The Demise of Athens & Greece:“The Hellenistic World”

CIV 101-02Sept. 23, 2015

“The fall of Greece”

• Anyone who tries to blame this all on the sophists or rhetoric . . . Simply doesn’t understand history.– Some historians and philosophers lean that way.

After the Golden Age of AthensWAR

• Persian Wars (480-478 BCE)– Athens/Greece wins and ascends

• Golden Age of Athens/Greece (478-431 BCE)• The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE)– Sparta Wins– Corinthian War (395-387 BCE)• In order to win, Sparta cuts a deal with Persia• The rise of Macedon (355-336 B.C.E.)

– Here comes Alexander the Great

After the Golden Age of Athens• The Decline & fall of the Greek Polis (431-336

BCE)– Increased trade and Athenians/Greeks who moved

out of Greece “diluted” the Athenian/Greek Polis– Chronic warfare weakened all of Greece– Macedonia rose• Thought of themselves as Greek (lived on the

northern boarder• Controlled Gold mines; the money bought

cooperation and built their military

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic era (336 BCE-31 BCE)

• Philip formed all-Greek polis’s (except Sparta) into the Corinthian League, misleading the Greeks into thinking that Greece survived.

• Phillip was assassinated, but his young son, Alexander, was more than up to the task of ruling. – Educated by Leonidas and Aristotle– From 334 to 323 BCE, campaigned and took over

most of the Persian Empire and beyond.

Alexander’s Hellenic Empire, after Alexander

• Alexander left no heir, so his generals battled each other and split up his empire– Antigonid Greece• Firm control of Greece never established

– Seleucid Asia• Combines Greek and Macedonian influences, mostly

in the cities.

– Ptolemaic Egypt• Most stable. Run in a centralized way.

http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/images/05/MapHellenisticKingdoms.jpg

Some Great Hellenic Contributions

• Medicine– treats the heart as a pump and pulse as important for

diagnosis– Some advances in surgical procedures

• Philosophy: These will come back later in the Western world– Cynicism (Who? What?)– Skepticism (Who? What?)– Epicureanism (Who? What?)– Stoicism (Who? What?)

Cynicism

• Diogenes–Autarky (self-sufficency) as goal–If one never wants . . . One never lacks

Skepticism

• No primary figure listed in the text– Pyrrho, Timon, Arcesilaus, Carneades,

Aenesidemus, and Sextus Empiricus (not on tests)

• Autarky (self-sufficency) as goal• Doubt . . . , esp. of the senses, and

therefore, the quality of knowledge• (Descartes will later adopt this view)

Epicureanism

• Epicurus–Keep one’s needs simple•Abstain from sex•Be free of fear• Embrace free choice•Make many fast friends

Stoicism

• Zeno• avoid suffering by leading a life of apatheia--objectivity,

rather than not caring, and self control.• The Stoic's life should be based on reason and in harmony

with the universe. Instead of avoiding the community and its potential temptations, like ascetics, Stoics felt themselves to be part of a universal community of man– Nature and logic/reason rule– Duty – Virtue– God will work it all out– And nature and reason are God-like

New ComedyMenander

• Unlike Old Comedy, which parodied public figures and events, New Comedy features fictional average citizens and has no supernatural or heroic overtones.

• Thus, the chorus, the representative of forces larger than life, recedes in importance and becomes a small band of musicians and dancers who periodically provide light entertainment.

• https://www.britannica.com/art/New-Comedy

Science and Technology

–Aristarchus: Heliocentric theory–Eratosthenes: Measures the earth–Euclid: Geometry–Archimedes: buoyancy, gravity,

mechanics, hydrostatics, inventions.

Architecture

• The Corinthian column (and subsequent buildings)

Headed for a fall

• These fragmented empires will not be a match for Rome. Not enough coherence. Insufficient cultural sense of unity.Too few coalitions.

• Too many wars among themselves. • Between 148 BCE and 31 BCE, Rome conquers

all.