON.

*Antigonous beats Ptolemy, and as a result now declared himself King, trigging ALL the others (Ptolemy, Seleucus, Cassander, Lysmachus) to declare themselves kings too.
The Final Claim of Ipsus saw total breakage and now Alexander's line had broken in fragments!
And each had claimed not unity, but a memory!. The Generals-Kings created their own dynasties!

The Diadochi were now Basileus
a code for legitimacy, identity, and transformation.

Roman Conquest and the Hellenistic World

States of Rome

1) Seleucid Empire
2) Ptolemaic in Egypt
3) Antigonid Kingdom in Macedon

Seulicid
* Founded by Seleucus 
* He absorbed old practices
+ land distribution
+ taxation/negotiations
Ptolemaic Kingdom

  • the MOST COMPACT AND CENTRALIZED - a wealthy Egypt

  • Kingship : Greece but more Pharaoh. (Divine version)

Antiognids of Macedon
* closest to the POLIS - traditional military control & Federation. Their power from this Homeland.

  • The coins and art had a way of performing identity beyond just government

  • Integration from Seleuces & Divinity from Cleopatra

Key Point from above

The above were key with:
1)Standing Armies
2)Urban Focus (and their subsequent Hellenisitic features).

Hellenistic Women of Power

  • Notable mentions!

    • Queens
      +Sisters
      +Mothers
      -> all involved in Dynastic Strategy. (NOT just an annex)

  • One Example! Arsinui II (Scandalous)

    • SisterWife for power!
      and subsequent political moves.

  • A sign of power for her was that her statue with a non greek design was present, and she was on art.

*Other women:

  • royal mother = regent for son (even olympias)

    • culminating to Cleopatra VII

Hellenistic City, Alexandrias City!

City Funding (like Alexandria), was not just funding, but a means to civilize on Greek Terms.

The successors continued to expand them & make them means for cultural preservation.
y city, legal decrees were displayed publically and were a key to the culture.
There were museums and libraries built! - patronized by high houses.

Alexandria : Rosetta Stone (Key Event)

  • Public Statement via Greek, Demotic and Hieroglyph (Greek key unlocking prior)

  • The statement offers the following:
    1) Ptomemy’s Lineage
    2) generosity
    3) military victories
    4) religious piety!

The three were three ways to display one idea.
1) Greek Bureaucrats
2) Priestly Divine
3) Native Hieroglyphs that all offer the same statement.
The Rosetta stone exemplifies power with divine authority = power politics!
The greek side offers the code key unlocking Egypt for all!
Linguistic and Political Power!

Collapse (or Transformation) of Romanization

(Key names are Bold)

  • Not an Internal Collapse but Conquered through the Roman Republic. (Military, discipline, tenacity)

  • The Greek and Roman world were not in total conflict, for, for there were times that cities in Greek invited intervention.

  • The end saw total war that started at at 191 BCE- Rome with Titus Quinctius Flamininus vs. Philip II

  • The victory was the start of claiming of key cities

    • ANTIOCHUS power threatened- and was also squashed

  • Antigonid Dynasty of Macedon was now the new power but were eventually smashed when at

  • Battle of Pydna -

  • Roman vs. Perseus the Macedon King - a Client in 168 - followed by conquest and full annex

  • Selects were puppets with
    Demetrius one. Rome came to control the region after Pompey the GREAT!

  • The Tough Ptolemies, even with decline came to fall with the death of
    Cleopatra the seventh! She used ceasar for political power** and snake*

    • All fell, with Roman Superiority and were now under domination

Romans in the East

All the culture that Rome now acquired was by virtue of its military domination over the other- but the civilization captured its captors
Roman aristocrats were now Greek!
And even the empire saw the East as the more key with Alexandria at its center.
And so even with Roman-Ness or Latin Influence, and culture-ness… Greek remains. But now a new type, the Greek Orthodox Church that sustained Greek Language to now. Hence… our connection with the Greeks is ancient but also persists through our interactions via this class. We, via Greek, are interconnected with time and with this key class and Greek civilization.
So thank you so very much! It was a fantastic history to learn with you. Good Semester.