Hellenism’s era is a time of intense synthesis of civilizations, when culture, religion, and many other aspects were mixed. This era lasted for about three centuries, starting with Alexander the Great’s death in 323 BC. After the king’s death, his empire broke up into many different kingdoms, which formed the Hellenistic states. A distinctive feature of the Hellenistic period was the widespread of the Greek language, culture, and philosophy in the territories of the states formed after the death of Alexander the Great. Also, during this period, the penetration of Greek culture into eastern culture took place, and classical slavery appeared.
This period differed from the previous ones for many reasons. The army and navy were of great importance to the Hellenistic states, and the kings mainly used a mercenary army. The Hellenistic monarchs were afraid of population revolts, which is why they resorted to hiring soldiers. However, in the Hellenistic monarchies, policies were preserved in which the local population was heavily taxed. Taxes from the local population were spent mainly on the development of science and various cultural projects. This is because the kings of this period considered science something prestigious, and tried to develop it in every possible way. Thus, the first large libraries were founded, where philology and literary criticism developed. Besides, the kings bought the manuscripts of ancient authors and sent them to Egypt. Due to this, they contributed to the penetration of Greek culture in the eastern states. Moreover, the first museums and research institutes were founded in Alexandria, where scientists from all over the Hellenistic world gathered. Scientists of this period achieved great success in their discoveries, although science was used for other purposes. Thus, most of the findings and achievements were either immediately forgotten or used for the public’s entertainment. The problem was that Hellenistic production did not need progress and discoveries, as it was based on cheap slave labor.
A community of cultures also characterizes the Hellenistic period that emerged after the conquests of Alexander the Great. This is confirmed by the penetration of the Greek language into various spheres of society. Thus, the scribes in Babylon used the Greek alphabet for their transcriptions. In Egypt, Greek letters were used to combine Egyptian hieroglyphs to create a Coptic script (Chrubasik 3). Greek became the Middle East’s universally recognized language; it was studied and used by the educated segments of the population. Due to constant wars, migration began to develop, which led to cultural upheavals and mixing. Furthermore, religion was influenced by the Hellenistic period and underwent many changes. Thus, it became necessary to translate the sacred Hebrew texts into the Greek language. This practice was the first in history and certainly left its mark on the cultural heritage. Moreover, the Greek culture’s economic and political features were quickly accepted in the territories of the eastern states. Due to many constant wars, there was a mass conversion of people into slavery, large slave markets appeared, and piracy developed. Thus, the difference between the two types of slave-owning states in the ancient period of Greece and the East disappeared.
In conclusion, the Hellenistic period is distinguished by a widespread of different cultures fusion. This process manifests in almost all spheres: culture, language, religion, political and economic systems. Alexander the Great’s conquests led to an unprecedented period in history when completely different, and in times, warring cultures clashed with each other. This process was inevitable because these different cultures and states had to accept each other’s features to survive.
Work Cited
Chrubasik, Boris, and Daniel King, eds. Hellenism and the local communities of the Eastern Mediterranean: 400 BCE-250 CE. Oxford University Press, 2017.