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In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, [1] which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the Roman conquest ...
- Overview
- Alexander’s successors
Hellenistic age, in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 bce and the conquest of Egypt by Rome in 30 bce. For some purposes the period is extended for a further three and a half centuries, to the move by Constantine the Great of his capital to Constantinople (Byzantium) in 330 ce. Fro...
Nothing shows the personality of Alexander the Great more clearly than the way in which people who had seemed pygmies at his side now became leaders of the world he had left behind. Blood still counted: the only male relative, a mentally impaired, illegitimate son of Philip, was proclaimed king as Philip III Arrhidaeus (c. 358–317), together with Rhoxane’s son Alexander IV (323–310), born after his father’s death in August; both were mere figureheads. For the moment Antipater was confirmed in authority in Macedon and Greece. At Babylon power was shared by two senior officers, Perdiccas (c. 365–321) and Craterus (c. 370–321). By common consent, Alexander’s ongoing plans were abandoned. His generals had to be content with the office of governor. Antigonus Monophthalmos (“The One-eyed”; c. 382–301), like Antipater, was not in Babylon at the time of Alexander’s death in 323. For almost 10 years he had been governing Phrygia and had shown himself a brave soldier and competent administrator. His firmness and tact were popular with the Greek cities. Of the generals in Babylon, it was Ptolemy (c. 367/366–283) who calculated from the first that the empire would not hold together. He secured for himself the governorship of Egypt, where he aspired to set up an independent kingdom. Lysimachus (c. 360–281) was given the less attractive assignment of governing Thrace. Two of the others, noted for their physical and military prowess, Leonnatus and Seleucus, waited on events. The soldiers discounted Eumenes of Cardia, who bore the main responsibility for civil administration, but he knew more about the empire than anyone else.
An uprising by Greek mercenaries who had settled in Bactria but wanted to return to Greece was crushed. Trouble in Greece, led by the Athenians and aimed at liberating the cities from Macedonian garrisons, was tougher to control. Sparta refused to participate, as did the islands, but a coalition of Athens with Árgos, Sicyon, Elis, and Messenia, supported by Boeotians, Aetolians, and Thessalians, was a formidable challenge to Antipater’s authority. For a time Antipater was hard-pressed in Lamía (the war of 323–322 is known as the Lamian War). Leonnatus intervened, nominally in support but in fact ambitious to usurp Antipater’s power; he was killed in action, however. In the end Antipater won, Athens capitulated, and Demosthenes (the voice and symbol of anti-Macedonian feeling) committed suicide. Antipater reestablished Macedonian authority autocratically, with no nonsense about a “free” League of Corinth.
The story of the jockeying for power during the next two decades or so is inordinately complex. First Perdiccas, governing in the name of the two kings with the support of Eumenes, was charged with personal ambition and was assassinated. The armies made Antipater regent (Craterus had been killed in battle), and Antigonus, with Antipater’s son Cassander (c. 358–297) as second-in-command, was placed in charge of the armies in Asia. Ptolemy was secure in Egypt; Seleucus (c. 358–281), governor of Babylon, and Lysimachus in Thrace continued to watch and wait; and Eumenes, a non-Macedonian with a fortune behind him, could claim to represent the kings against the ambitions of generals and governors.
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Ancient Greece
Then, in 319, Antipater died and was succeeded by a senior commander but maladroit politician named Polyperchon, who tried to win the Greeks of the mainland by a new proclamation of their liberties. The result was that the Athenians used their freedom to execute the pro-Macedonians, including the worthy but compromising Phocion. War flared up. Eumenes, allied with Polyperchon, challenged Antigonus and secured Babylon, but he was betrayed and killed in 316. Seleucus escaped to Egypt. Polyperchon’s position was weak, and he was soon ousted by the able, up-and-coming Cassander. In becoming master of Macedon and most of Greece, Cassander rebuilt Thebes and put the Aristotelian Demetrius of Phalerum in charge of Athens. Olympias, Alexander the Great’s terrible mother, had eliminated Philip III. Cassander had her put to death, while keeping Rhoxane and Alexander IV under his protection—or guard.
4 feb 2010 · The Hellenistic Age. Alexander’s empire was a fragile one, not destined to survive for long. After Alexander died in 323 B.C., his generals (known as the Diadochoi) divided his conquered lands...
- Missy Sullivan
- 3 min
28 apr 2011 · The Hellenistic Period is a part of the Ancient Period for the European and Near Asian space. The use of this period is justified by the extent of the Hellenic culture in most of these areas, due to the Greek political presence especially in Asia after Alexander 's conquests, but also to a new wave of Greek colonization.
- Antoine Simonin
Hellenistic age - Greek Culture, Expansion, Science: Notable cities were Alexandria, Antioch, Seleuceia, Pergamum, and Ephesus. Ptolemaic Egypt was under the rule of a Macedonian and Greek ruling class; Cleopatra VII was the first Ptolemaic sovereign to learn the Egyptian language.
Hellenistic Age, In the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, the period between the death of Alexander the Great (323 bc) and the conquest of Egypt by Rome (30 bc). Alexander and his successors established Greek monarchies that controlled the area from Greece to Afghanistan.
The Hellenistic Age marks the transformation of Greek society from the localized and introverted city-states to an open, cosmopolitan, and at times exuberant culture that permeated the entire eastern Mediterranean, and Southwest Asia.
