Great Alexander did care for the Helenization ?

[akritas]

The conquests of Alexander the Great spread Hellenism (http://www.bartleby.com/65/he/Hellenism.html) immediately over the Middle East and far into Asia. After his death in 323 B.C., the influence of Greek civilization continued to expand over the Mediterranean world and W Asia. The wars of the Diadochi (http://www.bartleby.com/65/di/Diadochi.html) marked, it is true, the breakup of Alexander’s brief empire, but the establishment of Macedonian dynasties in Egypt, Syria, and Persia (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae) helped to mold the world of that day into a wider unity of trade and learning.

While the city-states of Greece itself tended to stagnate, elsewhere cities and states grew and flourished. Of these the chief was Alexandria (http://www.bartleby.com/65/al/AlxndriaEg.html). So great a force did Alexandria exert in commerce, letters, and art that this period is occasionally called the Alexandrian Age, and the end of Hellenistic civilization is generally set at the final triumph of Roman power in Alexandria in the 1st cent. B.C. Pergamum (http://www.bartleby.com/65/pe/Pergamum.html) was also prominent, and there were other cities of influence (e.g., Dura).

The bounds of the known world were extended by navigators, who learned, for example, about the North Sea. The upsurge of commerce brought a great increase of wealth to merchants and in general to the upper classes; this wealth was also reflected in a tendency toward the ornate and superimpressive in architecture, although town plans and buildings of the period have proportions and grace rarely excelled.

It should be noted, however, that the increase of wealth did not reach the poor, who in general were more impoverished than they had previously been.

Education, however, was much more widespread than ever before, and Greek was the fashionable language of the educated world. The result was a great increase of volume in literature and a tendency for writing to divide into popular literature for the wide audience and specialized writing for narrow, highly intellectual circles. The libraries of Alexandria and Pergamum were centers of literary criticism and the compiling of anthologies and catalogs.

The literature of the Hellenistic period has been stigmatized since the Renaissance as imitative and ponderous, but actually there was a great richness in some of the writing. Not only were there outstanding poets such as Callimachus and Theocritus but there were also new forms that emerged, such as the complicated but frequently charming romances and the works of Lucian. Similarly some of the finest—and some of the most familiar—ancient sculptures to survive to our day are Alexandrian (e.g., the Venus of Milo and the Dying Gaul).Philosophical disputation was popular among the educated, and the contributions of the Stoics and the Epicureans to the world were great.

The greatest contribution of the age was the preservation and enrichment of the Greek heritage for the use of Rome and succeeding civilizations. As Rome gradually overshadowed the Mediterranean world, the Romans learned much from the peoples they conquered, and Hellenistic civilization was absorbed rather than extinguished.

See studies by M. I. Rostovtzeff (3 vol., 1941), M. Hadas (1959), J. C. Stobart (3d ed. 1960), G. T. Griffith and W. W. Tarn (rev. ed. 1961), P. Grimal, ed. (1969), and F. E. Peters (1971).

source
http://www.bartleby.com/65/he/Hellenist.html

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Probably yes.
This is my first response in the Makedonika of the un-Hellene Professor Borza E..
Un-hellene not because of his opinion as about if the Hellenic origin of the ancient Macedonians but because of the morbid work in Makedonika( a Hellenic origin name)

TO BE CONTINUED.....

[Ptolemy]

From http://college.hmco.com/history/west/mckay/western_society/7e/students/outlines/ch04.html

I. Alexander and the great crusade to conquer Asia Minor
A. Alexander the King
1.The son of King Philip, Alexander vowed to conquer Persia, in retribution for its invasion of Greece.
2.Alexander became king in 336 B.C. and invaded Asia Minor in 334 B.C.
3.By 330 B.C., he had defeated the Persians and moved on to conquer the rest of Asia..
4.He then set out to conquer India.

I. Alexander's legacy
A. Alexander became a legend in his own time.
1. Historians still disagree over his character.
2. Some records show him as a violent and savage person.
3.The "philosopher-king" interpretation of Alexander is based on a misunderstanding of his intentions at a banquet in 324 B.C.
4.Throughout these campaigns he founded new cities and military colonies.
5.The practical result of his actions was to open the East to Hellenism.

