1. Hellenic to Hellenistic
Wow! Our music is really depressing.
The Greeks
Hellenic to Hellenistic
“Hellenes" (Έλληνες)
(Latin: “Graeci“)

3. “Axial Age” Similar to Zhou dynasty and developments in South Asia
Eastern Mediterranean becomes a hybrid society
Mixture of old & new
Traders carry ideas
Coins, political ideas, alphabet

4. Legacies of the Greco-Roman World
Rationalism
Philosophy, science and history
Humanism
Truth, art and athletics
Inherent Order
Natural law, physics and taxonomy
Politics
Government, civic responsibility and democracy
Delphi

5. Early Philosophy (600-470 BCE) Is the world permanent or changing?
Democritus – all physical things are formed by combinations of tiny particles called atoms.
Sophists – “Man is the measure of all things”
There is no common objective reality that all persons grasp the same way.”
Truth is relative to each individual
Pleasure is the highest good - hedonism

6. Socratic Philosophers (470-322 BCE) “Truth and reality are absolute”
“The unexamined life is not worth living”
Socrates
Truth is in the mind but hidden by false impressions
You can only know the truth through inquiry
Stressed importance of honor & integrity

7. There is only one real tree.
Plato
Dualism – the world is imperfect, changeable and different in appearance to every individual; the world we perceive is an illusion, the real world is a world of “ideal” forms.
Philosophers will discover the perfect, eternal, real world
Republic – society should be governed by “Philosopher kings”
There is only one real tree.

8. exoskeleton, over there.
Aristotle
Reality = form and matter
Logic - key to truth and happiness, by logic people can gain knowledge
“Golden Mean” – perfection, virtuous and excellent
between extremes, when neither adding something nor taking something away will make improvements.
Government – rule by the middle class, devoted to general welfare of the people.
Use senses to classify science (taxonomy)
Develops inductive thinking- The Politics
Wants to strengthen urban communities
OK, everyone with an
exoskeleton, over there.

9. The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself
Thales
The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself
Men create the gods in their own image
Democritus
Xenophanes
Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion

10. Socrates
Aristotle
Plato
 Pythagoras
Diogenes
 Euclid or Archimedes
Italian painter, Raphael's masterpiece, The School of Athens, considered the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance.

11. A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one
As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser.
A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one
Plato
Aristotle

12. Alexander’s conquest leads to the Hellenistic Age
Hellenistic -derived from Héllēn
–Greek word for “Greek”

14. Influence of Hellenistic Culture
Hellenistic is not one single culture
Political expansion leads to cultural diffusion
Lays foundation for state systems/leads to more warfare
Leads to stability in trading
Growth of “Silk Road”
Use of money & common language

15. Influence of Hellenistic Culture
Language
Replaced dialects with a “common” Greek
easier communication between Egyptians, Syrians, Judeans
Religion
Led to worship of Greek gods
Not accepted universally
ex. Jews in Judea rebelled vs. Hellenistic culture
(Maccabean Revolt – Diaspora)
Judaism Hellenism
One G-d Gods, Goddesses and Who Knows What!
Man in the Image of G-d Gods in the Image of Man
Beauty of Balance Beauty as Ideal

16. Influence of Hellenistic Culture
Arts
Sculpture more realistic
Cosmopolitan Cities
Alexandria becomes the model – huge library
Inhabitants become “cosmopolitan” – Not just citizens of a particular polis
Becomes ultimately the culture of elites
base of later Roman culture
Penetrated into sub Saharan Africa - Meroe

17. Hellenistic Philosophers (340 BCE)
Philosophy becomes accessible to a wider audience
 Affluent members of the population, including women, begin to study philosophy
focuses on the problem of human happiness
What is the meaning of this?

18. But, eating an entire cake would make you sick. That’s evil.
Epicureans
knowledge originates and stops in the senses
pleasure is the sole good and pain is the sole evil
man must moderate himself in reference to these desires
But, eating an entire cake would make you sick. That’s evil.
Cake is yummy!

19. The universe functions according to a plan of goodness – “Natural Law”
Stoics - Zeno
Named after Stoa Poikilē in Athens where Zeno taught
The universe functions according to a plan of goodness – “Natural Law”
Nature is understood through reason
All persons are inherently equal as all share a spark of reason
You can live in harmony with nature but need to control your passions (Get over it!)

20. Cynics
preached a return to nature and a rejection of conventional mores as the key to man's happiness
Did not consider themselves members of any nations
Diogenes made his home in the
streets of Athens, made a virtue
of extreme poverty.
Lived in a large tub, walked the streets carrying a lamp in the daytime claiming to be looking for an honest man.
Nice tub, mate!

21. Skeptics
by doubting everything, believed that they could attain a state of perfect tranquility
Bet they didn’t even believe that!

22. Hellenistic Science Math
Hipparchus - trigonometric tables and gave methods for solving spherical triangles.
Pythagoras - The Pythagorean Theorem
Euclid – wrote about triangles and circles, irrational numbers, and three-dimensional geometry.

23. Not heavy, not heavy, not heavy.
Hellenistic Science
Physics
Archimedes – lever and hydrostatic discoveries
Aristotle's - "Physics" and "Metaphysics”
Not heavy, not heavy, not heavy.

24. Hellenistic Science Astronomy (applying logical thinking and geometry)
Anaxagoras - cause of eclipses
Aristarchus - the earth goes around the sun
Thales - the earth is round.

25. Chant after me: Black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood.
Hellenistic Science
Medicine
You could learn to understand and treat diseases by using careful observation and logical thought.
Hippocrates - dismissed the notion that Magic or spirits caused or cured disease.
Chant after me: Black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood.

26. Hellenistic Science Cartography The earth is a sphere
Claudius Ptolemy wrote Guide to Geography (Geographike hyphygesis)-remained an authorative reference on world geography until the Renaissance.

28. Discuss changes and continuities in intellectual development in Greek-influenced areas from 500 B.C.E. to 30 B.C.E.