The era of Hellenism briefly. General characteristics of Hellenism

HELLENISTIC SOCIETY AND ITS CULTURE

the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great (334 - 330) opens a new era of Greek history.

The huge power created by Alexander fell apart immediately after his death and after long wars was divided among his generals. A number of new states were formed in which power belonged to the Macedonian conquerors, who relied on an army of Macedonian and Greek mercenaries. Such are Egypt (the Ptolemaic monarchy), Syria (the Seleucid monarchy) and smaller state formations in Asia Minor (Bithynia, Pergamum, etc.). These states, in which the crossing of Greek and Eastern elements took place, are usually called Hellenistic, and the entire period from Alexander the Great to the establishment of Roman rule in Asia Minor and Egypt is the era of Hellenism, that is, the spread of Hellenism and the introduction of Hellenic culture into the countries conquered by the Macedonians .

“The highest internal flowering of Greece,” wrote Marx, “coincides with the era of Pericles, the highest external flowering with the era of Alexander.” The framework of the Greek world expanded to the borders of India and Ethiopia, but the leading political role in this world already belongs to the Hellenistic countries, and not to the old Greek communities.

in general, European Greece is experiencing a period of economic and political decline. Greek slave-owning society has entered that phase of its development when the oligarchy of large landowners and slave-owners can maintain its dominance only by relying on external military force. The movement of the centers of Mediterranean trade to the east and the ebb of the population there, continuous wars, sharp revolutionary outbreaks (especially at the turn of the 3rd - 2nd centuries) - all this accelerated the decline of Greece. In the Hellenistic states, the local (non-Greek) population is under the rule of the sovereign, who is the owner of all the land and he is given, according to Eastern custom, divine honors. the heyday of the Hellenistic states was short-lived.

Hellenistic countries gradually become the prey of Rome

The typical state form is no longer a polis, but a military-bureaucratic monarchy. Of the states that had political weight in the Hellenistic era, only the island of Rhodes, a major center for the slave trade, retained the structure of a democratic policy. The democratic system was preserved - with some changes - in Athens, but Athens no longer played a prominent political role, remaining only a cultural center, a city of philosophers and artists.

The most influential philosophical systems of the era, the materialistic philosophy of Epicurus (341-270) and the teachings of the Stoics, eclectically oscillating between materialism and idealism, both of which arose at the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries, clearly reflect this change in social attitudes. The cynic school, popular in the lower strata of Greek society, preached simplification, overcoming passions and needs, as a means of becoming independent of the environment, and the cynic Diogenes, about whose undemanding lifestyle there were numerous anecdotes (“philosopher in a barrel”, etc.), called himself a "cosmopolitan", that is, a "citizen of the world." This doctrine, in its radical offshoots, was directed against all the social foundations of the policy; Cynics rejected slavery, property, marriage, official religion, the entire spiritual culture of the upper classes and demanded the equality of people without distinction of gender and tribal affiliation. The materialistic understanding of nature serves Epicurus as a means of combating false ideas that interfere with individual happiness, superstitions and the fear of death. The most important of these false ideas is the belief in the immortality of the soul and in the supernatural control of the world, the fear of the gods. True, Epicurus does not deny the gods, but he believes that they lead a blissful existence in the “interworlds”, without interfering in the affairs of the universe. Before the sage, freed from the beliefs of the crowd, opens the possibility of a "pleasant" life, built on the absence of suffering and fear. The highest "pleasure" is "serenity" ("ataraxia"), the inner independence and peace of mind associated with the "inconspicuous life" in a close circle of friends. The state is useful to the extent that it ensures the quiet life of the individual, and only in exceptional circumstances does the sage take a voluntary part in public affairs. Epicurus condemns the abuse of paternal power, the cruel treatment of slaves, and has a negative attitude towards marriages entered into for the sake of enrichment. The philosophy of Epicurus has a deeply humane character. In fact, the opposite takes place - Epicurus demanded peace of mind, dominance over the desire for physical pleasures;

