Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Era

Alexander the Great.

Before Alexander the Great ruled, King Phillip the II of Macedonia (382-336 BC) developed the Macedonian military and wanted to integrate all the Greek people in the Peloponnesian Peninsula and Asian Minor. In 338 BC, Phillip defeated all the city-states except for Sparta and the city-states sent men to him to help conquer the Persians. 

Alexander was to be the next king of Macedon and was tutored by Aristotle. His goal was to unite all of the civilized world under one Greek ruler. Alexander was not known as a brutal conqueror, and many kingdoms allowed him to take over and soldiers surrendered to his armies willfully. 

In 334 BC, Alexander conquered Asia Minor, and the next year he continued south, taking over Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and Egypt. After the Siege of Tyre in 332 BC, he invaded the Mesopotamian region and officially defeated the Persian Empire in 331. Alexander became the successor to the Persian Kingdom. 

As he pushed eastward, Alexander established cities and made it as far as modern-day India. Many people thought of Alexander as a god and on his coins there were often lightning bolts. In 323 BC, Alexander the Great died, leaving his conquests to be fought over for four decades after his death. The successor kingdoms of his empire are known as the Hellenistic Kingdoms, and his former generals were the new kings. The most prominent of the new areas were the Kingdom of Greece and Macedon, the Seleucid Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Egypt. 

Hippocrates.

This time period is known as the Hellenistic Period. During this period, scientists started studying medicine to try to get a better understanding of the human body. Hippocrates (460-370 BC) had at least 60 texts about medicine. He started Greek medical practices and many later scientists followed in his footsteps. Herophilus of Chalcedon continued these studies and even used criminals and live subjects. Notably, he was one of the first scientists to study the human nervous system. 

Hesiod’s “Theogony”

The Greek poet Hesiod.

In Ancient Greece, religion was connected to literature as well as the religious rites. Each city-state had its own religious rites. In the book “Theogony”, the muses are the source of men’s judgment and the history of the gods. Its author Hesiod thought the origin of all things was chaos, then came earth. Hesiod also believed in divine sanctions and thought that when heaven created men, it gave them good and evil at birth and the sources of good and evil are outside of man. 

Prometheus was chained by the god Zeus. However, after Zeus let him go, he tried to trick Zeus by giving him a meatless sacrifice. When Zeus was not fooled, Prometheus gave fire to men. In the “Theogony”, the gods created nature, rivers, the sun, the moon, and the stars through procreation. Zeus made the goddess Hecate, who men must placate through sacrifices and prayer. 

The Ancient Greek gods were thought to marry each other. Zeus married Themis, then he seduced Leto. She bore his sons Apollo and Artemis, then he married Hera. Needing the help of the sons of heaven to defeat the Titans, with whom he was at war, he rewarded the gods with positions and promises. 

War and conflict are basic to the gods of Mount Olympus, and no resolution of peace can be achieved. Zeus is the supreme god, but he is not omnipotent and often worries about being overthrown. Unlike in Hebrew literature, where God is seen as being all-knowing and only acts justly, the Greek gods often deceive each other and lie, and need sacrifices for their power. In ancient Greek literature, the gods represent mankind, they are sinful and often do harm to each other for their own personal benefit. 

Classical Greece Art, Drama, and Religion

Greek playwright Aeschylus.

Like many other components of Western civilization, drama and playwriting can be traced back to ancient Greece. Drama was invented during festivals which honored the god Dionysus. Each play had three playwrights and they each presented one part of a trilogy of tragedy dramas. 

One of the most well-known playwrights was Aeschylus (525-456 BC) who wrote more than 80 plays and half a dozen of them are still around today. A deeply religious man, he thought that gods could tempt men into evil and put men into morally impossible predicaments, in which whatever they did there would be punishment. Aeschylus’ play tells one of these situations: the king must defend his city, but his brother is among the attackers. So it is impious for him to flee or to fight. 

Sophocles is most famous for writing the character Oedipus. Similar to many of his other works, Sophecles describes Oedipus trying to escape a horrible fate or prophetically imposed on him by the gods. An entire trilogy of Oedipus describes how he desperately tries to escape his destiny but ends up fulfilling it anyway. 

Euripides was an extremely controversial playwright who was contemptuous and critical of the gods. Loathed by traditionalists, he was a skeptic and often put this into his plays. Many times, Euripides wrote plays disproving Greek myths and traditions. Despite this, Euripides is easier to follow, translates better into English, and his concept of a tragedy is closer to ours than the other playwrights. 

At the time, the most popular playwright was a traditionalist and comic called Aristophanes. He believed in religion and opposed popular rule. Gaining the people’s support, Aristophanes wrote various plays mocking Euripides and satirizing politicians instead of the general public. Hilariously, he won first prize for a play making fun of Euripides. 

In Greek culture, there was a heavy emphasis on buildings, vases, and statues. Although some modern historians say that the Greeks were a progressive and irreligious culture, the vast majority of the population were faithful to the gods and there were few radicals trying to destroy Greek mythology and tradition.