DÜNYA MEDENİYETLERİNE GİRİŞ

The Hellenistic Civilization which labels the period between the death of Alexander and Rome’s conquest of Greece (323 - 146 - 31 BCE).

It was not a dominant world model until the middle of the 20th Century, some 2,500 years later.

Many local agricultural villages or poleis (plural.) [polis single] formed the basic sociological, political and military patterns of Greece throughout its earliest history and extended into the Classic Greek Age.

Some city-states allied themselves with specific gods, erecting temples in their honor, and calling on them for help when their situations became dire. Athens was associated with Athens; Apollo with Delphi; and Ares with Thrace.

The mythology provided an explanation for natural phenomena: destructive storms were the result of Zeus’s anger at man’s impieties; Poseidon would raise storms at sea and sink the ships of those who displeased him.

Apart from Sparta, women were forbidden to participate in communal sports.

The shopping centers (agoras) literally meant “gathering place” or “assembly".

Plato argued that ideas control the life.

The Olympics were so important to Greek culture that the city-states stopped all their battles and observed a special truce for a full month before the games started.

Pythagoras developed a theory of numbers, classifying them into various categories, such as odd, even, prime, composite, perfect and so on.

The most significant concept from the Hellenic model was the political governance of recognized citizens. Other notable fields emanating from the Classic Age were philosophy (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle), recorded history (Thucydides, Herodotus), theater (Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, and Euripides), medicine (Hippocrates), and statecraft (Pericles).

The accepted end of the Hellenic Era is dated at the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, the Greek empire continued, albeit in a disintegrated state.

The religion of ancient Greece was polytheistic, that is, having many gods and goddesses, who reflected life as it was lived in the land. The gods were immortal, but shared many of the characteristics of humans, including their vices.

Education was different for boys and girls. Boys were educated to become good citizens and take part in the public life of the city-state, whereas girls were taught housekeeping and how to care for the family.

The economy of Hellenic Civilization was defined largely by the region’s dependence on imported goods. Since agriculture was labor-intensive, 80% of
the Greek population was employed in farming and animal husbandry. Taxes were important revenue streams for citystate governments and were levied on houses, slaves, herds and flocks, wines, and hay, among other things.

The shopping centers (agoras) literally meant “gathering place” or “assembly”. The agora was the center of the athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the city

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who was an important figure in modern philosophy.

The greatest literatures of the early Greek period were the Homeric Epics, Iliad and Odyssey.

More important was the work of Hippocrates in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. He is regarded as the Father of Medicine.

Classical Age
(500-338 BCE)
• Rise of drama and historical writing
• Persian Wars
• Growth of the Athenian Empire
• Peloponnesian War
• Spartan and Theban hegemonies
• 338 BCE - Conquest of Greece by Philip
of Macedon
• 338 BCE - The fall of Greece