How were the Greeks similar and different to the Hellenistic empire?
The Greeks and the Hellenistic empire were similar in dependence on slave labor, where in Hellenic era, “ virtually every household had a few” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013), and “every household had one or two domestic slaves, and most manufacturing and other labor was done by slaves” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013), which in both eras, “it was customary to enslave losers in battle” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013). On the other side, the differences could be found in the status of women living in either era. As the textbook suggests in the Greece chapter: “While respectable women stayed carefully indoors, some women – slaves or foreigners – who had no economic resources or family ties became prostitutes and courtesans who shared men’s public lives at dinners and drinking parties” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013). The Hellenistic World chapter, “It suggests that women worked and earned money instead of staying carefully guarded within the home. It also shows a loosening of the tight family ties that had marked the Greek poleis and the ancient Middle East civilizations” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013).
Athens supposedly experienced “a developing democratic form of government… that allowed them to run and control the growing city” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013), while during Hellenistic era, ”Society, economy, and politics all played out on a larger scale, and kings, rather than citizens, now ruled… It indicates people’s view of their king as the highest authority” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013).
What influences did the Greeks have on our society?
The influence of the Greeks on our society is portrayed in many ways we can see and learn about in everyday’s life. Such examples could be found in philosophy (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle), math, art, astronomy, architecture, and more. The Greeks introduced democracy, agricultural reforms (to address debt crisis), and the most famous Olympic games (776 B.C.E.). Also of an importance, Athenian aristocrats had established a form of government that allowed the to run and control the growing city (administrators were elected by an assembly of male citizens).
What influences did the Hellenistic empire have on our society?
Alexander the Great “implemented several policies that some have interpreted as his desire to rule over a unified rather than a conquered people” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013). He also supported intermarriage of Greeks and Macedonians with Asians. Hellenistic rulers founded a great library and established museums. The kings standardized currency as well, another boon for trade. When cities struggled with feeding people, “urban leaders set grain prices and subsidized food to keep the costs manageable” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013), as well as they regulated millers and bakers “to prevent from making large profits from cheap grain” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013). Herophilus, the first physician to cutting open a corpse, “performed dissections that led him to spectacular discoveries about human anatomy” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013).
Sherman, D. & Salisbury, J. (2013). The West in the World. 5th Edition, Volume 1: To 1715, McGraw-Hill Education, New York.