The Stoic ideal is in many respects close to the Epicurean one, although the Stoics give it a completely different theoretical justification. The basis of happiness is virtue, which creates a “free”, “perfect”, “blissful” sage. The "serenity" of Epicurus corresponds to the stoic "freedom from affects" ("apathy"). Man is a part of the living and divine world whole (“pantheism”) and must embody the world law in his life, “live according to nature”. The Stoic, first of all, feels himself a citizen of a "higher", world state, embracing all of humanity. According to the basic principle of the Stoya, the slave share does not prevent the sage from being "free", "king", and this sage does not need any external conditions for his "bliss", while the bearers of wealth and power are "slaves" of their passions. The Stoics considered marriage as a union of two equal individuals for life communication, paid great attention to education and demanded the same education for both sexes. did not completely reject popular religion

The Stoics believed in the inevitability of fate, Epicurus attached great importance to chance, skeptics recommended refraining from a certain judgment on the fundamental issues of worldview - all this indicates that Greek society had lost faith in its ability to control the course of life.

Religion was of even greater political importance in the Eastern Hellenistic monarchies, where it served as the backbone of royal power. The deification of kings - first the dead, and then the living - was officially carried out both in the state of the Ptolemies and in the state of the Seleucids.

One of the most important characteristic features of the Hellenistic religion is syncretism, the union of Greek and Eastern ideas.

The heyday of Hellenistic culture, the 3rd century, was the time of the highest rise in exact knowledge. In the field of technology, the Hellenistic era rose high above the level of the previous period. In contrast to the Attic period, when science was inextricably linked with philosophy, Hellenistic science stands independently. Science begins to receive material support from the Hellenistic rulers, and Alexandria, the capital of the Greco-Egyptian monarchy, becomes the largest scientific center. Already under the first Ptolemies, a “Museum” (i.e., “Temple of the Muses”) was founded in Alexandria, something like a palace of science and literature.

A new scientific discipline, philology, was born. The Alexandrian philologists paid special attention to Homer; The institution had a court character.

If we consider the culture and worldview of the Greek society of the Hellenistic era as a whole, it is impossible not to notice in them numerous symptoms of decline compared to the polis period. The weakening of social feelings, servility to monarchs, the narrowing of social and philosophical problems and the growth of lack of ideas, the spread of mysticism - all these are indicators of decay. On the other hand, it is necessary to summarize those aspects of Hellenism that represent progress in relation to the past. This is the humanization of the family and everyday life, "the freer position of women, the enrichment of the world of personal feelings and the growth of individual self-consciousness, the successes of empirical sciences, which destroyed a number of misconceptions about reality. With the positive aspects of the polis culture, many of its primitive features, partly inherited from the clan, also disappeared. societies

The content of the literature is also changing dramatically. Political themes, which played such a significant role in the past, are either completely eliminated or diminished, degenerating into the court glorification of monarchs. On the other hand, there is a scientific and antiquarian interest in local antiquities. Literature moves from issues of great public interest to a narrower sphere, to family and everyday topics, from social feelings to individual ones.

In the depiction of the inner world of a person who has gone into private life, the main place belongs to her intimate experiences - family and friendly feelings, pity, and especially love. In Hellenistic literature, an atmosphere of a humane attitude towards people and soft sensitivity is poured, but experiences are not distinguished by either depth or variety; when the poet wishes to transcend petty ordinary feelings, he mostly takes his heroes to unusual settings, utopian or idyllic, to distant lands or to the distant past, and finally to the sphere of myth familiar to Greek literature.

small epic (epilli), elegy, epigram, idyll.

The predominant literary forms here remain, as in the Attic period, drama ("new comedy") and prose, historical and philosophical.

The heyday of Hellenistic literature falls at the very beginning of the period, the first half of the 3rd century BC. Then comes stagnation and imitation. Hellenistic writers did not acquire the meaning of "classics" from the Greeks and were rejected by the Attikistic reaction that prevailed in the Roman era.

General characteristics of the literature of the Hellenistic era .. The leading literary genres are: neo-Attic comedy, all kinds of poetic genres (idyll, epill, epigram), the epic continues its life, although its subject matter has changed significantly, prose is born.

Similar information.

A new period in Greek history was the campaign to the East of the famous ruler Alexander the Great. As a result of numerous wars, a huge power appeared, the borders of which stretched from Egypt to modern Central Asia. It was at this time that the era of Hellenism began. It should be understood as the spread of Greek culture throughout all the territories conquered by

What can be said about Hellenism?

