{"id":115,"date":"2020-05-11T17:03:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T17:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-hum140\/?post_type=chapter&p=115"},"modified":"2020-09-18T18:18:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T18:18:45","slug":"hellenistic-culture","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-hum140\/chapter\/hellenistic-culture\/","title":{"raw":"1.5: Hellenistic Culture","rendered":"1.5: Hellenistic Culture"},"content":{"raw":"

The period of Greek history spanning the end of the fourth century up to the Roman conquest of Greece is now called the\u00a0Hellenistic Age<\/strong>. During this time, the Greeks' fortunes went south\u2014or, more precisely, north\u2014as feverish in-fighting gripped their land. After Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War at the end of the Classical Age, only a few decades later the Thebans turned the tables on the Spartans at\u00a0Leuctra<\/a>\u00a0and destroyed their leadership. Finally, when all three at last agreed to collaborate, they collectively fell to\u00a0Philip II of Macedon<\/strong>\u00a0at\u00a0Chaeronea<\/a>\u00a0in 338 BCE. It was all very depressing, and it would have been more so, were it not for a booming economy.<\/p>\r\n

While the Greeks of the Classical Age had steered the way into the modern age\u2014they had, after all, introduced to the world an astonishing variety of advancements including, among other things, philosophy, drama and, above all, democratic government\u2014their descendants in the post-Classical period gradually lost their forebears' dominion over the arts and sciences and, worst of all, their freedom to outsiders. At the same time, however, these children of the Classical Age were in general living better, longer and, especially, richer lives, more so than any of their predecessors. Still, to judge from their art and literature, these latter-day Greeks weren't on the whole a jolly lot, proving that money doesn't make a person happy, not all on its own at least.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Architecture in the Hellenistic Period<\/h2>\r\nArchitecture during the Hellenistic period focused on theatricality and drama; the period also saw an increased popularity of the Corinthian order.\r\n\r\nArchitecture in the Greek world during the Hellenistic period developed theatrical tendencies, as had Hellenistic sculpture. The conquests of Alexander the Great caused power to shift from the city-states of Greece to the ruling dynasties. Dynastic families patronized large complexes and dramatic urban plans within their cities. These urban plans often focused on the natural setting, and were intended to enhance views and create dramatic civic, judicial, and market spaces that differed from the orthogonal plans of the houses that surrounded them.\r\n\r\nArchitecture in the Hellenistic period is most commonly associated with the growing popularity of the Corinthian order. However, the Doric and Ionic orders underwent notable changes. Examples include the slender and unfluted Doric columns and the four-fronted capitals on Ionic columns, the latter of which helped to solve design problems concerning symmetry on the temple porticos.\r\n\r\nPergamon<\/strong> was the capital city of the Kingdom of Pergamon, which was ruled by the Attalids in the centuries following the death of Alexander the Great.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"520\"]\"This Scale model of Pergamon<\/strong> as it might have looked in antiquity: Center left: Theatre of Pergamon. Center right: Altar of Zeus. Pergamon Museum, Berlin.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Acropolis of Pergamon<\/strong> is famous for its monumental architecture. Most of the buildings command a great view of the surrounding countryside and together create a dramatic public space.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"521\"]\"This Theater of Pergamon<\/strong>: The theater at Pergamon could seat 10,000 people and was one of the steepest theaters in the ancient world.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Altar of Zeus at Pergamon<\/strong> was a monumental u-shaped Ionic building that stood on a high platform and was accessed by a wide set of stairs. Besides its dramatic architecture, the altar is known for its Gigantomachy frieze and sculptures of defeated Gauls.\r\n
