Alexander_the_Great

Thematic Essay The Hellenistic Age was the period between the death of Alexander The Great and the rise of Rome under the rule Augustus. The Greek culture dominated much of the Mediterranean and Middle East. The conquered land was a nice place for Greek soldiers, traders, and artisans to settle in. Greek temples were built and filled with statues. They also held athletic contests in Hellenistic civilization as they had in Old Greece. The local people started to absorb and adopted some of the Greek cultural ideas. After awhile the combining of eastern and western cultures occurred. Alexander encourage this idea when he married a Persian women and urged soldiers to do the same. After his death a new culture emerged which is know as the Hellenistic civilization. During the Golden Age of the Hellenistic civilization had many great achievements. The cities of the Hellenistic civilization employed armies of artist and architectures. Temples and palaces were much bigger then the building’s of classic Greece, the new style reflected the Hellenistic Age. The new style showed that the Hellenistic emperors thought they were godlike. New schools of philosophy started to rise around the civilization. Stoicism was founded by Zeno. He urged people to avoid desire and disappointment and accept calmly whatever life brought. The Stoics believed that all people were morally equal because of the power of reason that all humans had. He also preached high moral standards and protecting the rights of fellow humans. The Hellenistic civilization also had many advances in math and science. Pythagoras came up with the formula A squared plus B squared equals C squared, it is still used to calculate the side of a right triangle. Euclid wrote many the elements that became the basis of modern geometry. The astronomer Aristarchus argued that the earth rotated on its axis and orbited around the sun. Eratosthenes showed that the earth was round and accurately calculated its circumference. Archimedes applied the principles of physics to make practical inventions. In medicine The Greek physician Hippocrates studied the cause of illnesses and looked for cures. The Hippocratic oath set ethical standards for doctors. The Hellenistic Golden Age had great long lasting achievements that impacted future dynasties. Hellenistic civilization didn’t die it just wasn’t the strongest anymore, and a new city called Rome came to power. The Romans came and took over most of the Mediterranean including the Hellenistic civilization but the achievements of the Hellenistic Age still carried out into the new cities. The Roman armies came and took control of the Hellenistic civilization and turned it into a roman city.