Due to the fact that there was a merger of Greek and local cultures, Hellenism appeared. This mutual enrichment influenced the preservation of a single culture in several states even after the collapse of the empire.

What does Hellenism mean? It should be noted right away that it is violent, since the formation of this culture occurred as a result of numerous wars. Hellenism contributed to the unification of the ancient Greek world with the ancient Oriental, earlier they developed in different directions. As a result, a powerful state appeared with a single socio-economic structure, political system and culture.

As already mentioned, Hellenism is a kind of synthesis of different elements of culture. It can be viewed from several perspectives. On the one hand, the emergence of Hellenism was influenced by the development of the ancient Greek society, as well as the crisis of the Greek polis. On the other hand, ancient Eastern societies, namely their conservative and sedentary social structure, played a role in its formation.

Causes that influenced the emergence of Hellenism

The need to merge several cultures arose due to the fact that the Greek policy began to gradually slow down historical progress, having exhausted all its possibilities. That is why discord began to arise between different classes, a social struggle between the oligarchy and democracy. Fragmentation caused wars between individual cities. And so that the history of the state did not stop, it was necessary to rally the warring parties.

However, this is not the only reason for the emergence of a new culture. The era of Hellenism arose in connection with the crisis of the ancient Eastern socio-political systems. In the IV century BC. the ancient Eastern world, which had already become part of the Persian Empire, was not going through the best period. Due to the stagnant economy, it was impossible to develop vast empty lands. In addition, the kings of Persia did not give permission for the construction of new cities, did not support trade, and did not put into circulation large stocks of currency metal lying in their basements. And if Greece in the IV century BC. suffered through the fault of the excessive activity of the political system, overpopulation and limited resources, the reverse situation was observed in the Persian monarchy.

In this regard, the task arose of a kind of unification, synthesis of different systems that are able to complement each other. In other words, there was a need for a culture like Hellenism. This happened after the collapse of the state built by Alexander the Great.

Merging different elements

What areas of life were covered by the synthesis of components inherent in the Greek and Eastern states? There are several different points of view. Some scholars understood Hellenism as the unification of several elements inherent in culture and religion. Domestic historians described this merger from the position of combination and interaction of economic, class-social, political, cultural spheres. In their opinion, Hellenism is a progressive step that greatly influenced the fate of ancient Greek and ancient Eastern societies.

Synthesis of elements in different regions progressed differently. In some states it was more intense, in others - less. In some cities, an important role was assigned to elements inherent in Greek culture, in others, ancient Eastern principles dominated. Such differences arose in connection with the specific historical features of societies and cities.

Development of Hellenistic society

The Hellenistic period affected state formations of various sizes, starting from Sicily and Southern Italy and ending with northwestern India (from the southern borders to the first rapids of the Nile River). In other words, classical Greece and the East were part of Hellenistic society. Only India and China were not included in this territory.

There are several regions that were characterized by common features:

1. Egypt and the Middle East.
2. Balkan Greece, western territory of Asia Minor, Macedonia.
3. Great Greece with the Black Sea.

The most characteristic elements inherent in Hellenism manifested themselves in full in Egypt and the Middle East. In this regard, these regions can be considered the area in which classical Hellenism dominated.

Greece, like other regions, had mainly differences in the socio-economic, political and cultural spheres. We can say that in ancient Greece there was no synthesis at all. However, for some reason, it is argued that these territories also entered the system of Hellenistic countries.

Development of culture and science

The culture of Hellenism influenced the disappearance of the gap characteristic of the classical period between technology and science, practice and theory. This can be seen in the work of Archimedes, who discovered the hydraulic law. It was he who made a huge contribution to the development of technology, designing combat throwing vehicles along with defensive weapons.

The creation of new cities and advances in areas such as navigation and military technology contributed to the rise of some sciences. Of these, mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, geography can be distinguished. Euclid also played a significant role in this. He became the founder of elementary geometry. Eratosthenes determined the true dimensions of the globe, proved that our planet rotates around its axis and moves around the sun. Successful development took place both in natural science and in medicine.

The rapid development of science and culture has led to the need to store information. In this regard, libraries were built in some cities.

