Chapter 4 - From the Classical to the Hellenistic World 400-30 B.C.E. - The Making of The West - HIST 1111

Lingua Franca

"The french tongue;" an international trade language A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages.

philosophy

"love of wisdom" - Break from mythology - Pre-Socratics (before socrates) philosophers explored what caused things like earthquakes to happen, and found natural not supernatural causes.

Socrates

Almost all we know about him is through his student plato. Socratic method - creating a dialogue where two people discuss a question. The goal is critically analysing beliefs in order to find what is true. - Dialectics - Critical self-examination

metaphysics

Philosophical ideas about the ultimate nature of reality beyond the reach of human senses. This was one of Plato's interests.

Ataraxia

Pleasure through the avoidance of pain. A state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquility; peace of mind. Enjoying the simple joys of life such as good food. Not the same as hedonism.

Realism

Real-like As if it existed in reality. A believable representation - even of mythological things. In contrast to idealism.

Old Market Woman

150-100 BCE • Hellenistic art included depictions of old men and women from the lowest rungs of society (they weren't suitable in earlier art) • Face is wrinkled, body bent with age, and her spirit broken by a lifetime of poverty • Social realism! • Old and ugly portrayals represent the social climate of the Hellenistic period—the highborn couldn't help but encounter the poor and foreigners (e.g. Gauls) on a daily basis

The Dying Gaul

230-220 BCE, Hellenistic, by Epigonos. Bronze original, marble is from 2nd cen. AD. Gual=barbarian (anyone not Greek). looks tortured and pained, can't hide anguish like a Greek hero can. he is realistic. has a mustache, rope collar, messy hair, make him look like a barbaric animal. unkempt. physical and emotional weakness and fragility.

Plato

A follower of Socrates who became Greece's most famous philosopher. Socrates' death helped make his follower Plato (429-348 B.C.E.) hate democracy. Plato, who became Greece's most famous philosopher of all time, started out as a political consultant supporting philosopher-tyrants as the best rulers, but their misdeeds performed against his advice convinced him that politicians could never avoid violence and greed. So, he turned to talking and writing about philosophy as the guide to life, establishing a school in Athens around 386 B.C.E. Called the Academy, it was an association of apparently only men studying philosophy, mathematics, and theoretical astronomy under the leader's guidance. It attracted intellectuals to Athens for the next nine hundred years, and Plato's ideas about the nature of reality, ethics, and politics have remained central to philosophy and political science to this day. Plato's interests included astronomy, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, and metaphysics (ideas about the ultimate nature of reality beyond the reach of the human senses). Plato wrote dialogues, to provoke readers into thoughtful reflection without prescribing definite beliefs. Nevertheless, he always maintained one essential idea based on his view of reality: ultimate moral qualities are universal, unchanging, and absolute. He emphatically rejected the relativism espoused by the Sophists. Plato's dialogues explore his theory that justice, goodness, beauty, and equality exist on their own in a higher realm. He used the word Forms (or Ideas) to describe the abstract, invariable, and ultimate nature of these ethical qualities. Moreover, he argued that the Forms are the only genuine reality. All things that humans perceive with their senses are only dim and imperfect copies of these metaphysical absolutes. Plato believed that humans possess immortal souls distinct from their bodies; this idea established the concept of dualism, a separation between soul (or mind) and body. Plato further explained that the human soul possesses preexisting knowledge put there by a god. Humans' present, impure existence is only a temporary stage in cosmic existence because, while the body does not last, the soul is immortal. Plato argued that people must seek perfect order and purity in their souls by using rational thought to control thoughtless and therefore harmful desires. People who yield to such desires fail to consider the future of their body and soul. The desire to drink too much alcohol, for example, is flawed because the binge drinker fails to consider the painful hangover that will follow. Plato presented his most famous ideas on politics and justice in his dialogue The Republic. This work, whose Greek title Politeia (pol-ee-TAY-uh) means "system of government," discusses the nature of justice and the reasons people should never commit injustice. Democracy, Plato wrote, fails to produce justice because people cannot rise above their own self-interests to knowledge of the transcendent reality of universal truth. Justice can come only under the rule of an enlightened oligarchy or monarchy. Plato's Republic describes an ideal society with a hierarchy of three classes distinguished by their ability to grasp the truth of Forms. Plato did not think humans could actually create the model society described in The Republic, but he did believe that imagining it was an important way to help people learn to live justly. The highest class in his envisioned hierarchy consists of the rulers, or "guardians," who must be educated in mathematics, astronomy, and metaphysics. Next are the "auxiliaries," who defend the community. "Producers" make up the bottom class; they grow food and make objects for the other classes. According to Plato's Republic, women can be guardians because they possess the same virtues and abilities as men, except that the average woman has less physical strength than the average man. To minimize distraction, guardians have neither private property nor nuclear families. Male and female guardians live in houses shared in common, eat in the same dining halls, and exercise in the same gymnasia. They have sex with various partners so that the best women can mate with the best men to produce the best children. The children are raised together by special caretakers, not their parents. Guardians who achieve the highest level of knowledge can rule as philosopher-kings.