B. The political legacy
1.After his death in 323 B.C., Alexander's empire was divided among four dynasties: the Antigonids, the Ptolemies, the Seleucids, and the Pergamenes; a kingdom of Bactria was founded in the far northeast.
2.In Greece the polis system was replaced by leagues of citystates.
3.The Hellenistic world was politically fragmented and constantly at war

C. The cultural legacy of Alexander
1.The colonies founded by Alexander and his successors brought many Greeks into Asia, thereby bringing East and West together; this culture is called Hellenism.
2.Over 70 cities were founded by Alexander, and his successors established at least 250 colonies--transforming the Mediterranean basin into a Greekspeaking region.
3.The newly discovered Hellenistic city of Ay Khanoum is an example of Greek influence--far away from Greece.
4.Alexander's empire spread Greek culture as far east as India.
5.Hellenism became a common bond for the Mediterranean.

IIIThe spread of Hellenism
A.Cities and kingdoms of the Hellenistic age

1.The creation of new kingdoms accompanied the resurgence of monarchy; this was a method of uniting diverse peoples--often linking the ruler with the gods.
2.The new cities were not politically independent (or sovereign) but rather a part of a kingdom.
3.Legal and social inequality existed in the Hellenistic city; Greeks had greater rights and thus formed an elite.
4.The city was fully the possession of the king.
5.The city of Pergamum is an example of an old city that was transformed by new Greek rulers--with gymnasia, baths, a library, and even a synagogue for Jews.
A.The Hellenistic kings were frequently at war as they attempted to solidify their kingdoms and gain the loyalty of subjects.
B.The Hellenistic city was the basic social and political unit in the Hellenistic East and the foundation on which later Roman and Christian cultures were established.

IV.The Greeks and the opening of the East A.The Hellenistic cities provided a new military and bureaucratic class of Greeks with important jobs and chances for advancement.
1.Greeks were able to dominate other professions, including the arts.
2.Greek buildings were built and entirely new cities were laid out.
3.New opportunities opened for women--including the medical profession--but most poor women were illiterate.
4.In Sparta women owned two-fifths of the land.
5.Overall, Greek immigrants were not loyal to their monarchs.
6.Professional Hellenistic soldiers were not loyal to their employers.
7.The Hellenistic world was kept going only as long as new Greek immigrants were available to fill the professional/cultural ranks.

V.Greeks and Easterners: the Hellenistic cities became centers of Hellenism A.The spread of Greek culture was uneven, being stronger in the Mediterranean than in the Far East--and stronger in cities than in rural areas.
B.A GrecoEgyptian culture evolved slowly in Egypt under the Ptolemies.
C.Under the Seleucid kings, Greek and Eastern culture merged in Asia Minor.
D.Most Easterners took only the external trappings of Greek culture, such as the Greek dialect called koine, while retaining their own way of life.
E.Hellenism and the Jews
1.The Greeks allowed the Jews political and religious freedom through a political organization called the politeuma.
2.Hellenistic Greeks usually did not wish to interfere with anyone's religion.
3.Despite adoption of some Hellenistic culture, Jews remained Hebrew at heart.

VI.The economic scope of the Hellenistic world
A.Commerce
1.Alexander's conquests brought the East and the West together for trade.
2.Overland trade to India was conducted by caravan.
a.Silk, tea, and other luxuries came by way of two camel caravan routes--the northern Dura route and the southern Arabia route.
b.In return, Mediterranean people traded manufactured goods (weapons, cloth, etc.) and wine and oil.
c.Ideas passed along these routes.
d.The Greek cities depended on seaborne trade (largely from Egypt) for grain.
3.The slave trade and slavery were important to the Hellenistic economy.
B.Industry
1.Cheap labor left no incentive to invent machinery.
2.Labor in the gold, silver, and iron mines was harsh; many workers were political prisoners and slaves.
3.Important changes in pottery style took place, but production methods remained unchanged.
C.Agriculture
1.The Ptolemies made advances in seed development; much of the royal revenue was derived from agriculture.
2.The Ptolemies also made strides in irrigating the land, partly because of their strong central government.

