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Chapter 7: Part 2

Chapter 7: Part 2. Hellenistic Age. 1. Terminology. What does “Hellenistic” mean? Hellade = Greece “Hellenistic ” refers to a culture predominantly but not totally Greek.

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Chapter 7: Part 2

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  1. Chapter 7: Part 2 Hellenistic Age

  2. 1. Terminology • What does “Hellenistic” mean? • Hellade= Greece • “Hellenistic” refers to a culture predominantly but not totally Greek. • The term refers to the expansion of Greek civilization to the East and to the resulting mixture of Greek culture with other influences.

  3. 2. Historical Overview • Aegean Civilizations (ancestors of the Greeks) Minoan 3000-1100 BCE Mycenaean 1900-1100 BCE • Stages of Greek Civilization: Archaic Period 6th century Classical Period 5th-4th century Hellenistic Period late 4th c. - 2nd c. (323 BCE-146 BCE)

  4. 2. Terminology

  5. 2. Historical Overview • The Hellenistic period is the time between the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE) and the Roman conquest of Greece (146 BCE)

  6. 3. Alexander the Great Who was Alexander the Great? a) an Athenian general b) a Macedonian king c) a Persian monarch What are his achievements?

  7. 3. Alexander the Great • Son and heir to Phillip II of Macedonia • Phillip II had subjected the cities of Greece to Macedonian rule.

  8. 3. Alexander the Great • Alexander started a campaign against the Persians. Battle of Issus against the Persian King Darius, 333 BCE

  9. 3. Alexander the Great • He traveled as far as the Indus Valley conquering cities and founding new ones

  10. 3. Alexander the Great

  11. 3. Alexander the Great

  12. 4. Alexander’s empire • When Alexander died his empire was divided between his lieutenants (Macedonian noblemen): • Antigonus: Macedonia/Greece • Seleucus: Asia Minor/ Persia • Ptolemy: Egypt

  13. 4. Alexander’s empire

  14. 5. Hellenistic society • Nationalistic or cosmopolitan? • Urban or rural? • Based on trade or agriculture? • Democracies or a monarchies? • What language(s) did they speak?

  15. 5. Hellenistic society Cosmopolitan and eclectic: • A mixture of different cultures (Greeks, Macedonians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Persians, Arabs…) linked by trade. • Not a national culture. • Cult to the ruler unifies a population of different ethnic background.

  16. 5. Classical Greek vs. Hellenistic society During the Classical period… • were Athens or Sparta cosmopolitan? • how were foreigners treated in Athens or Sparta? • who was the most important deity of Athens? • was Athens ever as large as Alexandria? • what was characteristic of the Athenian government?

  17. 5. Hellenistic society • Urban: Large metropolitan centers: Alexandria and Pergamum

  18. 5. Hellenistic society Government: • Ruled by (divinized) monarchs. • No democracy.

  19. 5. Hellenistic society Language: • A form of colloquial Greek called Koine was spoken throughout the Hellenistic world.

  20. 6. Alexandria • Founded by Alexander the Great. • Population of about 1,000,000 • Ruled by the Ptolemies • Cultural center

  21. 6. Alexandria • Library • Museum (university) • Theater • Lighthouse • Public gardens • Tomb of Alexander

  22. 7. Pergamum

  23. 7. Pergamum Altar of Zeus at Pergamum, 170 BCE.

  24. 9. Sculpture • Motifs and purpose in Classical Greece? • Realism or idealism? • Way to represent the gods? • Emotions? • Individualism? • Social types?

  25. 9. Sculpture In Classical Greece: • Study of the perfect representation of the human body • Subjects: gods (religious), idealized humans. • No individual traits, no emotion.

  26. 9. Classical vs. 4th century sculpture

  27. 9. Classical vs. 4th century sculpture

  28. 9. 4th century sculpture • Praxiteles (370-330 BCE) • Praxitelian curve • First female nude: Aphrodite of Cnidus • Sensuality

  29. 9. 4th century sculpture • Lysippus (4th cent) • Sculptor of Alexander • Psychological portrayal: emotion • Theatrical effects: light and shade

  30. LaocoonGroup, 150 BCE Gaul and wife, 220 BCE 10. Hellenistic Sculpture

  31. 10. Hellenistic Sculpture • Emotion (pathos) • Agitated movement

  32. Dying Gaul, 220 BCE Boxer, 225 BCE 10. Hellenistic Sculpture

  33. 10. Hellenistic Sculpture • Sympathy (human compassion) • Different ethnic and social groups

  34. 10. Hellenistic Sculpture Jockey, 2nd c. BCE Old market woman ,2nd c BCE

  35. 10. Hellenistic Sculpture • Different age groups • Realism • Special interest in children

  36. 10. Hellenistic Sculpture Aphrodite, Eros and Pan, 100 BCE Barberini Faun, 200 BCE

  37. 10. Hellenistic Sculpture • Eroticism • Irreverent representation of the gods

  38. 10. Hellenistic Sculpture Nike of Samothrace, 190 BCE

  39. 10. Hellenistic Sculpture • Theatrical effects

  40. 10. Hellenistic Sculpture • Emotion (pathos) • Agitated movement • Sympathy (human compassion) • Different ethnic and social groups • Different age groups (Special interest in children) • Realism • Eroticism • Irreverent representation of the gods • Theatrical effects

  41. 10. Classical period vs. Hellenistic period • Parthenon in Athens • Altar of Pergamum

  42. 10. Religion Mystery cults: • Dionysus • Orpheus • Isis • Serapis • Mithras • Cybele

  43. 10. Religion Greek religion in the Archaic/ Classical Period: • Features of the gods? • Are the gods dreadful? • Are there national/ civic deities? • Individual/ collective cults? • Dogmatic or ritualistic? • Are the religious practices for everybody? • Afterlife?

  44. 10. Religion In the Classical period: • Gods behave like humans (immoral) • Fear of the gods: need of prosperity • Religion of the poleis, collective. • Myths of foundation: ancestors • Civic rituals bringing the citizens together

  45. 10. Religion Mystery cults: • “Mystery”: secrets revealed only to the initiates. • Initiation was mandatory (requiring a ritual). • A dogma to be believed and directions to be followed. • Belief in the immortality of the human soul. • Purity/ immortality of the soul contrasts with sin/degradation of the mortal body. • Sense of virtue and sin and reward and punishment in an afterlife. • Various concepts of immortality: transmigration of souls, rebirth, reincarnation, resurrection, and redemption.

  46. 10. Religion • Example of mystery religion: Cult of Dionysus • Orpheus was the founder of the cult of Dionysus • Dionysus: god of the grapevine. • Like the grapevine the god dies and revives every spring. • Death of the god: He was dismembered by the Titans. • Wine is produced from the dismembered body of the god (grapes) and therefore it contains the essence of the god. • Son of Persephone (Queen of the Underworld) and therefore can intercede for his followers in the final judgment of their souls.

  47. 10. Religion • Crime/ sin: the dismemberment of Dionysus by the Titans (of whose ashes the human race was born). • Humans have to suffer punishment until they pay what is due (original sin) • Lifelong purity can expiate the guilt: sexual abstinence, dietary taboos.

  48. Review: the Hellenistic world • Hellenistic? • Nationalistic or cosmopolitan? • Urban or rural? • Based on trade or agriculture? • Government? • Language? • Urbanism? • Sculpture?

  49. Review: the Hellenistic world • Religion: Mystery cults • Are they civic deities? • Individual (sectarian) or collective (public) cults? • Dogmatic or ritualistic? • Afterlife? • Beliefs about soul?

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