materialism

A philosophical doctrine of the Hellenistic Age that denied metaphysics and claimed instead that only things consisting of matter truly exist. Hellenistic philosophers concentrated on materialism, the doctrine that only things made of matter truly exist. This idea corresponded to Aristotle's teaching that only things identified through logic or observation exist. Hellenistic philosophy was divided into three areas: (1) logic, the process for discovering truth; (2) physics, the fundamental truth about the nature of existence; and (3) ethics, how humans should achieve happiness and well-being through logic and physics.

Allegory of the Cave (Plato)

Allegory (extended metaphor) of the Cave written in "The Republic"- there is a cave in which many people sit facing the back of the cave. Behind them is a fire and actors and they see the shadows of them and think that that is life and is the truth. They then turn around and see the actors and the fire and that is one step of truth (light = truth) and then go back that would be denying the truth. The next step to discover truth would be to exit the tunnel and look at the sun (ultimate truth). The sun may be too bright because you are used to the dark, so you look at the reflection of the sun in the lake to make it less bright (the truth is too much so you look at something less bright which is less truthful.

Which of these was essential to the survival of the Hellenistic dynasties that emerged in the wake of Alexander's death? a. Close ties to urban elites b. Generous treatment of local populations c. The slave trade d. Marriage ties with elite Macedonian families

Close ties to urban elites The survival of these dynasties depended on their ability to create strong armies, effective administrations, and close ties to urban elites.

ruler cults

Cults that involved worship of a Hellenistic ruler as a savior god. The most revolutionary approach in seeking protection from Tychê's unpredictable tricks was to pray for salvation from deified kings, who expressed their divine power in ruler cults. Various populations established these cults in recognition of great benefactions. The Athenians, for example, deified the Macedonian Antigonus and his son Demetrius as savior gods in 307 B.C.E., when they liberated the city from an oppressive tyranny and donated magnificent gifts. Like most ruler cults, this one expressed the population's spontaneous gratitude to the rulers for their physical salvation, in hopes of preserving the rulers' goodwill toward them by addressing the kings' own wishes to have their power respected. Many cities in the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms set up ruler cults for their kings and queens. The Hellenistic monarchs' tremendous power and wealth gave them the status of gods to the ordinary people who depended on their generosity and protection. The idea that a human being could be a god, present on earth to save people from evils, was now firmly established and would prove influential later in Roman imperial religion and Christianity.

Cynic Philosophy

Diogenes of Sinope Reject all societal rules as reasons to be unhappy. Reject: - Societal rules - Possessions - Philosophy - Religion - Bathing - Etc.

Skeptic Philosophy

Doubt of arriving at ANY truth. Use of reason to critique other philosophy.

