Understanding the Hellenistic Culture of The Macedonian Empire

Time Period

The Hellenistic Period was a part of the Greek history that started from the death of Alexender the Great in 323 B.C.E and ended with the rise of Augustus in Rome in 31 B.C.E.

The Start of the Empire: Alexender The Great The Macadenoian Empire

Alexander the Great was conequror whose empire, The Macedonian Empire, strectched from Greece to far regions in Eastern European and Southern Asia, including India. Upon his death, he had no line succession to heed his vast empire, which resulted in his generals fighting for the remains of his empire. Eventually, the generals separated the region into several kingdoms. This caused Greek culture to spread far and wide changing the course of history for many countries and drastically impacting Greeks and their culture. The Macadenoian Empire

The End of Empire: the Battle of Actium The Macadenoian Empire

With the separation of a centralized empire to decentralized independent kingdoms came a power struggle between the kingdoms and rising powers in Rome. With the kingdoms relying only upon themselves to defend their land, there were looming threats of war with a new conqueror in Italy, Gaius Julius Cesear Augustus. He was the first emperor of the Roman Empire from 27 BC to 14 AD. He led the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. He defeated Cloepatra and Mark Anthony's armies in the Battle of Actium resulting in the siege of Egypt, ending the Hellenistic period and giving way to Roman Empire.

Characteristics of the Society

Thought

Honor
Academia
Warrior Society
Sports
Individualism

Religion
Arts
Technology

Religion

The Ancient Greeks follows a polytheistic religion. The gods were involved in several aspects of human life and describe the world around them explaining the rituals and traditions they practice to the weather and foods they have.
These gods were known as The Olympian Gods and these gods are seen in many famous literature such as The Odyssey.
The main three gods are called Zeus, king of Gods, Poseidon, ruler of the sea, and Hades, ruler of the Underworld
The religion heavily infused myths which described the relationship between Gods and man along with explaining how these gods control the world around them.
The ancient Greeks had rituals to honor the Gods. This included honoring the gods in temples, animal sacrifices made at altars, and more.

Hellenistic Judasim: Jewish people that lived in the Macadonian Empire adopted Greek religion and cultures
Dualism: People wanted to escape from the absolute power by the government. They sought to extend to another world, the Beyond, to seek freedom.
Cults: With greater access to more regions combined with war and monarchy, people began to form cults to find purpose and seek freedom
Dieties: Due to the vast size of the Macadonian Empire, dieties from other countries, such as Egypt, were introduced to Greece

Technology

Archimedes Screw: lifts water from a lower level for irrigation
Catapults: military invention utilizing torsion
Water Clock: measuring time more accurately than sundials by measuring the change of water level with a constant pump-out rate
Aeolipile: early steam turbine

The city became a major center for scientific research
Euclid and Eratosthenes made significant scientific progress in the city

Arts

Realism
- Hellenistic art is often more naturalistc and expressive.
Emotional Expression
- Art during this time period depicted the extremes of emotion including suffering, sleep and old age
Sculpture
- Sculptures during this time period are incredibly dynamic and natural providing more realism within their scultptures.
Pottery
- Pottery became more colorful and were often used by elite
Architecture
- Kings commisioned several works of architecture in the main cities.
Jewelery
- Jewelery became detailed and used more expensive and diverse range of stones