Speaking about what features of Hellenism can be distinguished, it should be said about the development of a new branch - philology. Much attention began to be paid to grammar, criticism and other things. Schools have played a huge role. Literature became more diverse, but it still continued to yield to classical elements. Epos and tragedies became more reasonable, as erudition and virtuosity of style, as well as sophistication, came to the fore.

What happened in philosophy?

The philosophy of Hellenism also acquired some differences. Decreased faith in gods. New cults began to appear. Civil ideals gradually faded into the background, giving way to individualism. Instead of community, indifference arose, indifference to those issues that were connected with the national identity of a person. It was the social position that became the determining factor in people's lives. The philosophy of the Hellenistic era was developed thanks to the formation of several schools: Cynics, Skeptics, Stoics, Epicureans and Peripatetics.

Philosophers began to gradually abandon the idea of ​​the cosmos. More attention was paid to a person from the position of a certain self-sufficient unit. Social and civic ideals receded into the background.

It is necessary to abandon all the benefits of civilization

A huge role in the formation of Hellenism was played by who represented the school of Cynics. He didn't write books, he just lived. The philosopher, by his own example, tried to show how important it is to follow the true, in his opinion, ideals. He argued that civilizations and all human inventions do not contribute to happiness, they are harmful. Wealth, power, fame - all these are just empty words. He lived in a barrel and walked in rags.

Happiness should be without vanity

The philosophy of Hellenism gained a lot thanks to Epicurus, who was the founder of the "Garden" school. For study, he chose the problem of human happiness. Epicurus believed that the highest pleasure can be obtained only if the aspirations related to vanity are abandoned. According to him, it is necessary to live imperceptibly, as far as possible from passions, in serene detachment.

Sayings of the Stoics

The philosophy of the Hellenistic era reached its peak. The school of stoicism played a huge role in shaping the social worldview. She also dealt with the problem of human happiness. The following was argued: due to the fact that various troubles still cannot be avoided, one must get used to them. That was the salvation, according to the Stoics. It is necessary to properly organize your inner world. Only in this case, no external problems can unbalance. It is necessary to be above external irritants.

Conclusion

Hellenism played a very important role in the development. All the achievements of this period became the basis of aesthetic ideas that appeared along with other eras. Greek philosophy became fundamental in the development of medieval theology. Mythology and literature continue to be popular today.

(skepticism, stoicism, epicureanism)

