Women in Classical Antiquity by McClure Laura;

Author:McClure, Laura; [McClure, Laura K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781118413654
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (trade)
Published: 2019-03-29T00:00:00+00:00

8.3 The Spread of Hellenism

Alexander’s conquests established monarchy as the primary political institution, one largely unfamiliar to the Greek world, and established kingship as the model for subsequent generations. By the end of the third century, the Macedonian dynasty had disappeared and the Successors, Alexander’s rival generals, had assumed royal titles in an attempt to become sole ruler. Instead they established individual monarchies. From 275 BCE on, three kingdoms dominated the Eastern Mediterranean until the Roman conquests and were often at war with one another (see Map 2). The first and most powerful was that of Ptolemy I Soter (hereafter “Soter”), a Macedonian nobleman and a member of Alexander’s entourage, in Egypt, which lasted until the defeat of Cleopatra VII by Octavian. Seleucus I captured Babylon in 312 BCE, the largest of the three empires at its height. It extended from Western Turkey to Afghanistan, with Syria at its center. After a long struggle, the Antigonids controlled Macedonia from 276 BCE onward. Within two generations, all of the rulers of these kingdoms were related, much like many of the royal families in Western Europe today, and many shared the same names. The Successors did not attempt to expand the boundaries of their rule and enjoyed relative stability for almost a century, until around 200 BCE, when a power that had largely been ignored, Rome, began the annexation of the eastern Mediterranean with the goal of world dominion. Egypt would become its greatest prize.

Alexander’s conquests not only united disparate nations and diverse cultures, they also disseminated Hellenic culture across thousands of miles of the ancient Near East and even to India. Alexander founded numerous cities on his campaigns, naming many after himself. The most famous was Alexandria in Egypt, built on the harbor along the eastern stretch of the North African coast. The Seleucids created over 60 new settlements from Western Turkey to Iran. All of these cities were Greek. Both the rulers and governing classes were Greek and spoke a simplified or “common” form of ancient Greek as their official language. Greek literary forms, modes of thought, political and social institutions, and art and architecture predominated. The emergence of the Hellenistic kingdoms (Map 2), with their huge populations, signaled the decline of the small, independent Greek polis. The cumbersome democratic process was replaced by efficient autocracy. Cities relied on a system of patronage and public honors in which women also took part, much like Roman women centuries later.

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