Transitions

HUM 2051: Civilization IFall 2012

Dr. PerdigaoOctober 15, 2012

Eras• Greek: Hellenistic: Roman

• Hellenism in three stages: Hellenic (800 BCE to death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE), Hellenistic (323-30 BCE ends with fall of Egypt to Rome), and Greco-Roman (500 years, from Roman Empire to fifth century AD) (Perry 102)

• Hellenic (classical Greek) worldview: Greek and barbarian; with Hellenistic, move toward cosmpolitanism and universalism (beginnings of a type of multiculturalism) (Perry 103)

• After assassination of Philip of Macedon in 336 BCE, son Alexander took the throne

• Alexander, student of Aristotle—appreciation of Greek culture and Homeric epics

Eras• Continued cause of the Greeks against the Persians

• Philip had intended to protect hold on Greece; Alexander aspired to conquer Persian Empire

• Alexander sought invasion of Persia, crossed Asia Minor in 334 BCE, advanced to India; empire stretched from Greece to India (Perry 104)

• Alexander the Great as bringing West and East together, Mediterranean world under one rule with Roman Empire after his death at thirty-two (323 BCE)

Changing of the Guard• Shift from polis as center of political life (Perry 102)

• Kingdoms and empires eclipsing the city-state in power and importance (102)

• Redefining role of the individual to the larger world

• More complex understanding of the world

• Alienation and community—focus for Hellenistic philosophers (102)

• Good life not connected to the city

• From parochialism to cosmopolitanism and universalism, part of the world community (103)

Recentering• 275 BCE—Alexander’s empire fractured into three

dynasties: Ptolemies in Egypt, Seleucids in western Asia, and Antigonids in Macedonia; later Pergamum in western Asia Minor as fourth Hellenistic monarchy (Perry 104)

• Greatest city, representative of Hellenistic Age, most populous city in Mediterranean world, Alexandria, in Egypt, founded by Alexander as “hub of commerce and culture,” most populated (Perry 105); library and museum; developments in medicine, astronomy, mathematics

• Alexandria as “principle center of scientific research” (Perry 108) but Athens still reamined central

Legacies• Aristarchus, Alexandrian astronomer (310-230 BCE), said

sun was center of the universe and planets revolved around it but was not believed (Perry 109)

• Euclid, Alexandrian mathematician (c. 300 BCE), geometric proofs, two- and three-dimensional space

• Archimedes (287-212 BCE) studied at Alexandria, mathematician : pi; hydrostatics

• Catapults; siege towers; lighthouse

• Dissecting human corpses, diastolic and systolic blood pressure, nerves and nervous system

• New schools of philosophy, emphasis on morality, practical guidelines for living (Perry 109-110)

In the Wake of Plato• Epicureanism: Epicurus (342-270BCE); experience as derived

from experience and perception; happiness achieved when “free from pain” and “released from worry and fear,” increase in pleasure (but not hedonistic), still moderate (Perry 111-112)

• Stoicism: Zeno (335-263 BCE); “belief that the universe contained a principle of order, variously called Divine Reason (Logos), the Divine Fire, or God” (with God as fundamental force), “inner strength in dealing with life’s misfortunes” (Perry 112-13); natural law, law of reason underlying cosmos; equality for women, for all

• Skeptics: “attacked the Epicurean and Stoic belief that there is a definite avenue to happiness,” believing instead that “one could achieve spiritual comfort by recognizing that none of the beliefs by which people lived were true or could bring happiness” because “nothing could be known with certainty”; instead “suspending judgment” and alternate points of view “brings contentment” (Perry 114)

• Cynics: self-sufficiency, rejecting conventions of ordinary life, wealth and material comfort