World History

Unit 2: Civilizations of the Mediterranean World

Chapter 6: Greece’s Golden and Hellenistic Ages

14. Thu, Oct 17, 2013

Alexander grew up guided by Aristotle, among others; Aristotle inculcated in his student many of the principles of xenophobic Hellenic culture. In a startling break with his master and, for that matter, most of the Hellenic world, he threw this training and belief aside and envisioned a world without fundamental differences of people based on ethnicity. His thoughts were in many respects quite radical for his day, and one could fairly claim that he didn't sell them well enough that they could survive him. Nevertheless his vision, once articulated, continued to resonate down the ages with a variety of people. One can hear echoes of it even in the writings of St. Paul ("There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus"); they stand in strong contrast to some of the attitudes underlying the Chinese empire down to the twentieth century.

The source and the consequences of this mindset deserve some thought. They may seem in some ways obvious to us now, but in the long history of the world, they are the minority view. How did Alexander come to this remarkable vision of what was essential personhood, and how did he implement it?

• In a military and political context, what are the practical consequences of being undefeated? Alexander waged a series of campaigns and never lost a decisive battle. While this may seem to establish unquestioned dominance, what does never having to deal with adversity do to the political and military machine he created? We've all been told that confronting adversity and dealing with setbacks endows an individual with character. Can something similar be said for a culture as a whole?
• This period is marked by a distinct upsurge in the level of serious international trade. What does that do for the globalizing interests of an Alexander?
• We'll try to talk a little bit about the main Hellenistic schools of philosophy as they map to the Hellenic philosophical schools. Consider:
  • Cynics
  • Skeptics
  • Stoics
  • Epicureans
  These will be particularly important as we look into the Roman world next week. In most ways, the Roman intellectual and cultural world has to be seen as an outgrowth of Hellenistic culture.
• Hellenistic science, technology, and medicine were in most ways the wonder of the world at the time. They largely achieved what they did through a broad synthesis of international perspectives — allowing the range of perspectives of Egyptian, Babylonian, and Indian science and mathematics to fertilize one another. What do you make of this?

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