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"565\"]\"This Altar of Zeus: Originally from Bergama, Turkey, the altar is now in Berlin, Germany.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Sculpture in the Hellenistic Period<\/h2>\r\nA key component of Hellenistic sculpture is the expression of a sculpture\u2019s face and body to elicit an emotional response from the viewer.\r\n\r\nHellenistic sculpture continues the trend of increasing naturalism seen in the stylistic development of Greek art. During this time, the rules of Classical art were pushed and abandoned in favor of new themes, genres, drama, and pathos that were never explored by previous Greek artists.\r\n\r\nFurthermore, the Greek artists added a new level of naturalism to their figures by adding an elasticity to their form and expressions, both facial and physical. These figures interact with their audience in a new theatrical manner by eliciting an emotional reaction from their view\u2014this is known as pathos.\r\n\r\nThe Gigantomachy frieze represents the full blossoming of Hellenistic sculpture. The figures are dramatic, and the scenes are full of tension. They are carved in high relief with deep drilling that allows for a play of light and shadows that increases the naturalism of the figures.\r\n
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"542\"]\"This Nereus, Doris, a Giant, and Oceanus<\/strong>: Located on the north frieze of the Altar of Zeus, Bergama, Turkey, e. c. 175 BCE. The high relief and deep drilling of the figures also increases the liveliness and naturalism of the scene.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe statue group of the Dying Gauls depicts a defeated trumpeter and a Gallic chief killing himself and his wife. The figures, while enemies of Pergamon, are depicted with incredible pathos and heroics to demonstrate their worthiness as adversaries and empower the Attalid victors.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"547\"]\"This Dying Gaul<\/strong>: This is a Roman marble copy of the Greek bronze original by Epigonos, c. 230\u2013220 BCE, in Pergamon, Turkey.[\/caption]\r\n

Literature<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nIn\u00a0literature<\/a>, just as in the arts, one finds a combination of novelty and commonplace types and themes. In the\u00a0New Comedy<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0Athens<\/a>, of which\u00a0Menander<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a0342\u2013c.<\/em>\u00a0292\u00a0BCE) was the leading exponent, the theme is no longer fantasy but real life. The plays are not uproarious, as those of\u00a0Aristophanes<\/a>\u00a0can be, but they are filled with quiet good humour. Besides Menander, there was\u00a0Herodas<\/a>\u00a0(3rd century\u00a0BCE), who in his\u00a0Mimiambi<\/em>\u00a0(Mimes<\/a><\/em>) sketched episodes from life. The philosopher\u00a0Theophrastus<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a0372\u2013c.<\/em>\u00a0287\u00a0BCE) produced a minor masterpiece,\u00a0Characters<\/em>, in which he depicted some 30 sketches of questionable character types such as the Stupid Man, who cannot remember where he lives, and the Tactless Man, who makes a misogynistic speech at a wedding.\r\n\r\nSome writers took a deeper interest in\u00a0psychology<\/a>. The poet\u00a0Apollonius of Rhodes<\/a>\u00a0(b.\u00a0c.<\/em>\u00a0296\u00a0BCE) wrote an epic on the\u00a0Argonauts<\/a>, in which he closely observed the psychology of\u00a0Medea<\/a>\u00a0at her first experience of love; his sensitive and\u00a0romantic<\/a>\u00a0rendition influenced the Roman poet\u00a0Virgil<\/a>\u00a0in his portrayal of the ill-fated love between\u00a0Dido<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Aeneas<\/a>.\u00a0Theocritus<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a0300\u2013c.<\/em>\u00a0260\u00a0BCE), who came from\u00a0Sicily<\/a>\u00a0but lived mostly in\u00a0Cos<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Alexandria<\/a>, examined in his second idyll the love-hate relationship of a girl to her unfaithful lover. The world of Theocritus is a world of pastoral\u00a0artifice<\/a>\u00a0having little to do with the real hardships of country life, but the details are exquisitely noticed.