Spread Of Greek Culture To The East example essay topic

Did Alexander and his successors "Hellenism" the East? Alexander the Great was born July 356 B.C. the son of Philip king of Macedon, who reigned from 359-336 B.C. until his assassination by Pausanias. During Philips reign he made Macedonia, of which he was sole ruler, into a international power, and conquered its neighbouring territories, and eventually became the most powerful force in the whole of Greece after the battle of Chaeronea and the defeat of Thebes and Athens, Philip formed the Hellenic League which was the beginning of his plans to conquest against Persia the reason for Philips plans to conqueror Persian and Eastern lands is unclear. It could be because the land was there to be conquered or it could be because Persian and the East was always seen as the Greeks ancestral enemy. As a young man Alexander was taught by Aristotle the ways of Philosophy, ethics and politics, this tutoring by the greatest mind of the period gave Alexander his desire in Greek Culture and the Greek way of life. Alexander was very intellectual, he was a superb general and had the thoughts of classical Greece culture that compelled him in his conquest and hellenisation of the East.

When Alexander came to the throne in 336 B.C. he secured his thrown and then he pursued his fathers dream of a crusade into Persia. The crusade began in 334 B.C. starting in Asia Minor then downwards through Syria and Palestine to Egypt here he conquered the Ptolemaic empire, then he went East as far as India, Alexander's conquest of the East was a complete success however on his return home he caught a fever and died 323 B.C. After his death there was rivalry which tore his kingdom into three regions, Egypt, Macedonia and Asia each ruled by a Macedonian general's descendant. In this way his successors could not maintain the Greek control of the newly conquered empire as it was after Alexander's conquest but the spread of Hellenism was noticeable to a certain extent in all parts of the East that saw the Greek invasions. Alexander's role can be seen as the founder of Greek cities and of Greek heroic ideal. The term Hellenism refers to both the period of time and the domination of Greek culture that was spreading into the East and to be Hellenised was to become Greek and have a Greek life.

During Alexander's reign I think the most important part of hellenisation of the East is the fact that borders and cultural differences between the countries he conquered were partly erased, this can be seen in many aspects in all the countries conquered and by the way the Seleucid empire took control of the East, unifying all the territories under one ruler and the again in the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt. The ways in which Greek culture was spread across the East was most notable by the conquest of Alexander, due to the fall of the East under him, trade and immigration increased dramatically and I think it is the most influential way of spreading Hellenism along with the establishment of cities by Alexander. Before the conquest the East under Persian rule was a place of exile for the Greeks and was seen as the ancestral enemy of the civilised world, but once under Greek control the East desired Greek trade, alike the Greeks who wanted new exotic Eastern goods. This helped to remove the cultural differences and spread Hellenism deep into the East with the desire for wine, oil, fish and other Greek goods that the East had not been able to acquire before, this trade was generally in return for Eastern grain which was needed all across the Mediterranean. The reasons for this increase in trade i believe is because of the way in which borders were removed and travel was permitted between country to country under the power of Alexander. This access to countries and new cities led to a massive amount of local immigration from the countryside to cities this cut out the old tribal ties and individualism and spread the Greek idea's of urbanisation.

Immigration from the Mediterranean brought the East new ideas, in education, architecture, religion and made each city join up in a communication network from India to Italy. Thousands of Greeks left their homelands in search of finding fortunes in the East and greener more fertile lands. Some became government officials and administrators for the empire, or entered military service or farmed in military colonies, but the vast majority became city folk and went into hundreds of different professions. These immigrants were the way in which Greek life style was spread to the East, the things that the Greeks brought with them and that the people of the East liked or wanted were absorbed into there lives, such as nude athletics, philosophy and poetry along with the spread of Greek language. The spread of religion is a major factor in the Hellen ising of the Eastern world, before Alexander religions in the East outside of the Greek empire tended to be either local, tribal or national but with the increased migration of Mediterranean Greeks, trade and communication between the East and west, we begin to see the frontiers of religion expanding.

Religion was transferred both ways from the Greeks to the East and from the East to the Greeks, the Greek gods were sometimes worshiped in the East such as Zeus was sometimes seen as the universal god. Dionysus was spread as far as the Indus Valley, and the Hebrews worshiped Dionysus under the name of Sabazios. ".. some Hebrews outside of Judah who worshiped Dionysus"#. The Syrians worshipped another Greek god Atargatis as there greatest of goddesses. This spread of religion in my opinion is a sign of Hellenism in the East which was absorbed into there culture, and could not be removed by the destruction of Greek political authority over the region after the death of Alexander, I think it is a choice that the people took, and that it wasn't forced upon them but they saw something in the religion that they needed or that they believed would help them in there lives. The spread of religion was a two way thing, the lower classes found middles Eastern religions far better at explaining of their world than the Olympic gods had, while the Greek gods could be seen as useful for celebrations and public ceremonies. However Greek religion can be seen to have spread into the East, this is in general only due to the architecture of the temples build by Alexander and his successors, in fact it is most common that the local deities of the areas tended to be worshiped instead of the Greek gods and that the architecture of the temples were just there because the Greeks had built them.

