Lecture 32: Alexander the Great never accepted the distinction between Hellene and barbarian as taught by Aristotle. While a Hellene in aesthetics and manners, Alexander remained a Macedonian king who saw loyal subjects to reward rather than fellow …
Lecture 32: Alexander the Great never accepted the distinction between Hellene and barbarian as taught by Aristotle. While a Hellene in aesthetics and manners, Alexander remained a Macedonian king who saw loyal subjects to reward rather than fellow citizens to persuade. From 330 B.C. on Alexander courted the Iranian nobility, upheld Achaemenid traditions, and trained 30,000 Iranians (epigonoi) in Macedonian arms. One of the most important activities Alexander pursued later in his career would be the founding of cities, particularly in the Upper Satrapies, and also along the Eastern frontier. The establishment of Greek-style cities became one of the hallmarks of any type of civilized Philhellene. In all of these areas, the monarch always fashioned himself as a Philhellene king. They sponsored cities that would be Greek-style cities; and these cities could become Hellenized along one of several lines. Some cities were simply honored as Greek cities. There were also instances of royal foundations, where any of
these monarchs—whether they be Seleucids, the lesser dynasts, even the Ptolemaic kings outside of their immediate domains in Egypt, established Greek-style cities.
Alexander, however, acted out of pragmatic necessity rather than a policy of Hellenization or assimilation credited to him by later generations. The Hellenistic kings, while they founded many more Greek cities and maintained Hellenic courts, likewise had no policy of Hellenizing their different subjects. The natives were doing it in order to win royal patronage; and that Hellenization only went so far. Aramaic was still widely spoken in the Middle East as a commercial language; not all the cults were Hellenized; and outside of the cities, the impact of these activities was probably quite limited. In Egypt, the situation was even more dramatic. The Ptolemaic kings ruled Egypt as the heirs of the pharaohs; there is very little evidence of the Ptolemies disturbing their Egyptian subjects.
Suggested Reading:
Austin, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest.
Bingen, Hellenistic Egypt.
Bowman, Egypt after the Pharaohs.
Cohen, The Seleucid Colonies.
Cribb, and Herrmann, After Alexander.
Cribionre, Gymnastics of the Mind.
Jones, The Greek City from Alexander to Justinian.
Sherwin-White, and Kurt, From Samarkhand to Sardis.
Shipley, The Greek World after Alexander.
Tarn, Hellenistic Civilization.
Veyne, Bread and Circuses.
Walbank, The Hellenistic World.
Lecture 33: https://www.bitchute.com/video/23mOWV8ZjGWT/