VII,Hellenistic intellectual advances
A.Religion in the Hellenistic world
1.The Greek religious cults centered on the Olympian gods.
a.The cults, consisting mainly of rituals, did not fill the religious needs of the people.
b.But many people turned to a belief in Tyche (fate or chance).
2.Mystery religions grew up to fill emotional and ethical needs.
a.These religions promised life for the soul after death and union with a god who had himself risen from the dead.
b.Isis was the most important goddess of the new mystery cults.
c.Her priests claimed that she had founded law and literature, and was the goddess of marriage and childbirth. She promised to save the souls of her believers.

VIII.Philosophy and people
A.Common people became interested in philosophy, because of the decline of the polis, the decline of religion, and increased mobility, all of which left people in need for something permanent.
1.The new philosophies taught that people could be truly happy only when they rejected the world and focused their attention on enduring things.
2.The Epicureans taught that pleasure was the chief good and advocated political passivity.
3.The Stoics stressed the unity of man and universe and resignation to one's duty.
a.Zeno made Stoicism the most popular Hellenistic philosophy.
b.Participation in worldly affairs was encouraged, but leading a virtuous life was most important.
c.The Stoic concept of natural law--one law for all people--was of great importance, particularly later in Rome.

IX.Hellenistic science
A.Aristarchus developed the heliocentric theory of the universe, although Aristotle's earthcentered view remained dominant.
B.Euclid compiled a textbook on geometry.
C.Archimedes, an inventor and theoretician, sketched out basic principles of mechanics.
D.Eratosthenes made advances in mathematics and geography--and was the head of a great museum.
E.Theophrastos founded the study of botany.

X.Hellenistic medicine
AThe Dogmatic school of medicine, under Herophilus and Erasistratus, used vivisection and dissection to gain knowledge of the body, including the nervous system.
B.The Empiric school stressed observation and the use of medicine and drugs, including opium.
C.Many quacks did untold harm, but they were popular.

[Ptolemy]

From http://www.wvup.edu/Academics/humanities/Oldaker/how_much_do_you_know_about_helle.htm


How Much Do You Know About Hellenism?

by Prof. R. A. Oldaker

1. What is meant by the term Hellenism? Hellenism refers to the spread of Greek culture and learning. It was first spread by Alexander the Great into the Near East and into Asia. After Alexander died in 323 B.C., the influence of Greek civilization continued to spread all over the Mediterranean world and into western Asia.

[Ptolemy]

From The Impact of Hellenism On Rome


by Myrle Winn


"Graecia capta ferum victorum capit et artes/intulit agresti Latio"


Hellenism's greatest prize in Italy was Rome


Horace, Epist. II, I, Lines 156-7


The name Greek is no longer a mark of a race, but of an outlook, and is accorded to those who share our culture rather than our blood," said the Athenian orator Isokrates in 380 BCE.

By this time the Greek city-states no longer held political and military dominance in the Hellenic world of the eastern Mediterreanean. Greek culture however, continued to spread throughout the Mediterranean into Egypt and the vast Persian empire.

By the middle of the fourth centry, King Philip of Macedonia began to move toward an empire that united all of Greece. Upon his assasination in 336 BCE, his son Alexander (the Greek), became king. In one continuous campaign Alexander brought together the Greek and Eastern empires. The spread of Greek culture from the Himalayas to the Nile, blending the arts, cultures and institutions of Anatolia, Egypt, Syria and Iran producing multitude of ideals and behaviours that constituted what the heirs of the Athenians poleis and the remainder of the western world would come to know as Hellenism.

With the conquests of Alexander, the political horizon of these societies were extended over an immense area embracing diverse peoples and civilizations who knew little of each other, and far less of the ideals of Pericles, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles and Demosthenes until many years after their deaths.