Hellenism - a period in the history of the Mediterranean, primarily the eastern one, lasting from the time of the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) until the final establishment of Roman domination in these territories, which usually dates from the fall of Ptolemaic Egypt (30 BC). The term originally denoted the correct use of the Greek language, especially by non-Greeks, but after the publication of Johann Gustav Droysen's History of Hellenism (1836-1843), the concept entered the historical science. A feature of the Hellenistic period was the widespread distribution of the Greek language and culture in the territories that became part of the states of the Diadochi, which were formed after the death of Alexander the Great in the territories he conquered, and the interpenetration of Greek and Eastern - primarily Persian - cultures, as well as the emergence of classical slavery. The beginning of the Hellenistic era is characterized by the transition from the polis political organization to hereditary Hellenistic monarchies, the shift of centers of cultural and economic activity from Greece to Asia Minor and Egypt. The sudden death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. e., served as a signal for the beginning of the collapse of his empire, which revealed all its ephemerality. The commanders of Alexander, called the Diadochi, began a series of bloody wars and strife for the throne of a single state, which lasted 22 years. None of the Diadochi was able to win a decisive victory over all the others, and in 301 BC. e., after the battle of Ipsus, they divided the empire into several independent parts. So, for example, Cassander got the throne of Macedonia, Lysimachus - Thrace and most of Asia Minor, Ptolemy - Egypt, Seleucus got vast lands from Syria to the Indus. This division did not last long - already in 285 BC. e. Lysimachus, together with the king of Epirus, conquers Macedonia, but soon dies in the war with Seleucus I Nicator. However, the Seleucid Empire itself soon loses its conquered possessions in Asia Minor, as a result of which the region is divided into several small independent states, of which Pontus, Bithynia, Pergamum and Rhodes should be highlighted. New states are organized according to a special principle, called the Hellenistic monarchy, based on the synthesis of local despotic and Greek polis political traditions. The polis, as an independent civil community, retains its independence as a social and political institution even within the framework of the Hellenistic monarchy. Cities like Alexandria enjoy autonomy and their citizens enjoy special rights and privileges. At the head of the Hellenistic state, there is usually a king who has all the full power of state power. Its main support was the bureaucratic apparatus, which carried out the functions of managing the entire territory of the state, with the exception of cities that had the status of policies that owned a certain autonomy. Compared with previous periods, the situation in the Greek world has seriously changed: instead of many policies at war with each other, the Greek world now consisted of several relatively stable major powers. These states represented a common cultural and economic space, which is important for understanding the cultural and political aspects of that era. The Greek world was a very closely interconnected system, which is confirmed by at least the presence of a single financial system and the scale of migration flows within the Hellenistic world (the Hellenistic era was a time of relatively high mobility of the Greek population. In particular, continental Greece, at the end of the 4th century BC. . suffering from overpopulation, by the end of the 3rd century BC, began to feel a lack of population). Culture of the Hellenistic society Hellenistic society is strikingly different from that of classical Greece in a number of ways. The actual departure of the polis system into the background, the development and spread of political and economic vertical (rather than horizontal) ties, the collapse of obsolete social institutions, the general change in the cultural background caused serious changes in the Greek social structure. It was a mixture of Greek and Oriental elements. Syncretism manifested itself most clearly in religion and the official practice of deifying monarchs. . Hellenization of the East During the III-I centuries BC. e. throughout the eastern Mediterranean there was a process of Hellenization, that is, the adoption by the local population of the Greek language, culture, customs and traditions. The mechanism and causes of such a process consisted for the most part in the peculiarities of the political and social structure of the Hellenistic states. The elite of the Hellenistic society was made up mainly of representatives of the Greek-Macedonian aristocracy. They brought Greek customs to the East and actively planted them around them. The old local nobility, wanting to be closer to the ruler, to emphasize their aristocratic status, sought to imitate this elite, while the common people imitated the local nobility. As a result, Hellenization was the fruit of imitation of newcomers by the indigenous inhabitants of the country. This process affected, as a rule, the cities, the rural population (which was the majority) was in no hurry to part with their pre-Greek habits. In addition, Hellenization affected mainly the upper strata of Eastern society, which, for the above reasons, had a desire to enter the Greek environment.

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Hellenism is the spread of Greek culture, religion, philosophy, art, economics, politics and lifestyle to the East and their close interaction with the local social order. As a result, a special syncretic culture arose, in which the Greeks were no longer an ethnic, but a socio-cultural phenomenon.

The Greek language - Koine (“common”), created on the basis of the Attic dialect, became widely spread, which became the language of the New Testament. In parallel with the Koine, there was another international, but already an oriental language - Aramaic.

In the Hellenistic era, a new worldview was born, which became widespread and philosophically shaped - cosmopolitanism, awareness of oneself as a "citizen of the world." The destruction of the civil thinking of people continued, but in a foreign land, the Greeks, even from hostile cities, were aware of spiritual unity in the face of a different culture; scattered throughout the ecumene, they felt their belonging to the Hellenic world. The decline of the polis ideology led to the rapid development of individualism. Experiences, feelings, thoughts of an individual were at the center of religion, literature and art. The instability of life, social instability, wars, upheavals resulted in a widespread fatalism reflected in philosophical and religious systems. Cosmopolitanism, individualism and fatalism vividly characterized the Hellenistic era in terms of serious spiritual changes. It is impossible to study "Hellenism" as a historical epoch and understand it in all its originality without taking into account the basic fact that "Hellenism" is a stage in the history of ancient slave-owning society. In the era of "Hellenism" the world changed and expanded. The Greek language could be used from Marseille to India, from the Caspian Sea to the rapids of the Nile. Nationality recedes into the background; a common language and a common upbringing contribute to the development of a common culture. Literature, science and, above all, philosophy are connected to a certain extent with a wider world than Greece. Trade has become international. "Hellenism" established other forms of state instead of eastern despotism and the Hellenic policy. But the Hellenistic monarchies in the East, the Macedonian coalition, the Achaean and Aetolian alliances in the Balkans did not liquidate the Greek policy with its narrow interests. Of course, these were not independent city-states, but their existence connected citizens with the old founders of the policy.

