Hellenistic Eras

The Hellenic and Hellenistic eras of ancient Greece brought forth new ideas in scientific innovation, art, philosophy, agriculture, warfare, and government. Hellenic Greece heralded leaders such as Pericles and Cleisthenes as well as the philosophers Socrates and Plato and playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides. The Hellenistic era boasted the influence of Alexander the Great’s great empire from the Mediterranean to India, and the spread of Greek culture and knowledge to the conquered lands. The Roman war machine and the death of Cleopatra VII eventually brought an end to the Hellenistic era, but the Hellenistic and Hellenic eras’ continued to make a lasting impact on the future of humankind. Even the Romans became envious of Hellenic

The Hellenistic era moved away from Plato’s concept of the soul, and in turn focused more on logic, physics, and ethics. The introduction of the Epicureans, Stoics, Cynics, and Skeptics provided multiple trains of thought. Plato was a member of the social elite that hated democracy. Plato believed that democratic governments were selfish and greedy, and was also responsible for the death of his mentor Socrates. Socrates introduced philosophy to the Greek people in a way that encouraged people to reach their own conclusions. Socrates employed the Socratic method, a method in which Socrates would ask questions, receive answers, and then ask more challenging questions in order to challenge the learner. However, Socrates’s continuous humiliation of the sons of the elite families led to his arrest. Socrates made people feel ignorant, therefore, the social elite called for his arrest, claiming that Socrates defied the gods and produced tyrants. Therefore, Socrates was put on trial and condemned to death. Socrates was given a poisonous tonic with hemlock in execution. However, Plato was one of Socrates’s students, and continued to explore the realms of philosophy following his mentor’s death. Plato introduced the world of forms in which the forms exist, but cannot be seen. Plato used an example by telling a story of an individual standing in a cave faced towards a wall while a fire burns behind the individual. The fire cannot

Spread of the Koine Greek language was rapid and provided a means of communication and power for indigenous peoples who learned the language. The New Testament of the Bible was also written in Koine Greek. Alexander brought Greek culture to the world in a way that was not achieved during the Hellenic era. The idea of the universal culture of the Hellenistic era similarly influenced the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire also assimilated conquered peoples into the empire, and attempted to establish Roman influence in conquered lands. Hellenic Greece was also valuable in the amount of philosophical ideas, art, and culture. However, in the Hellenistic era, the spread of Greek influence was important and led to the greatest impact on the future. Without the spread of Greek influence the ideas of Cleisthenes, Aristotle, Alexander, and of Greek scientists would have remained in Athens as well as the Grecian peninsula. Also, Alexander revived the declining progress in Athens and all of Greece due to war and internal conflict, and united Greece, for the most part, against a common foe, the Persians. The impact of the Hellenic age would not have been realized without the assistance from Alexander’s