Education and the interest in Science philosophy and astronomy is a sign of the success of the Hellenisation of the East, this can be seen by the great libraries in Pergamum and Alexandria and the way in which they were transformed into the intellectual centres of the whole Greek and Roman empires, "Athens remained a famous centre of philosophy, but Pergamum and Alexandria rose to eclipse Athens as intellectual and commercial centres" # Alexander set up Greek styled cities across the East for several reasons, these Greek settlements would firstly act as economic and commercial centres for the local populations which prior to these cities had no central authority to give them an imperial administration network, they acted to govern over the territories and to hopefully change the population into Greeks to make them easier to control. They had public institutions, government buildings such as gymnasiums and temples. The aristocracy of these new Greek cities were mostly veterans from the armies of Alexander. All these Hellenised Greeks brought with them Greek culture which had an affect on the local population, and spread the way of Hellenism through the countryside.

The cities also worked as a vast communication network from India to Italy, this led to increased trade between cities and immigration that helped the spread of new idea's, religions and solved a lot of territorial tribal conflicts that had previously taken place in the East in a two way thing between Greeks and people of the East. Greek style of architecture could be seen all across the East, it was not Greek alone but could be seen as Greek with an Eastern influence. These cities that Alexander established were of Greek style and were generally put in places that had not polis styled city to govern over the local populace, the cities included everything that can be seen in any Mediterranean Greek city, the gymnasium, theatres, temples and administrative buildings. Hellenism can be seen in the East by the use of "Attic Standard"# coinage in the Seleucid empire after Alexander's death. And by the way that even after Alexander's death the mints to produce coins he had built were still in use. This does not mean that Alexander and Hellenism introduced coinage to the East but shows me that Greek style coinage was still in effect in the East after Alexander's death.

During Alexander's conquest of the East he founder many cities, there are several reasons for him doing this, firstly as rewards to his veterans, it was normal for a reward of a plot of land from a general to his soldier. Secondly to form an economic and commercial centre for an area that previously did not have one and to govern over the land. Thirdly a city could be founded as either a frontier post like Alexandria Esc hate, or as a fortified city on virgin Lands like Ai Khanoum. Finally a city may be established on a trade route or important route as a stopping point to restock and rest or for changing horses or for the economic value for local communities to have a settlement on that particular route, as having control of a trade route could bring in taxes. Art in the Hellenistic period can be seen as a "fusion of Greek and oriental elements"# and as this quote shows is affected by both Eastern and Greek styles, this can be seen in architecture, pottery, sculptures and in ceremonial ornaments across the whole Greek empire.

"Realistic portraiture is of course, one of the most important manifestations of art in Hellenistic times"# this can be seen all across the Eastern world with statues in many buildings such as temples and libraries. Pictures, portraits, mosaics and pottery help define this new style of realistic art. Hellenistic art also had a huge effect on religion, and can be seen in temples and sanctuaries. Hellenism was a two way thing, it was the spread of Greek culture to the East but in reality the Greeks learnt from the East as well. This can be seen in religion, both the Greeks and the East learnt from each other, and worshiped each others gods. It can also be seen by the clothing of the East both Greeks and Eastern peoples dressed in each others styles, for example Alexander did so in Persia expressing him as not just ruler of Persia but making Persia part of his empire.

Greek language was seen as the language of the intellectual all across Alexander's empire. Greek displaced Aramaic as the dominant language in the Eastern Mediterranean within two or three centuries of Alexander's death. The Greek language was used all over the East to the furthest reaches of the Seleucid Empire it was costly to be educated in the language and the upper classes were generally the only people to speak Greek however it was still used, but the old local languages previously used were still the dominant languages. The most Hellenised area of the East was in my opinion the near East, the reason for this I think is the fact that its closer to Greece and had come into contact with the Greeks culture before the conquests of Alexander. Asia Minor was under Greek control prior to the Persian invasions and had adopted Greek culture. Hellenisation of the near East was in my opinion far more advanced than the middle and far East due to trade and immigration and by the settlement of Greeks in the regions of Egypt and Asia Minor.

In my opinion the East was not really Hellenised, the points I have brought up in this essay about aspects of Hellenisation in the East can be seen as a desire of the countries conquered absorbing parts of Greek culture that they wanted or needed, I do not think it is possible to say that they lived a Greek life by which to be Hellenised means. .".. had little to do with the migration of Macedonian institutions to distant places"# this quote shows me that the Hellenisation wasn't affecting the local populations, but in fact the Greeks that now colonized land that had never seen or had Greeks before. I also think that after Alexander's death and the rise of the Seleucid empire and Ptolemaic empire in the East Hellenism was still apparent but I think that Greek life was not apparent in the East, only certain aspects of it were, so I do not think that the East was Hellenised.

Bibliography

Hellenistic History & culture by Peter Green From Samarkand to Sardis by Susan Sherwin-white Alexander the Great by Richard Stoneman web web.