The crisis of classical Athens and Alexander the Great

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The crisis of classical Athens and Alexander the
Great
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From last time

• Athens and democracy
• Democracy and religion, from Aeschylus to
  Euripides
• Dialectic between public and private religion,
  development of the question of choice
• Euripides and the beginning of the end

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The Second Peloponnesian War (431-421 BCE)
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The peace does not hold Athens and Sparta keep
fighting until Athens surrenders (404 BCE)
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The crisis of Athens religion and politics

• You saw the classical Athens as a place where
  those issues were discussed.
• An example is Socrates know yourself, maieutic
  method
• But the quest can be less than productivewhere
  does all this doubt leave us?

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Socrates (executed in 399 BCE)
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The Sophists

• The Sophists were creatures of Athenian democracy
• In order to be able to participate in the
  assembly and to be effective, you need to be able
  to make your arguments well
• The Sophists were the masters in rhetoric,
  dialectic and persuasion
• What happens when Sophist-style discussion enters
  in matters of religion, law and morality?

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Thrasymachus against Socrates look at your source

• Thrasymachus and the concept of justice what do
  you see?
• How does it compare to Aeschylus? How about
  Homer?
• Where is the link between religion and laws in
  Thrasymachus speech?
• So

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Intellectual turmoil and political mess the
raise of a new power
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Philip of Macedonia and Aristotle the end of
classical polis and the beginning of the
Macedonian empire

• 338 BCE Philip, king of Macedonia, conquers
  Greece after a period of struggle
• Aristotle is the preceptor of Philips son,
  Alexander the Great he thinks that without a
  great mans intervention Greek freedom is over

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Philip II, however, is assassinated in 336, just
two years after conquering Greece it is time for
his young son, Alexander the Great
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Greece under Alexander changes in geography
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Other changes

• No more poleis while Greek poleis did not
  disappear, they lost their importance as the
  political center of the state. It is now time for
  military empire
• Changes in art from the equilibrium of a perfect
  system to the pathos (suffering) of a life in a
  period of turmoil

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Classic and Hellenistic art

• Polycleituss Doryphoros (ca. 440 BCE, Roman
  copy)
• Laocoön, (I century BCE, Roman copy)

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Change in philosophy a new, private morality

• Cynicism (Diogenes) freedom from conventions of
  society (money, family, state) gives you freedom
  from the whims of Fortune
• Epicureanism (Epicurus) freedom from fear and
  desire gives you freedom from the whims of
  Fortune
• Stoicism being in harmony with the cosmos gives
  you freedom (fata volentem ducunt, nolentem
  trahunt destiny leads those who are willing,
  and drags those who are not)

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Change in religion old gods and new gods

• The religion of the polis meets the wide and
  imperial East
• What happens?
• They meet and sometimes blendfor instance

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Osiris Apis Zeus Serapis
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Religious syncretism in the Mediterranean

• Syncretism means the merging of different
  religions
• Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Jews all lived in
  the same territory, they mixed together and it is
  natural that their religions mixed too
• That does not mean that there was one big
  smorgasbord of religion in the Mediterranean, but
  the new merged gods coexisted with the old
  territorial one

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Why does this matter?

• Hellenistic religion was a bridge between West
  and East, and although it did not reach a
  unification, it started a dialogue
• Christianity will happen in this ground, and
  Christianity, as we will see, contains many
  western and eastern elements
• Indeed, much of the west contains eastern
  elements!

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The library of Alexandria as a metaphor of
Hellenism
Founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BCE,
it was the largest library in the world! It was
destroyed between the 1st and the 5th centuries AD
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On Monday Antigone and IMPORTANT information on
the MIDTERM

• Have a good week-end!