\r\n\r\nAlexandria was noted for its learning. The poet\u00a0Callimachus<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a0305\u2013c.<\/em>\u00a0240\u00a0BCE), who was attached to the city\u2019s\u00a0famous library<\/a>, wrote\u00a0poetry<\/a>\u00a0of polished craft and\u00a0allusive<\/a>\u00a0scholarship. His great work\u00a0Aetia<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cCauses\u201d) is a rare miscellany, a long poem made up of short sections. Callimachus, immensely influential, has quality.\r\n\r\nThe major contributions to prose literature fall in the Roman period, though the\u00a0novel<\/a>\u00a0developed earlier in Alexandria. Ingenious and exciting plots are combined with\u00a0stereotyped<\/a>\u00a0characters.\u00a0Longus<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0Daphnis and Chloe<\/em>\u00a0is perhaps the best of such works of prose fiction. Another important development was the\u00a0rhetoric<\/a>\u00a0of the movement known as the\u00a0Second Sophistic<\/a>, which belongs mainly to the 2nd century\u00a0CE. Its finest practitioner was\u00a0Dio Chrysostom<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a040\u2013c.<\/em>\u00a0110\u00a0CE).\u00a0Herodes Atticus<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a0101\u2013177\u00a0CE) and the flowery\u00a0Marcus Antonius<\/a>\u00a0Polemon (c.<\/em>\u00a088\u2013144\u00a0CE) had much influence; more survives from the dull, Athens-loving hypochondriac Publius Aelius Aristides (c.<\/em>\u00a0117\u2013after 181\u00a0CE) and the\u00a0facile<\/a>\u00a0Maximus of\u00a0Tyre<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a0125\u2013185\u00a0CE). Greater than any of these is the Syrian\u00a0Lucian<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a0120\u2013after 180\u00a0CE), a satirist and brilliant entertainer, who spared neither gods nor humans.\r\n\r\nOther writers, worthy enough, must receive passing mention: they are the geographers\u00a0Strabo<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a064\u00a0BCE\u2013after 21\u00a0CE) and\u00a0Ptolemy<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Pausanias<\/a>\u00a0(both 2nd century\u00a0CE), the historians\u00a0Diodorus Siculus<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Sicily<\/a>\u00a0(1st century\u00a0BCE),\u00a0Arrian<\/a>\u00a0(2nd century\u00a0CE),\u00a0Appian of Alexandria<\/a>\u00a0(2nd century\u00a0CE) and\u00a0Dio Cassius<\/a>\u00a0(2nd\u20133rd century\u00a0CE), the voluminous Jewish writers\u00a0Philo Judaeus<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Flavius Josephus<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a037\u2013100\u00a0CE), the vastly miscellaneous\u00a0Athenaeus<\/a>\u00a0(c.<\/em>\u00a0200\u00a0CE), the historian and teacher of\u00a0rhetoric<\/a>\u00a0Dionysius of Halicarnassus<\/a>\u00a0(fl. late 1st century\u00a0BCE), and the unknown writer (conventionally known as\u00a0Longinus<\/a>) of a major work\u00a0On the Sublime<\/em>\u00a0(1st century\u00a0CE), with his\u00a0acute<\/a>\u00a0observations about\u00a0Homer<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Sappho<\/a>,\u00a0Demosthenes<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Thucydides<\/a>, and even about \u201cthe Jewish lawgiver\u201d in\u00a0Genesis<\/a>, the first book of the Bible.\r\n

Philosophy<\/h2>\r\n
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\r\n\r\nHellenistic philosophy is a name for a variety of philosophical options which flourished in the period from the life of Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) to the late 2nd century CE.\r\n\r\nPhilosophy was one strategy for steadying oneself.... Consequently, the schools of Plato and Aristotle had lost prestige as a result of their increasingly specialized pursuits, seemingly so detached from the everyday concerns that motivated Socrates and their own founders. Many people were impatient with speculation and relied more on what their senses could tell them. People required philosophies that were portable, easily learned, and plainly engaged with the fortunes and misfortunes of everyday life. Eclecticism and syncretism (a combination of of varying philosophical perspectives\/schools) characterize Hellenistic culture as much as Greek domination.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Hellenistic philosophy can be broken down into four movements:<\/div>\r\n