Chapter 5: The Hellenis1c World
• Reading 5a: Hellenism and Indigenous Cultures
• Death of Alexander= End of Classical and beginning of Hellenis9c
(which ends with end of Antony and Cleopatra)
• In the following passage, Plutarch (a biographer of 1st-2nd century
A.D.) exalts that Alexander changed the world unlike philosophers
◦ Alexander brought Greek civiliza9on to barbarians and
united the world in one culture
• BUT, Plutarch fails to consider that popula9ons of
Greek ci9es in Asia were separate from the indigenous
peoples and colonial rulers retained the culture of
Hellenism
• Recall: Greco-Macedonian soldiers were against incorpora9ng
Persian tradi9ons
• ASer Alexander's death, all of his conquered land was divided
into three parts by three generals:
◦ Macedonia and Greece were ruled by the An9gonids
◦ Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemies
◦ Asia (including Persia) was ruled by the Seleucids
• Both the Greeks and Macedonians today want Alexander to be
their hero BUT, at the 9me of his death, many rebelled and felt
that Alexander was supressing the Greek way
• Hyrcanians, Arachosians, Sogdians, Susianians, Gedrosians,
Bactrians, Babylonians and Persians= ASIANS
• Alexandria (in Egypt), Seleuceia (in Mesopotamia), Prophthasia (in
Sogdiana) and Bucephalia (in India)= Greek ci9es in Egypt and Asia
Plutarch, on the Fortune and Virtue of Alexander the Great
1.328c-329d
• Alexander taught the:
◦ Arachosians to respect the bond of marriage
◦ Arachosians to 9ll the soil (i.e. no form of agriculture)
, ◦ Sogdians to support their parents (as opposed to kill them)
◦ Persians to revere their mothers (as opposed to take them
into wedlock)
◦ Indians to worship Greek gods
◦ Scythians to bury their dead (as opposed to devour them)
◦ Children of the Persians, Susianians and Gedrosians to chant
tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides
• Everyone in the Mediterranean world spoke Greek
(i.e. It was the language of the educated)
◦ Summary: Alexander civilized these people
• Plutarch creates a highly racial descrip9on of all non-
Greek peoples
• Socrates lost his cause to invaders of Athens BUT, Alexander
taught Bactria and Caucasus to revere Gods of the Greeks
• Plato wrote One Ideal Cons,tu,on that wasn't well received BUT,
Alexander established 70+ ci9es among savage tribes and sowed
all Asia with Greek magistrates
◦ Few have read Plato's Laws BUT, all have made use of
Alexander's laws
• Those who Alexander killed are happier than those who escaped
him
◦ Those killed by him were lead to a happy life while those
who escaped had no one to put an end to the wretchedness
of their existence
• Alexander's establishment of Greek ci9es in Asia ex9nguished
their savagery
• Philosophers civilize and render adaptable the intractable and
untutored elements in human character and so, Alexander is a
very great philosopher
• Zeno- Persuaded Diogenes the Babylonian to be a philosopher
◦ Republic of Zeno- Founded the Stoic sect; Believed that
everyone should be of one community and one polity
◦ Zeno had the dream BUT, Alexander gave effect to the idea
• Alexander didn't follow Aristotle's advice to treat the Greeks as if
he were their leader and others as if he were their master
◦ I.e. Treat Greeks as friends, but others as animals/plants
• Reading 5a: Hellenism and Indigenous Cultures
• Death of Alexander= End of Classical and beginning of Hellenis9c
(which ends with end of Antony and Cleopatra)
• In the following passage, Plutarch (a biographer of 1st-2nd century
A.D.) exalts that Alexander changed the world unlike philosophers
◦ Alexander brought Greek civiliza9on to barbarians and
united the world in one culture
• BUT, Plutarch fails to consider that popula9ons of
Greek ci9es in Asia were separate from the indigenous
peoples and colonial rulers retained the culture of
Hellenism
• Recall: Greco-Macedonian soldiers were against incorpora9ng
Persian tradi9ons
• ASer Alexander's death, all of his conquered land was divided
into three parts by three generals:
◦ Macedonia and Greece were ruled by the An9gonids
◦ Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemies
◦ Asia (including Persia) was ruled by the Seleucids
• Both the Greeks and Macedonians today want Alexander to be
their hero BUT, at the 9me of his death, many rebelled and felt
that Alexander was supressing the Greek way
• Hyrcanians, Arachosians, Sogdians, Susianians, Gedrosians,
Bactrians, Babylonians and Persians= ASIANS
• Alexandria (in Egypt), Seleuceia (in Mesopotamia), Prophthasia (in
Sogdiana) and Bucephalia (in India)= Greek ci9es in Egypt and Asia
Plutarch, on the Fortune and Virtue of Alexander the Great
1.328c-329d
• Alexander taught the:
◦ Arachosians to respect the bond of marriage
◦ Arachosians to 9ll the soil (i.e. no form of agriculture)
, ◦ Sogdians to support their parents (as opposed to kill them)
◦ Persians to revere their mothers (as opposed to take them
into wedlock)
◦ Indians to worship Greek gods
◦ Scythians to bury their dead (as opposed to devour them)
◦ Children of the Persians, Susianians and Gedrosians to chant
tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides
• Everyone in the Mediterranean world spoke Greek
(i.e. It was the language of the educated)
◦ Summary: Alexander civilized these people
• Plutarch creates a highly racial descrip9on of all non-
Greek peoples
• Socrates lost his cause to invaders of Athens BUT, Alexander
taught Bactria and Caucasus to revere Gods of the Greeks
• Plato wrote One Ideal Cons,tu,on that wasn't well received BUT,
Alexander established 70+ ci9es among savage tribes and sowed
all Asia with Greek magistrates
◦ Few have read Plato's Laws BUT, all have made use of
Alexander's laws
• Those who Alexander killed are happier than those who escaped
him
◦ Those killed by him were lead to a happy life while those
who escaped had no one to put an end to the wretchedness
of their existence
• Alexander's establishment of Greek ci9es in Asia ex9nguished
their savagery
• Philosophers civilize and render adaptable the intractable and
untutored elements in human character and so, Alexander is a
very great philosopher
• Zeno- Persuaded Diogenes the Babylonian to be a philosopher
◦ Republic of Zeno- Founded the Stoic sect; Believed that
everyone should be of one community and one polity
◦ Zeno had the dream BUT, Alexander gave effect to the idea
• Alexander didn't follow Aristotle's advice to treat the Greeks as if
he were their leader and others as if he were their master
◦ I.e. Treat Greeks as friends, but others as animals/plants