In the wake of Alexander the Great's death, the general Ptolemy was given authority over what region? a. Macedonia b. The Indus Valley c. Asia Minor d. Egypt

Egypt Ptolemy took the title of pharaoh and founded a dynasty that lasted nearly three hundred years. Alexander's successors divided his conquests among themselves. Antigonus (c. 382-301 B.C.E.) took over Anatolia, the Near East, Macedonia, and Greece; Seleucus (c. 358-281 B.C.E.) seized Babylonia and the East as far as India; and Ptolemy (c. 367-282 B.C.E.) took over Egypt. These successors had to create their own form of monarchy based on military power and personal prestige because they were self-proclaimed rulers with no connection to Alexander's royal line.

Stoic Philosophy

Founded by Zeno of Citium. Widely prevalent philosophy of the ancient world. Universalism - Humanity was one community - Natural law, law of reason. Plutarch: life of Alexander is an example of this philosophy. An appeal to the rational mind to maintain reserve and not give over to displays of emotion

Aristotle

Greek philosopher (384-322 B.C.E.) famous for his scientific investigations, development of logical argument, and practical ethics. After studying with Plato, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens. He taught his own life-guiding philosophy, emphasizing practical reasoning. Like Plato, he thought Athenian democracy constituted bad government because it did not restrict decision making to the most educated and moderate citizens. His vast writings have made him one of the world's most influential thinkers to this day. Aristotle's achievements included scientific investigation of the natural world, development of systems of logical argument, and practical ethics based on experience. He believed that the search for knowledge brought the good life and genuine happiness. His lectures covered biology, botany, zoology, medicine, anatomy, psychology, meteorology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, music, metaphysics, rhetoric, literary criticism, political science, and ethics. By creating a system of logic for precise argumentation, Aristotle also established grounds for determining whether an argument was logically valid. Aristotle's thought process stressed rationality and common sense, not metaphysics. He rejected Plato's theory of Forms and insisted that understanding depended on observation. He coupled detailed investigation with careful reasoning in biology, botany, and zoology. He collected information on more than five hundred different kinds of animals, including insects. His recognition that whales and dolphins are mammals was not rediscovered for another two thousand years. Some of Aristotle's observations justified inequalities characteristic of his time. He argued that some people were slaves by nature because their souls lacked the rationality to be fully human. Mistaken biological information led Aristotle to evaluate females as inferior on the grounds they were incomplete males. However, he also believed that human communities could be successful and happy only if women and men both contributed. In ethics, Aristotle emphasized the need to develop practical habits of just behavior in order to achieve happiness. Ethics, he taught, cannot work if it consists only of abstract reasons for just behavior. People should achieve self-control by training their minds to overcome instincts and passions. Self-control meant finding "the mean," or balance, between denying and indulging physical pleasures.

Septuagint

Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Greek was the widely spoken language of the mediterranean. This allowed non-hebrew speakers to read the hebrew scripture.

What was Alexander's strategy for ruling a vast empire? a. Imitate the Persians in all things. b. Keep an area's traditional administrative system in place while founding cities of Greeks and Macedonians in the conquered territory. c. Wipe out all existing institutions and replace them with Macedonian ones. d. Gain the support of the poor and use it to dominate the rich.

Keep an area's traditional administrative system in place while founding cities of Greeks and Macedonians in the conquered territory. This strategy was first revealed in Egypt and Persia.

In the wake of Alexander the Great's death, the general Antigonus was given authority over what region? a. The Indus Valley b. Macedonia c. Babylonia d. Egypt

Macedonia Antigonus I took control of Anatolia, the Near East, Macedonia, and Greece.

Which of these was among Plato's intellectual interests? a. Medicine b. Biology c. Mathematics d. Anatomy

Mathematics Plato's intellectual interests covered astronomy, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, and metaphysics.