Rome came under Greek influence very early in the eight century BCE, when Greek colonies were established in southern Italy and Sicily. For generations Roman people were surrounded by Hellenized Etruscans in the north, and in Naples and Sicily in the south. Though Hellenism was to leave its unmistakable mark on almost every aspect of Roman life and thought, they were originally very ambivalent about the Greeks. Though Hellenism was to leave its unmistakable mark on almost every aspect of Roman life and thought, they were originally very ambivalent about the Greeks. On one hand they were in awe of an obviously superior civilization, and yet there was hostility, for Greek culture amounted to a reversal of Roman values. The Greeks were literate, artistic, intellectual, sophisticated, delighting always in the pleasures of life, while the Romans were hard-working, boorish farmers with superstition ruling their lives and very often harsh words for the 'decadent' Greeks.

[akritas]

Probably all these professors are wrong and only Borza is correct :wacko:

[akritas]

An intresting quote, dedicated in those that want to teach Hellenic History to the Greeks :laugh: :laugh:

http://www.macedonia.info/images/oath.jpg

[Ionian Sword]

That oath is fake, a made up thing and of course Alexander never said those words of typical todays new-age/pseudoliberal ethos.
This oath does not belong to Alexander the Great. Its a fake oath.

[Orphic_Hymn]

Plutarch "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander" 10 notes Alexander's own words :


If it were not my purpose to combine foreign things with things Greek, to traverse and civilize every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to disseminate and shower the blessings of Greek justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me, Diogenes, that I imitate Heracles, and emulate Perseus, band follow in the footsteps of Dionysus, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorious Greeks should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Caucasus......................

[akritas]

This oath does not belong to Alexander the Great. Its a fake oath.
Are you kidding of course:rolleyes: Otherwise explain me please more :wacko:

[Minon]

There is a phrase in the oath above:
"Narrow minded"

I think it's not possible that they used these kind of phrases. Even if it's a matter of translation, it's not correct.

[Ionian Sword]

The so called Alexanders "Oath of Opi" doesnt exist neither in Ariannos nor Plutarchos biographies of Alexander, so whats the source of this oath? And furthermore not only i've never seen the source of this "oath", I also have never seen it in ancient Greek text either, only in new Greek. There is only a kinda simmilar phrase of a part of that "oath" in Plutarchs biography of Alexander. But its only one kinda simmilar phrase and it is mentioned when Alexander speaks with the philosopher Diogenes and not as a speech to his men.
Furhermore that "oath" are in contradiction with Aristoteles (Alexander's main and most beloved teacher) teachings and philosophy. Aristoteles without any doubt clearly distinquised Hellenes and barbarians.
More Alexander wasnt a king in the way of kings of Asia or medieval Europe, Greeks never thought of their kings to be totalitarian, he was much more something like the first between the equals. As Greeks always strongly distinquised themselves from the barbarians such a speech to his soldiers would cause an uprising. Theres no way a Greek of that time would accept this oath that would equalize him with the barbarians. That "oath" weirdly suits well much more to the tyrants of modern age who are trying to establish an anti-human globalisation.

[Orphic_Hymn]

Loipon, this issue had been brought up some time ago in a different forum...
Since then, I came accross this link :
http://www.helleniccomserve.com/historical_sources_alexander.html

There as sources for the 'oath' we find ARRIAN VII, STRABO 1,4,9 and a couple of others..

If you look at Arrian VII 9 here:
http://websfor.org/alexander/arrian/book7a.asp

or Strabo 1.4.9 here:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/1D*.html

etc..

It seems that the oath is non-existant but rather a latter hypothetic construction based on what several accounts mention..

If fraud is too harsh.. OK then its false at least..

[akritas]

The so called Alexanders "Oath of Opi" doesnt exist neither in Ariannos nor Plutarchos biographies of Alexander, so whats the source of this oath? And furthermore not only i've never seen the source of this "oath", I also have never seen it in ancient Greek text either, only in new Greek.
Except the known ancient writers were also and writers that wrote for the Alexander's life.There are two main sourse regarding the oath.Eratosthenis and Pseudokallisthenis.
Many times I repeat that the Greek history is not only Herodotus,Thoukiidedes, Plutarch and e.t.c. We must see the also and the sources that took all these writers in order to see what is truth and what is lie.Eratosthenis was one from the main sourse regarding the Macedonians!!!!But we have only quotes from him unfortunely!!!