Hellenistic period
The
Helenistic period (4th - 1st c. BC), if the figures of
Alexander the Great and
Cleopatra are excluded, is relatively less known. It's often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decline or decadence, between the brilliance of the Greek
Classical Era and the strength of the
Roman Empire. However, the splendor of cities, such as
Alexandria,
Antioch,
Pergamon, the importance of foreign trade, cultural exchanges, and the dominant role of
Greek and its diffusion profoundly affected the face of the ancient
Middle East later under Roman dominion.
The Hellenistic era was defined by 19th century historians (the term "hellenistic" was first used by the German Historian
Johann Gustav Droysen in
Geschichte des Hellenismus in
1836 and
1843) as part of a linguistic and cultural criterion for the spectacular increase in the areas where Greek (ἑλληνίζειν /
hellênÃzein) was spoken, and therefore a term for the phenomenonal expansion of Hellenism. However, according to
Paul Veyne, the phenomenons of Hellenization of large regions and of the meeting of ancient Eastern and Western civilizations continued under the "Greco-Roman Empire." The chronological limits of the Helenistic period are therefore conventional and political: the era begins with the conquests of
Alexander the Great and ends when the suicide of the last great Hellenistic ruler, Queen
Cleopatra VII of Egypt, lead to the Roman conquest of Egypt.
Recent archaeological and historical work has lead to a reevaluation of the period, especially two specific aspects of it: the existence and stature of great kingdoms lead by dynasties of Greek or Macedonian Origin (
Ptolemiac,
Seleucid,
Antigonid,
Attalid, etc.) and the role of hundreds of cities whose importance, contrary to a long pervasive idea, was far from declining.
King of
Macedon at 20 years old, master of
Greece two years later,
Alexander the Great then began his brief reign â€" barely 13 years between 336 and 323 BC â€" the quickest and most spectacular conquest of
Antiquity. A kingdom that was all in all average, associated with a few
Greek cities, was able to defeat the greatest empire of the time period, the
Persian Empire of
Darius III. The
Achaemenid dynasty was conquered in four years (
334-
330) and in three battles, those of the
Granicus,
Issus, and
Gaugamela. The following three years, until
327, were devoted to the slow and difficult conquest of the
Satraps in
Central Asia and subsequently, until
325 to assuring the Macedonian domination of northeast
India. It was there that Alexander, under pressure of depleted troups, was forced to stop pursuing his expansion and returned to what had become the heart of his empire,
Mesopotamia.
In order to ensure the longevity of his power, he entrusted the ruling class of the former Achaemenid Empire with filling the administrative skeleton of his kingdom. He further attempted to create a monarchy bearing both a heritage that was in part Macedonian and
Greek but also
Persian and, more generally, Asiatic. The brutal death of the king, probably due to illness, at only 33 ended this original attempt, which had been acutely contested by his Macedonian entourage.
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Hellenistic civilization*
Hellenistic Greece*
Alexander the Great
