Essays on Hellenistic Period

From the Eastern Mediterranean to Asia

The Hellenistic period spans the period of Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the rise of Augustus in Rome in 31 B.C.E.

This period is characterized by a separation and a split from Alexander's former empire, with endless wars between the Diadochi and their successors. The Hellenistic kingdoms weakened and thus created space for competing kingdoms, such as Pontus or Bactria. Also, Roman power was in exponential expansion. At the end of this period the young Roman empire had almost reached its maximum expansion. The different kinds of kingdoms, with more centralized power, replaced the model of the city-state, which were dominated before.

In some fields Hellenistic culture thrived, particularly in its preservation of the past. Greater mobility made possible by territorial expansion encouraged people to seek a sense of purpose. Many people joined “mystery religions,” like the cults of the goddesses Isis and Fortune.This period showed progress in architecture, a lot of great euergetism, a multiplication of feast days and celebrations, the development of art and the creation of libraries, with the most famous being in Alexandria.

The arts flourished in the Hellenistic period. Artists explored new tecniques of representing emotional effects and individual experiences. The most famous works of Hellenistic Art include "Laocoön and His Sons," "Winged Victory of Samothrace," "Laocoön and His Sons," "Venus de Milo," "Dying Gaul," "Boxer at Rest," and "Boy With Thorn."