Plato v. Aristotle

Modern science is a blend of platonic and aristotelian ideas. The scientific method is a combination of Plato's ideal forms what the mind conceives of - the hypothesis - which is then tested through observation and collection of data.

epigrams

Short poems written by women in the Hellenistic Age; many were about other women and the writer's personal feelings. No Hellenistic women poets seem to have enjoyed royal financial support; rather, they created their art independently. They excelled in writing epigrams, short poems in the style of those originally used on tombstones to remember the dead. Highly literary poems by women from diverse regions of the Hellenistic world still survive. Many epigrams were about women, from courtesans to respectable matrons, expressing the writer's personal feelings. No other Hellenistic literature better conveys the depth of human emotion than the epigrams written by women poets.

Koine

The "common" or "shared" form of the Greek language that became the international language in the Hellenistic period. Cultural transformations also shaped Hellenistic society. Wealthy non-Greeks increasingly adopted a Greek lifestyle to join the Hellenistic world's social hierarchy. Greek became the common language for international commerce and communication. The widespread use of the simplified form of the Greek language called Koine ("common") reflected the emergence of an international culture employing a common language; this was the reason the Egyptian camel trader stranded in Syria mentioned at the beginning of this chapter was at a disadvantage because he did not speak Greek. The most striking evidence of this cultural development comes from Afghanistan. There, King Ashoka (r. c. 268-232 B.C.E.), who ruled most of the Indian subcontinent, used Greek as one of the languages in his public inscriptions meant to teach Buddhist self-control, such as abstinence from eating meat. Local languages did not disappear in the Hellenistic kingdoms, however. In one region of Anatolia, for example, people spoke twenty-two different languages.

According to Plato, which of these was the only genuine reality? a. The existence of God b. The Forms c. Our own experiences d. That which we can perceive with our senses

The Forms According to Plato, the Forms are the only genuine reality. All things that humans perceive with their senses on earth are only dim and imperfect copies of these metaphysical, ultimate realities.

By the 350s B.C.E., which city-state's endless war making and collaboration with the Persians caused so much strife that the weakened Greek city-states could not fend off the Macedonians? a.Athens b.Corinth c.Sparta d.Thebes

The Greek city-states' continuing competition for power in the fourth century B.C.E. drained their resources. Sparta's attempt to dominate central Greece and western Anatolia by collaborating with the Persians provoked violent resistance from Thebes and Athens. By the 350s B.C.E., the Greek city-states had so weakened themselves that they were unable to prevent the Macedonian kingdom from taking control of Greece.

Stoicism

The Hellenistic philosophy whose followers believed in fate but also in pursuing excellence (virtue) by cultivating good sense, justice, courage, and temperance. The other most prominent Hellenistic philosophy, Stoicism, prohibited an isolationist life. Its name derives from the Painted Stoa in Athens, where Stoic philosophers discussed their ideas. Stoics believed that fate controls people's lives but that individuals should still make the pursuit of excellence their goal and participate in public life. Stoic excellence meant putting oneself in harmony with the divine, rational force of universal nature by cultivating good sense, justice, courage, and temperance. These doctrines applied to women as well as men. Some Stoics advocated equal citizenship for women, unisex clothing, and abolition of marriage and families. The Stoic belief in fate raised the question of whether humans have free will. Stoic philosophers concluded that purposeful human actions do have significance even if fate rules. Nature, itself good, does not prevent evil from occurring, because excellence would otherwise have no meaning. What matters in life is striving for good. A person should therefore take action against evil by, for example, participating in politics. To be a Stoic also meant to shun desire and anger while calmly enduring pain and sorrow, an attitude that yields the modern meaning of the word stoic. Through endurance and self-control, Stoics gained inner tranquility. They did not fear death because they believed that people live the same life over and over again. This repetition occurred because the world is periodically destroyed by fire and then re-formed.

