Alexander "the Great" (356-323)

336 Becomes king
335 Suppression of Greek revolt
334 Expedition vs. Persia (Darius III)

333 Battle of Issus

• Capture of Darius’s family

• Founding of Alexandria
• Visit to oracle of Ammon

331 Battle of Gaugamela

• Takes Babylon, Susa, Persepolis
• Darius murdered by courtiers
• Adoption of Persian regalia

324 Death of Hephaistion
323 Death at Babylon

—> later "Alexander Romance"

The Hellenistic World (323-31 BC)

Hellenistic: Not Greek but quasi-Greek

"Successor Kingdoms"

• Egypt: Ptolemies
• Syria: Seleucis
• Macedonia/Greece: Antigonids
• Pergamum: Attalids

• Decline of polis as political focus
• Monarchy = centralization
• Bureaucracy & recordkeeping
• Large cities: Alexandria, Antioch

Melting-pot or fruit salad?

Hellenization of elites

• Greek as  language of power
• Spread of Greek institutions
• Theaters & drama
• Gymnasia
• Political institutions

Eastern Influence

• Oriental monarchy
• Ruler worship

"The other gods are far away
Or cannot hear, or are non-existent,
Or care nothing for us.
But you are here and visible to us:
Not carved in wood or stone, but real
So to you we pray."

  --Athenian hymn to Demetrius I

Case-Study: Greeks & Jews

Alexandria

• Greek-speaking Jewish community
• Septuagint: Gk. translation of OT
• Exagoge of Ezechiel Book of Exodus as Greek tragedy
• Philo (in Roman period): OT + Greek philosophy

Jerusalem

• Sources:
• OT Apocrypha: I-II Maccabees
• Josephus, Antiquities (1st c. AD)
• Hellenizers vs. traditionalists
• Antiochus IV: repression
• Book of Daniel: retrospective prophecy
• Revolt of the Maccabees