On the other hand, the eastern despotism was not eliminated either. Alexander's successors continued to act in the same way. Even in the field of culture, where "Hellenism" means a radical change, the matter was not carried through to the end; Eastern cultures were not absorbed, the Hellenic culture of the classical period was not forgotten.

Thus, Hellenism can be regarded as a progressive stage in the history of antiquity, but with a significant caveat. In its initial period, new forms of economic, political and spiritual life were created. But the changes that took place in all areas of life in the Hellenistic period were not deep enough, the reasons that led to the crisis of the Hellenic states were not overcome.

In all areas of culture, Hellenism signifies a turn of world-historical significance. Much was only outlined, the Hellenistic economy did not create conditions for the final processing of the classical heritage, for the creation on its basis of a new integral worldview, the integrity of a harmonious culture. The contradictions of the slave-owning society, after a brief period of upsurge, had an effect very quickly and led to the fact that development proceeded at a feverish pace with short-term ups and long periods of decline; in some areas - philosophy, literature - the decline has become chronic. But in general, elliptical culture is a new stage in the cultural history of mankind, which influenced its entire further course.

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Tragedy dies with Euripides. With Aristophanes, dramaturgy dies. The political and moral stability of the policy is undermined.

The reign of Alexander the Great was brief 338-323. For a short time, a huge empire was formed. He was strongly influenced by the teachings of Aristotle. He destroyed only Thebes. He understood that the culture of Macedonia could not be the common culture of the world. He wanted to conquer the whole world and wanted to bring culture to the captured peoples - Greek, as its highest manifestation. Alexander did not destroy the culture of the conquered peoples. He wanted to bring cultures together. To do this, he tries to combine religion and mythology - syncretism. In the conquered territories there were many goddesses of fertility and love - united in the cult of the Great Single Mother. It was fruitful. Image of the goddess Isis with a baby in her arms. The second example is the god Serapis. Many conquered countries depended on water. Serapis - Hades, Poseidon, Dionysus, Osiris, Apis. Serapis was revered everywhere.

Hellenic is equal to Greek. Hellenistic - the interaction of Greek and Eastern culture. In the east, the Greeks borrowed the state apparatus - the military-bureaucratic monarchy. They understood the need for a single Hellenic language - a common Greek Koine / Kolne appears. In the era of Hellenism, even the meaning of the word Hellenes changes. It used to be a national unit. In the era of Alexander, this is not an ethnic, but an ethical concept. Anyone who professes the Hellenic culture and way of life could become an Hellene.

The idea of ​​the Greeks about the homeland is expanding. Previously - a citizen of the policy, now a citizen of the world, a cosmopolitan.

The attitude of the Hellenes to religion has changed. Religion was a public, state matter. Now it becomes a private matter, you can choose it. But the state did not last long. Alexander just got stuck in India. Dies young, at 33.

After the death of Alexander, his associates divide the empire into Hellenistic states: Egypt goes to Ptolemy. Syria, Macedonia and Greece. From a cultural point of view, Egypt becomes the most significant. Alexandria of Egypt became the center of Greek culture. Ptolemy continues the work of Alexander, founding the world's largest library of Alexandria. When Egypt fought the Romans, the library burned down. Ptolemy also creates the Museumon. This is the Academy of Sciences and the University. This idea is still relevant today. A single complex of a scientific and educational institution - gathered the then best scientists of different nationalities. There was the mathematician Euclid, the historian Hecataeus, the artist Apilles. Here, for the first time, the science of philology was born. It has its origin in the Homeric question.

The first philologists were the grammarian Zenadotus and Aristarchus of Samothrace. But not only Homer occupied their attention. They created a program of ancient literature, which is being studied now.

In the era of Hellenism, a person's view of the world changed. It shows up in philosophy. The Hellenes stopped creating fundamental philosophical systems. They turned their gaze to a person, to a private question - how to achieve happiness? Development of a system of personal behavior in life that will ensure spiritual well-being. System of Cynics/Cynics, Stoics and Epicureans. They primarily determine the meaning of happiness and the way to achieve it. The modern understanding of happiness is the sum of positive factors, and then the absence of negative ones.

