The Hellenistic AgeThe three centuries which followed the conquests of Alexander are perhaps the most thrilling of all periods of ancient history. This was an age of cultural globalization: in the third century BC, a single language carried you from the Rhône to the Indus. A Celt from the lower Danube could serve in the mercenary army of a Macedonian king ruling in Egypt, and a Greek philosopher from Cyprus could compare the religions of the Brahmins and the Jews on the basis of first-hand knowledge of both. Kings from Sicily to Tajikistan struggled to meet the challenges of ruling multi-ethnic states, and Greek city-states came together under the earliest federal governments known to history. The scientists of Ptolemaic Alexandria measured the circumference of the earth, while pioneering Greek argonauts explored the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic coast of Africa. Drawing on inscriptions, papyri, coinage, poetry, art, and archaeology Peter Thonemann opens up the history and culture of the vast Hellenistic world, from the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) to the Roman conquest of the Ptolemaic kingdom (30 BC). |
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Achaemenid Aegean Aetolian Aï Khanoum Alexander Alexandria Antigonid Antikythera mechanism Antiochus Antiochus III Archimedes army Asia Minor Athenians Athens Attalid Bactrian battle bronze Cassander citizens city’s civic Clearchus Clearchus of Soli coins conquest cult cultural decree dedicated Demetrius the Besieger dynasts early Hellenistic East eastern Epicurean Eratosthenes Eudoxus Figure Flamininus fourth century Galatians Greek cities Greek citystate Greek world Hellenistic history Hellenistic kingdoms Hellenistic kings Hellenistic monarchs Hellenistic period Hellenistic Priene Hellenistic world honour India inscription Iranian lands Larichus Lysimachus Macedon Macedonian Maeander mainland Greece Mediterranean Mesopotamia midthird century Mithradates modern Museum nonGreek northwest Olbia Orophernes Oxford Oxus Papyri Pergamon Persian empire Philip Priene Prieneans Protogenes Ptolemaic Egypt Ptolemaic kingdom reigned Rome royal rule rulers Saitaphernes sanctuary of Athena sculpture Scythian second century BC Seleucid kingdom Seleucid kings Seleucus status successor surviving Syria Teloneia temple territory third century BC treaty of Apamea University Press Villa western Asia Minor