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2.5. Alexander the Great and Hellenistic World

1. The Alexander Mosaic This painting is called Alexander Mosaic, originally from Pompeii. The Roman floor mosaic copy of a Greek painting. It measures 2.72 by 5.13 meters, made of 1.5 million stones. This mosaic depicts a battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC.

Look at the painting, Alexander is rushing forward with bravery and violence; his spear cut through a Persian soldier’s body. And this is Darius, the king of Persia. And he is stretching his right hand helplessly. The Persian army was frightened and retreating. This mosaic showed the superiority of the Greek army led by their great king, Alexander the Great.

Last time we talked Philip II was assassinated in 336 BC, before his death the majority of Greece cities were under Macedonian control. Philip II was succeeded by his 20-year-old son Alexander, the great king who created one of the largest empires of the ancient world by the age of thirty.

2. Alexander the Great 356-323 BC is often ranked among the most influential people in history. When he was 13, Philip invited Aristotle to be the tutor of Alexander. Aristotle taught Alexander medicine, philosophy, morals, religion, logic, and art. Alexander developed a passion for Homer’s epics. On his campaigns he always carried a copy of the Iliad given by Aristotle. He thought himself a new Achilles, the great hero of the Trojan War. Alexandria is widely considered one of history's most successful military commanders, never lost in battle. Today all military academies throughout the world still teach his tactics.

3. The Empire of Alexander. In 13years Alexander conquered Persia, middle Asia, Egypt and he crossed Indus River,

4. Until in 324BC his army reached today’s Pakistan. His soldiers refused to go further. The representative of the soldiers told him: “if there is one thing above all others a successful man should know, it is when to stop”. Alexander was very angry but he had no choice but to return. In 323 he died in Babylon. Alexander's legacy extended beyond his successful military conquests, he built many cities on the Greek model, and the most famous one is Alexandria in Egypt. His campaigns increased contacts and trade between East and West. He tried to combine the Greek culture and local culture, he encouraged his officers marry the daughters of local elites. He had brought and spread the Greek civilization to the areas he conquered. He actually started a new age.

5. The Hellenistic world. This is the Hellenistic world. It started from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. Scholars are divided about what event signals the end of the Hellenistic era. Someone chose the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC, which marked the conquest of Greek mainland by the Roman Republic; some chose the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, the final War of the Roman Republic, Octavian defeated the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, this battle marked the emergence of the Roman Empire. If you talk about only the Greek mainland, the Battle of Corinth should be your choice; if you talk about the whole area dominated by the Greek culture including Egypt and western Asia the Battle of Actium should be the right answer.

In Greek mythology, Hellen was a king, the progenitor of the Greek people, progenitor means ancestor. According to Thucydides, the author of History of the Peloponnesian War, Hellen’s sons conquered Greece, and thus the people of Greece were called Hellenes, after the name of their ancestor. "Hellenistic" is a modern word created by German historian Johann Gustav Droysen in the mid-19th century to refer to the period between Alexander's conquests and the emergence of the Roman Empire. Droysen’ book history of Alexander the Great was the first work representing a new school of historical thought called the Great Man Theory, this theory was popularized in the 1840s by the Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle, and he stated that "The history of the world is but the biography of great men"

6. After the death of Alexander, the Macedonian Empire was divided by three kingdoms. The most stable one was Empire of Ptolemy in Egypt built by PtolemyⅠ, a general once  followed Alexander, the last ruler of this kingdom was queen Cleopatra who was defeated by Roman Octavia in 31BC. The second kingdom was built by another Alexander’s general Seleucus, the Seleucid kingdom which covering a vast area from today’ Turkey to Afghanistan. It was conquered by Roman in 64 BC. The third was kingdom of Macedon and Greece, ruled by Antigonid dynasty, this kingdom was built by the son of another Alexander’s general Antigonus, until it was conquered by the Roman Republic in 168 BC.

7. Hellenistic is an adjective, meaning characteristic of or relating to Greek civilization. In the Hellenistic world, Greek culture dominated not only Greece and Macedonia but also Egypt and west Asia. At this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its peak, experiencing prosperity and progress in the arts, exploration, literature, theatre, architecture, music, mathematics, philosophy, and science. All big cities have built agora, the marketplace, and temples, theaters, baths, and a gymniasion, used as both sports center and school. Alexandria replaced Athens became the center of Greek culture. "Father of geometry" Euclid, and mathematician Archimedes all worked there, Archimedes was famous for his calculation of the approximate value of pi, also called Archimedes’ constant. Constant means a non-varying value.

8. The Nike and Venus de Milo are the best examples of the Hellenistic art

9. Hellenistic Philosophy During the Hellenistic period, many different schools of thought developed. Three of them are very influential.

Cynic is someone practicing Cynicism. For the Cynics, the purpose of life is to live in virtue, in agreement with nature. People could achieve freedom by rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, sex, and fame. And live a simple life free from all possessions. The first cynic was Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates; he was followed by Diogenes, who lived in a tub on the streets of Athens. Cynic in Greek means dog, people called them dogs because they lived on the streets like dogs. There was a story, Alexander the Great visited Diogenes on the street, asked “if there was anything I can do for you” "Yes, stand out of my sunlight”. Diogenes replied, Alexander then declared, "If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes." Cynicism spread with the rise of the Roman Empire in the 1st century, throughout the cities of the empire Cynics could be found begging and preaching on the street. Cynicism gradually declined and finally disappeared in the late 5th century.

10. This is Diogenes lived on the street like a dog. Today If we say someone cynical about something, we mean someone doesn’t not believe that it can be successful or that the people involved are selfish not honest. We call someone has this attitude a cynic.

11. Epicureans

Epicureanism was founded by Epicurus 341-270BC. Epicureans believed pleasure was the chief good in life. We should pursue the greatest amount of pleasure possible during one's lifetime. The purpose of life was to enjoy happy and tranquil life, peace and freedom from fear. Pleasure was to be pursued moderately and rationally because today’s pleasure could be tomorrow’s suffering. To pursue pleasure we should focus on friendship and private enjoyment, and retreat from politics, and public competition. Epicurus believed death is the end of both the body and the soul and therefore should not be feared. He also taught the universe is infinite and eternal; what happened in the natural world is the result of atoms moving and interacting in empty space.

Stoics

Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium c.334-c.262 BC in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. Zeno taught “all mem should regard themselves as members of one city and people, having one life and order”. Cynics and Epicureans rejected public life but Stoics emphasized people should participate in it. They also taught "virtue is the only good" for human beings. Stoicism flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD, the famous Stoic in Roman Empire was Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

12. Key words: Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic world, The Nike and Venus de Milo, Cynics and Diogenes, Stoics and Zeno

13. Questions: 1.What caused the Peloponnesian War? How to avoid the Thucydides Trap? 2. What are the main principles of the philosophies of Socrates and Plato? 3. What are the achievements of Alexander the Great?