According to Aristotle, true knowledge comes from what? Please choose the correct answer from the following choices, and then select the submit answer button. a. The renunciation of all material things b. The analysis of natural phenomena and logical reasoning c. The analysis of natural phenomena and logical reasoning d. The development of critical thinking skills through continuous questioning e. The contemplation of ideal forms

The analysis of natural phenomena and logical reasoning Plato's student Aristotle also thought that true knowledge was possible, but he believed that such knowledge came from observation of the world, analysis of natural phenomena, and logical reasoning, not from contemplation. The writings of Aristotle had a profound impact on the development of Western thought.

What significant conclusion did Aristarchus reach? a. The foundation of all matter is atoms. b. Species evolve over time. c. Life has existed for millions of years. d. The earth and planets revolved around the sun.

The earth and planets revolved around the sun. In taking this view, he argued against Aristotle's view that the earth was the center of the universe, but his ideas were eclipsed by the work of a later Hellenistic scientist, Claudius Ptolemy. Early in the third century B.C.E., Aristarchus was the first to propose the correct model of the solar system: the earth revolving around the sun. Later astronomers rejected Aristarchus's heliocentric model in favor of the traditional geocentric one (with the earth at the center), because conclusions drawn from his calculations of the earth's orbit failed to correspond to the observed positions of celestial objects. Aristarchus had assumed a circular orbit instead of an elliptical one, an assumption not corrected until much later.

Alexander the Great

The fourth-century B.C.E. Macedonian king whose conquest of the Persian Empire led to the greatly increased cultural interactions of Greece and the Near East in the Hellenistic Age. Alexander secured his rule by eliminating rivals and defeating Macedonia's enemies to the west and north with swift attacks. He forced the southern Greeks, who had defected from the alliance at the news of Philip's death, to rejoin. To demonstrate the cost of disloyalty, in 335 B.C.E., Alexander destroyed Thebes for having rebelled. In 334 B.C.E., Alexander launched the most astonishing military campaign in ancient history, leading a Macedonian and Greek army against the Persian Empire to fulfill Philip's dream of avenging Greece. Alexander's conquest of all the lands from Turkey to Egypt to the western edge of India while still in his twenties led later peoples to call him Alexander the Great. Alexander inspired his troops by leading charges against the enemy, riding his warhorse Bucephalas ("Oxhead"). Everyone saw him speeding ahead in his plumed helmet, polished armor, and vividly colored cloak. He was so intent on conquest that he rejected advice to delay the war until he had fathered an heir. He gave away nearly all of his land and property as gifts to strengthen ties with his army officers. Alexander aimed at becoming more famous even than Achilles; he always kept a copy of Homer's Iliad under his pillow — along with a dagger. Building on Near Eastern traditions of siege technology and Philip's innovations, Alexander developed even better military technology. When Tyre, a heavily fortified city on an island off the eastern Mediterranean coast, refused to surrender to him in 332 B.C.E., he built a massive stone pier as a platform for artillery towers, armored battering rams, and catapults flinging boulders to breach Tyre's walls. Knowing that Alexander could overcome their fortifications made enemies much readier to negotiate a deal. In his conquest of Egypt and the Persian heartland, Alexander revealed his strategy for ruling a vast empire: keep an area's traditional administrative system and religious practices in place while founding cities of Greeks and Macedonians in the conquered territory. In Egypt, he established his first new city, naming it Alexandria after himself. In Persia, he proclaimed himself the king of Asia and relied on Persian administrators. Alexander led his army past the Persian heartland farther east into territory hardly known to the Greeks. He aimed to outdo the heroes of legend by marching to the end of the world. Shrinking his army to reduce the need for supplies, he marched northeast into what is today Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Unable to subdue the local guerrilla forces, Alexander settled for an alliance sealed by his marriage to the Bactrian princess Roxane. Alexander then headed east into India. Seventy days of marching through monsoon rains extinguished his soldiers' fire for conquest. In the spring of 326 B.C.E., they mutinied, forcing Alexander to turn back. The return journey through southeastern Iran's deserts cost many casualties from hunger and thirst; the survivors finally reached safety in the Persian heartland in 324 B.C.E. Alexander immediately began planning an invasion of the Arabian peninsula and North Africa. He also announced that he wanted to receive the honors due a god. Most Greek city-states obeyed by sending religious delegations to him. Personal motives best explain Alexander's announcement: he had come to believe he was truly the son of Zeus and that his superhuman accomplishments demonstrated that he must himself be a god in a human body present among other human beings. Alexander died from a fever in 323 B.C.E. Unfortunately for the stability of his immense conquests, he had no heir ready to take over his rule; Roxane gave birth to their son only after Alexander's death. The story goes that, when at Alexander's deathbed his commanders asked him to whom he left his kingdom, he replied, "To the most powerful." Modern scholars express different evaluations of Alexander, ranging from condemning him as a bloodthirsty warmonger to praising him as a visionary creating a multiethnic world encompassing all cultures. The ancient sources suggest that Alexander had interlinked goals reflecting his restless and ruthless nature: to conquer and administer the known world with a new ruling class mixing competent people from all ethnic groups, to outdo the exploits and glory of legendary heroes, and to earn the status no living human had ever achieved — that of a god-man on earth. It is certain that Alexander's explorations benefited scientific fields from geography to botany because he took along knowledgeable writers to collect and catalog new knowledge. He had vast quantities of scientific observations and money for research dispatched to his old tutor Aristotle. Alexander's new cities promoted trade between Greece and the Near East. Most of all, his career brought the two cultures into closer contact than ever before. This contact represented his career's most enduring impact.

