The Hellenistic Age

A detailed Summary of The Hellenistic Age

"Men of Lacedaemon, I am convinced indeed that no one would venture to deny that the slavery of Greece owes its origin to the kings of Macedonia"1. Thus spoke Chlaeneas the Aetolian in his speech delivered at Sparta in 210 BC, in the hope of convincing the ever hesitating Spartans to take the side of the Aetolian League in the Macedonian wars.

And indeed, the political situation of the Greek city-states didn't resemble that of the fifth century BC, when the Greek hoplite stood victorious against the vast armies of Persia and even influenced the succession of the kings of the Persian Empire2.

The basic unit of politics in Ancient Greece was the polis, the city-state. "Politics" literally means "the things of the polis." Each city was, at least in theory, independent, with supreme power in each city located within that city, although some cities were subordinate to others and some were wholly dependent of others. This meant that when Greece went to war (e.g., against the Persian Empire), it took the form of an alliance going to war. It also gave ample opportunity for wars within Greece between different cities.

In 338 BC, at the battle of Chaeronea Philip the II-nd of Macedonia defeated an alliance of the Greek states. This mark

Despite the fact that the confederations of Greek city-states somewhat managed to stem the influence of the Macedonians, and were even successful for a short while against the power of Rome, the final downfall of Greece was brought by the Romans. Starting with the second century BC. First Lucius Aemilius Paullus in 168 BC, than Lucius Mummius in 149 and finally Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 88 destroyed all hopes for independence. The Greek cities will never gain their former glory, but under the relative peace brought by the roman conquest thrived as cultural centers, and finally overcame their conquerors through culture.

Another result of the conquests of Alexander the Great and of Hellenism was that it opened vast areas for Greek emigration. The emerging Seleucid and Ptolemaic Egyptian kingdoms were in need of good administrators, soldiers and commanders, and were able to pay them handsomely. This new prosperity did not affect however the old Greek cities, where around 250 BC a serious economic decline occurred. It became easier for Greek citizens to flee from oppression and poverty and settle in these new emerging kingdoms than remain and fight for their homeland, the depopulation making it easier to gain control of Greece.

Also notably, the Hellenistic period saw the emergence of new religions and currents of thinking such as Zoroastrianism, cynicism, skepticism, stoicism and Epicureanism.

At political level the democracies of the city-states were replaced by more aristocratic regimes. As means of controlling them, the Macedonians placed oligarchies with troops to avoid revolt in the city-states. The wealth became mo

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Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Foreign