Table of Contents
After Alexander's death, his vast empire fragmented into smaller kingdoms, but Greek culture spread widely across the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East.
Political Landscape
The empire was divided among Alexander's generals (the Diadochi). Major Hellenistic kingdoms included:
- Ptolemaic Egypt (Ptolemies)
- Seleucid Empire (Seleucids)
- Antigonid Macedonia
Smaller Hellenistic states also existed in Anatolia and Greece.
Key Characteristics
- Cultural Fusion: Greek culture blended with Egyptian, Persian, and Near Eastern traditions, a process called Hellenization.
- Urbanization: Large, cosmopolitan cities such as Alexandria, Antioch, and Pergamon flourished as centers of trade, learning, and administration.
- Science and Scholarship: The Library of Alexandria became the most famous research center of the ancient world. Advances included:
- Euclid (geometry),
- Archimedes (engineering, mathematics),
- Eratosthenes (measured Earth’s circumference),
- Herophilus (anatomy).
- Philosophy: New schools emerged:
- Stoicism (Zeno)
- Epicureanism (Epicurus)
- Skepticism (Pyrrho)
- Art: More emotion, movement, and realism than in Classical art (e.g., the Laocoön Group, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Venus de Milo).
End of the Hellenistic Period
- The Hellenistic world gradually came under Roman influence.
- 31 BCE: Rome defeated the last Hellenistic kingdom, Ptolemaic Egypt, at the Battle of Actium.
- This marks the beginning of Roman domination in the Mediterranean.