THE HELLENISTIC AGE

“HELLENISTIC” –323 BC- 30 BC, GREEK CULTURE AFTER ALEXANDER. GREEK CULTURE BECOME WORLD CULTURE.

WARS OF THE SUCCESSORS. ROXANNE, ALEXANDER IV. PTOLEMY: EGYPT (CLEOPATRA VII, DIED 30 BC). SELEUCUS, ANTIOCHUS: ASIA (ANTIOCH). LYSIMACHUS: THRACE. CASSANDER, ANTIGONIDS: MACEDON.

PERGAMUM. ALEXANDRIA. SEPTUAGINT (“seventy”). MOUSEION, “temple to the Muses.” SERAPIS.

DECLINE OF THE POLEIS. DEPOPULATION. EUERGETISTS, “do-gooders.” END OF THE EGALITARIANN IDEAL. RULER CULT. ATHENS. SPARTAN FUNDAMENTALISM.

PYRRHUS OF EPIRUS (“Pyrrhic victory”).

LITERATURE: ALEXANDRIAN POETRY. THE ARGONAUTICA OF APOLLONIUS OF RHODES. RIDDLE POEMS. THOECRITUS: THE BUCOLIC (“cow-like”) OR PASTORAL (“shepherd-like”). “NOVELS.” NEW COMEDY: MENANDER (PLAUTUS).

SCULPTURE: PORTRAITURE, EMOTIONALISM. “A strong wind blowing through it …”

PHILOSOPHY: SKEPTICISM, CYNICISM (“dog-like”). EPICUREANISM: PLEASURE, ATOMISMK, ATARAXIA (“undisturbedness”). STOICISM: ZENO, NATURAL LAW, LOGOS

MEDICINE: HIPPOCRATES, PROGNOSIS (“fore-knowing”). GALEN: FOUR HUMORS:

BLOOD (fire, sanguine)

PHLEGM (earth, phlegmatic)

CHOLER (or yellow bile, water,

choleric)

BLACK BILE (air, melancholic)

MATHEMATICS: EUCLID (geometry). ARCHIMEDES: EUREKAI (“I have found it!”

ASTRONONY: PTOLEMAIC, EPICYCLES