dualism

The philosophical idea that the human soul (or mind) and body are separate. Plato believed that humans possess immortal souls distinct from their bodies; this idea established the concept of dualism, a separation between soul (or mind) and body.

Epicureanism

The philosophy founded by Epicurus of Athens to help people achieve a life of true pleasure, by which he meant "absence of disturbance." One of the two most significant new Hellenistic philosophies was Epicureanism, named for its founder, Epicurus (341-271 B.C.E.). He settled his followers around 307 B.C.E. in an Athenian house surrounded by greenery — hence, his school came to be known as the Garden. Epicurus broke tradition by admitting women and slaves to study philosophy in his group. Epicurus's key idea was that people should be free of worry about death. Because all matter consists of tiny, invisible, and irreducible pieces called atoms in random movement, as Democritus had argued, death is nothing more than the painless separating of the body's atoms. Moreover, all human knowledge must be empirical, that is, derived from experience and perception. Phenomena that most people perceive as the work of the gods, such as thunder, do not result from divine intervention in the world. The gods live far away in perfect tranquility, ignoring human affairs. People therefore have nothing to fear from the gods. Epicurus believed people should pursue true pleasure, meaning an "absence of disturbance." Thus, people should live free from the turmoil, passions, and desires of ordinary existence. A sober life spent with friends and separated from the cares of the common world provided Epicurean pleasure. Epicureanism thus challenged the Greek tradition of political participation by citizens.

Which of these was a key factor in Athens's postwar economic recovery? a. Increased regional demand for slaves b. The discovery of gold outside Athens c. The rebuilding of its city walls d. The collapse of Sparta's economy

The rebuilding of its city walls Athens's postwar economy recovered as international trade was revived once its Long Walls, which protected the transportation corridor from the city to the port, were rebuilt and mining for silver to produce the city's coinage resumed.

Lyceum

The school for research and teaching in a wide range of subjects founded by Aristotle in Athens in 335 B.C.E. After studying with Plato, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens. He taught his own life-guiding philosophy, emphasizing practical reasoning.

The Rosetta Stone

a huge stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics, Greek, and a later form of Egyptian that allowed historians to understand Egyptian writing.

Macedonia differed from most Greek poleis in that it developed as a(n) a. democracy b. oligarchy c. theocracy d. monarchy.

monarchy Macedonia had strong ties to the Greek poleis, but the government there developed as a kingdom, not as a democracy or oligarchy.