Cynics. The main representatives are Diogenes of Sinop, Antisthenes and Crates. The name is derived from Diogenes' nickname, "Kinikos", a biting puppy. He was sharp on the tongue. It was popular among the lowest strata of society. Representatives of this school sought to develop and test on themselves a certain experimental way of life. There are no treatises left of them - only anecdotes. The philosophy of the Cynics is the philosophy of people cast out of the life of the policy: runaway slaves, impoverished people. Cynics try to give a sense of self-sufficiency to such an individual who has nothing to rely on in life. The school taught that even in the complete absence of goods, something valuable must be found. They considered the most valuable - personal freedom. A person who has nothing is free. The Cynics proposed to evaluate the state of loneliness as a state of spiritual freedom, that is, the path to happiness. From the point of view of the Cynics, thinking is only a means. The goal is to live like a cynic. They denied everything: culture, morality, official religion, the state. Introduce the concept of cosmopolitanism. They are citizens of the world. Plato called the Cynics and Diogenes the enraged Socrates. The doctrine is directed against all social foundations of society: slavery, property, religion. All Cynics considered themselves cosmopolitans - everywhere they were going to live according to their own laws. They used the form of a curse: "Without a community, without a home, without a fatherland" as a slogan. They tried to prove their complete freedom. It is among the Cynics that the diatribe genre appears - a dialogic polemical conversation with a sharp joke, satire. The creator is Menippus, a former slave. Released, he had literary abilities. Parodies high genres. The diatribe includes poetry, prose, aphorisms, and jokes. The genre of Menippean satire will be used even by Dostoevsky in his novels. Menippean satire will influence the development of Roman genres, Roman satire. François Rabelais will also use this.

Stoics. "Stoya" is a portico, a type of roof where these wise men used to gather. The Stoics have a certain ideal - this is a sage who does not depend in his spiritual development on the environment, the state. Oriented to the intelligent environment, the sages. His home is the whole world. Founder of Zeno. The Stoics believed in the god Zeus-Logos, the world mind spread all over the world, so they deified nature, made it reasonable. The human soul is a part of the world mind. The main Stoics considered the instinct of self-preservation. A person should behave towards others as he would like to be behaved towards him. They urged not to break the laws, not to leave the state. The Stoics believed that the laws of society should be respected, they went to the public service. But if they believed that they were being forced to engage in non-virtue, then they killed themselves in protest. For Cynics, the end justifies the means. The Stoics were not interested in the goal; in their pursuit of happiness, the ethical character was important to them. Happiness is the sum of that where there is no negative. Their virtue was apathy. For the Stoics, apathy is the highest light in life. A person often does not reach the final goal.

Epicureans. Founder - Epicurus (341-270). Lived in Athens, taught in the form of conversations in beautiful gardens. The wealthy Epicurus was very sickly, could not take part in public life, so he creates a teaching for the rich and sickly. The ethics of Epicurus is based on the materialistic teachings of Democritus. Epicurus thinks about the essence of happiness. Answer: he must find it not in the external world, but within himself - in peace of mind or serenity of the soul (ataraxia). They were looking for peace of mind. Should not interfere in other people's affairs and politics. How to achieve this: everything depends on the fear of death and the fear of the gods. The gods are swept aside immediately. Death: he believes that as long as there is a person, there is no death, and when there is no person, then it is too late to be afraid. The main slogan: to live life unnoticed in the circle of your friends, freed from all passions. Excessive feelings. The word "Epicurean" over time begins to know something else - an unbridled person. It is impossible to live rationally, morally, justly, without living pleasantly. Philosophy of the golden mean.

The system of literary genres is also changing completely. Tragedy and theater lose their meaning, they are irrelevant. In place of these genres come small genres. These genres reflect the problems of humanism, family and everyday life, the position of women, the position of children. Literature and art turn to the private individual. To personality. The subject of the image also becomes an ordinary person. There is a polarization of literature: literature for the elite and fiction (mass literature). This is how the Greek novel appears as a story about private life.

Among high literature, the genres of "learned" poetry stand out. Poets of that time compete with the choice of subjects - unusual, little-known, different options. Literature is losing interest in large forms. Instead of epic poems, epillia - "epic" - is becoming widespread. An epigram, an elegy and an idyll spread.

