Hellenistic Kingdom

1. Hellenistic Kingdom Prelude to Rome

2. Death of Alexander • He did not appoint a successor before his death • Divided into three kingdoms • Ptolemy- Egypt, most secured kingdom • Seleucus- Mediterranean Sea to Indus River • Antigonus- mainland of Greece, least successful • Travel, currency and trading grow during this time

3. Changes in society • People were allowed to rise to the upper levels of society, as long as they adopted Greek culture • Collapse of polis leads to transformation of society in general • Women position in society improved • Love between men and women became a major theme of Hellenistic writers • Architecture became larger and more spectacular: colossal style

4. Philosophy • Cynicism: individuals were to fulfill his or her “natural needs,” in Greek the term cynic meant people who behaved “like dogs.” • Skepticism: knowledge was impossible and beliefs are merely opinions, to live ever with a smile and never a passion • Epicureanism: people should avoid pain and pursue pleasure in moderation • Stoicism: Universe was guided by an organizing principle, divine reason, divine fire, or God. Everyone had this spark making everyone equal. Happiness was to fulfill the role assigned the divine fire within

5. Religion • Ruler-worship: useful means to fill people with a new sense of civic duty • Mystery Religions: cults with secret teachings • Judaism: Returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple of Solomon. Some Jews changed with the times. Jews later revolted and set up conservative kingdom

6. Technology • Working model of a steam engine • Archimedes invented the water screw • Euclid formalized the fundamental truths of geometry • Heliocentric or sun-centered • Cyrene figure the circumference of the globe • Herophilus concluded that the brain was the center of the human nervous system

7. Archimedes’ water screw

8. Euclid & Geometry

9. Heliocentric