Mediterranean Peoples - Hellenistic Culture

MEDITERRANEAN PEOPLES HIST 1301 | History Hellenistic Culture The merging of Greek and other civilizations from the old Persian Empire was a defining aspect of Hellenistic culture. Greeks and Macedonians were used as warriors and administrators in the empires of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic monarchs. Greek towns were established for Greek and Macedonian immigrants throughout the ancient Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and other Hellenistic rulers, who frequently named them after themselves or their queens. To help the colonists feel at home in their new surroundings, these cities contained the institutions of the Greek cities of their home country, such as gymnasia, theatres, agora (marketplaces), and temples to the Greek gods. One such Hellenistic city with a gymnasium has magnificent ruins that archaeologists have discovered at the site of Ai Khanum in modern-day Afghanistan. With a population of one million, Alexandria was the biggest Hellenistic metropolis and the capital of the Ptolemaic empire in Egypt. It was built by Alexander himself in 331 BCE. The Museon, or "home of the Muses," was established there by the Ptolemies, and here is where the word "museum" originates. They based this as a hub for literary and scientific inquiry on Aristotle's Lyceum. The greatest book collection in antiquity was amassed by these same rulers via their patronage of the Alexandrian Library. With a population of half a million, Antioch, located in modern-day southeast Turkey, was the biggest city in the Seleucid kingdom. Greek-speaking people assimilated with the local population in places like Alexandria and Antioch. During this time, the majority of Greek towns had lost their independence since they were often ruled by one of the Hellenistic kings. The exception was the Greek city-states of the Achaean and Aetolian Leagues, who fought valiantly to save their independence from the Macedonian Antigonid dynasty. Many Greeks living in cities ruled by kings abandoned their attention on politics and diplomacy and instead resorted to the pursuit of happiness for themselves after losing their ability to govern themselves. Greek and non-Greek components were mixed together to create new faiths that promised both worldly satisfaction and everlasting existence. For instance, many Hellenistic towns adopted the widespread worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis. The Medes worshipped the Persian sun deity Mithras, but Greeks in Hellenistic towns began to think that Mithras would grant them immortal life as well in the second century BCE. His adherents constructed unique chapels embellished with symbols whose significance is still up for debate. The term "mystery religions" refers to the worship of Isis and Mithras during this time period because of the focus on covert religious rites, or mysteries, about which adherents were bound to quiet. Judaism was another religion embraced in Hellenistic towns; adherents comprised both recent converts and migratory Jews. Since the Ptolemies ruled over ancient Judea for a large portion of the Hellenistic era and many Jews had relocated to Alexandria, by the second century BCE, the Hebrew Bible had been translated into Greek. Some Greeks thought that new ideas were a better way to acquire happiness than religion. Hellenistic philosophy placed a strong emphasis on finding satisfaction and inner peace. For example, stoicism held that all people's fates were predetermined by divine reason (Logos), which ruled the cosmos. Thus, happiness came from learning to live with life and accept one's fate while eschewing intensely unpleasant feelings like dread and rage. The pursuit of pleasure, according to Epicureans, is the path to happiness as it prevents both mental and bodily suffering. Early in the third century BCE, the founders of these two philosophical schools—Zeno and Epicurus, respectively—lived and taught at Athens, which remained a hub of learning during this time. The Stoics got their name from Zeno teaching his students in the Athenian agora's stoa poikile, or "painted porch." As these towns were included into the growing Roman Empire, the mystery cults and philosophies of the Hellenistic age flourished.