Epillium. The master of epillium was the poet Collimach, a representative of learned poetry. The epillium "Gekal" is dedicated to Theseus, who goes on a feat, he is caught by night, rain, knocking on the hut of the old woman Hekal. Theseus leaves, then returns, and the old woman is dead. He wants to arrange sports games in her honor - in honor of Zeus Hecalia.

Idyll. Title: picture. The creator of the idyll was the poet Theocritus. He wrote bucolic idylls - shepherd's songs. Theocritus against urban civilization. Attaches to the natural. His idylls are scenes with bootes that compete in songs, mostly love songs, but there may be others. Theocritus treats them with irony - he is a resident of the city, not poor, plays a game with the reader.

Hellenism- a period in the history of the Mediterranean, primarily the eastern one, lasting from the time of the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) until the final establishment of Roman domination in these territories, which usually dates from the fall of Ptolemaic Egypt (30 BC). The term originally denoted the correct use of the Greek language, especially by non-Greeks, but after the publication of Johann Gustav Droysen's History of Hellenism (1836-1843), the concept entered the historical science.

A feature of the Hellenistic period was the widespread distribution of the Greek language and culture in the territories that became part of the states of the Diadochi, which were formed after the death of Alexander the Great in the territories he conquered, and the interpenetration of Greek and Eastern - primarily Persian - cultures, as well as the emergence of classical slavery.

The beginning of the Hellenistic era is characterized by the transition from the polis political organization to hereditary Hellenistic monarchies, the shift of centers of cultural and economic activity from Greece to Asia Minor and Egypt.

Formation and political structure of the Hellenistic states

The sudden death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. e., served as a signal for the beginning of the collapse of his empire, which revealed all its ephemerality. The commanders of Alexander, called the Diadochi, began a series of bloody wars and strife for the throne of a single state, which lasted 22 years. None of the Diadochi was able to win a decisive victory over all the others, and in 301 BC. e., after the battle of Ipsus, they divided the empire into several independent parts.

The division of the power of Alexander the Great after the battle of Ipsus (301 BC)

So, for example, Cassander got the throne of Macedonia, Lysimachus - Thrace and most of Asia Minor, Ptolemy - Egypt, Seleucus got vast lands from Syria to the Indus. This division did not last long - already in 285 BC. e. Lysimachus, together with the king of Epirus, conquers Macedonia, but soon dies in the war with Seleucus I Nicator. However, the Seleucid Empire itself soon loses its conquered possessions in Asia Minor, as a result of which the region is divided into several small independent states, of which Pontus, Bithynia, Pergamum and Rhodes should be highlighted.

New states are organized according to a special principle, called the Hellenistic monarchy, based on the synthesis of local despotic and Greek polis political traditions. The polis, as an independent civil community, retains its independence as a social and political institution even within the framework of the Hellenistic monarchy. Cities like Alexandria enjoy autonomy and their citizens enjoy special rights and privileges. At the head of the Hellenistic state, there is usually a king who has all the full power of state power. Its main support was the bureaucratic apparatus, which carried out the functions of managing the entire territory of the state, with the exception of cities that had the status of policies that owned a certain autonomy.

Compared with previous periods, the situation in the Greek world has seriously changed: instead of many policies at war with each other, the Greek world now consisted of several relatively stable major powers. These states represented a common cultural and economic space, which is important for understanding the cultural and political aspects of that era. The Greek world was a very closely interconnected system, which is confirmed by at least the presence of a single financial system and the scale of migration flows within the Hellenistic world (the Hellenistic era was a time of relatively high mobility of the Greek population. In particular, continental Greece, at the end of the 4th century BC. . suffering from overpopulation, by the end of the 3rd century BC, began to feel a lack of population).

Culture of the Hellenistic society

Hellenistic society is strikingly different from that of classical Greece in a number of ways. The actual departure of the polis system into the background, the development and spread of political and economic vertical (rather than horizontal) ties, the collapse of obsolete social institutions, the general change in the cultural background caused serious changes in the Greek social structure. It was a mixture of Greek and Oriental elements. Syncretism manifested itself most clearly in religion and the official practice of deifying monarchs.