The Greek Impact in Asia Minor 400–250 BCE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Greek Culture ◽  
Fourth Century Bce ◽  
Political Objective ◽  
The Impact

Until the end of the fourth century BCE the impact of Greek culture in Asia Minor was limited. Lykians, Karians, and Lydians offered alternatives to Hellenism and preserved their own languages until the end of the fourth century BCE. However, by 250 BCE these Anatolian languages ceased to be used in public or private documents, and polis organization became normative. After the overthrow of the Persian Empire the autonomy of Greek cities became the highest political objective. Greek civic decrees in the early Hellenistic period emphasized that democratic legitimacy depended on quorate citizen votes, the Greek language became the only medium for official public communication, and the native populations maintained their identity and independence by adopting polis organization. Between 400 and 250 BCE these populations did not merely absorb Greek cultural influence but underwent the encompassing experience of becoming Greek.

Asia Minor

2019 ◽  
pp. 494-513
Author(s):  
Peter Talloen
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Central Anatolia ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Local Material ◽  
The Impact

The early Christian archaeology of Asia Minor has recently developed into a discipline devoted to the contextualized study of the material remains of early Christianity. It has characterized Asia Minor as a region where—save some notable exceptions from mortuary contexts in Central Anatolia—the impact of the new faith on local material culture only became tangible in the course of the fourth century. During the fifth and sixth centuries Christianity would eventually conquer urban and rural landscapes through church construction in traditional as well as new foci of public space. At this time it also moved into the private sphere as household objects became decorated with Christian images and symbols.

Hellenistic Epigraphic Texts from Gordion

1987 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 103-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn E. Roller
Keyword(s):  
Present Author ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Central Anatolia ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Individual Character ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Shed Light

The excavations at Gordion have produced extensive material to be added to the epigraphical record of central Anatolia. Included in this are 187 Phrygian texts written in the epichoric script of Gordion, which have recently been published by Claude Brixhe and Michel Lejeune, and a large body of pottery marks, numerical texts, and other non-verbal graffiti, which has been studied by the present author. There is in addition a quantity of epigraphical material from the Hellenistic levels at Gordion not discussed in these two works. While their individual character is quite varied, these Hellenistic texts have in common the fact that all were written in Greek script. Eleven of them consist of words or short phrases in the Greek language, while the remainder are owners' marks, i.e., names or abbreviations of names. These texts shed light on several aspects of the site during the Hellenistic period. They help document the decline of both Phrygian script and language in the settlement. They also suggest probable shifts of population during the late fourth and third centuries B.C. through the increasing use of common Greek proper names and the occurrence of Celtic names. In general, they provide a glimpse of the impact of the Greek presence on the local Phrygian populace during the fourth and third centuries B.C.

Herennius Pontius: The Construction of a Samnite Philosopher

2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-147
Author(s):  
Phillip Sidney Horky
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Cultural Paradigms ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Fourth Century Bce ◽  
Extreme Responses

This article explores the historiographical traditions concerning Herennius Pontius, a Samnite wisdom-practitioner who is said by the Peripatetic Aristoxenus of Tarentum to have been an interlocutor of the philosophers Archytas of Tarentum and Plato of Athens. It argues that extant speeches attributed to Herennius Pontius in the writings of Cassius Dio and Appian preserve a philosophy of “extreme proportional benefaction” among unequals. Such a theory is marked by Peripatetic language and concepts, which suggests that these speeches derive from a single Peripatetic source, probably Aristoxenus. The reception of Aristoxenus' description of Herennius Pontius among Greeks and Romans is sharply divided. Greek theories of ethics among unequals such as those of Aristotle and Archytas, which aim for moderation, can be distinguished from that attributed to Herennius Pontius, which is circumstantial and stipulates extreme responses to extremes. Romans, in particular Appius Claudius Caecus and Sulla, espouse proverbial wisdom strikingly similar to the theory of “extreme proportional benefaction” associated with Herennius Pontius. Such comparisons suggest that starting in the late fourth century bce, Romans and Samnites may have held shared ideological principles, as defined against Greek cultural paradigms. Scholars are thus prompted to consider Herennius Pontius as a starting point for a much larger inquiry into shared ideology among non-Greeks in Italy during the Hellenistic period and beyond.

scholarly journals Carian ‘portraiture’ and Coan coinage in the fourth century BCE

CLARA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Håkon Roland
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
Fourth Century Bce ◽  
Point Of Departure

The point of departure of this article is the alleged iconographic connection between major fourth-century BCE Coan coin issues and the Hecatomnid sculptures of the Mausoleum in Halicarnassus. The historical setting is Caria in the first half of the fourth century BCE. The most decisive year in Coan history was 366 BCE. This was the year of the synoecism, when the different settlements on the island were gathered into one common political unit, an incident most often associated with a ‘democratic’ movement. The synoecism entailed a relocation of the capital to the easternmost part of the island, the point closest to the mainland of Asia Minor and the capital of the Hecatomnid dynasty. The Coan coin issues in question are used by historians as (the only) evidence for an early interference by Hecatomnid rulers on Cos and, based on this, to consider Mausolus himself as a driving force behind the synoecism on Cos in 366 BCE. The idea of the Hecatomnids as rulers of a more or less ‘Carian kingdom’ has gained support over the years, while pointing to Mausolus as the primus motor in establishing the polis of Cos fits the picture well. If so, the synoecism on Cos would have been caused by ‘oligarchic’ forces. Alleged evidence is provided by Coan coinage with Heracles and Demeter renderings, and a supposed iconographic likeness between these deities on coinage and portrait sculptures of the Mausoleum in Halicarnassus.

Hellenism and the Local Communities of the Eastern Mediterranean

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Local Engagement ◽  
The Many

This volume focuses on questions of Greek and non-Greek cultural interaction in the eastern Mediterranean and the ancient Near East during a broadly defined Hellenistic period from 400 BCE–250 CE. While recent historiographical emphasis on the non-Greek cultures of the eastern Mediterranean is a critical methodological advancement, this volume re-examines the presence of Greek cultural elements in these areas. The regions discussed—Asia Minor, Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia—were quite different from one another; so, too, were the cross-cultural interactions we can observe in each case. Nevertheless, overarching questions that unite these local phenomena are addressed by leading scholars in their individual contributions. These questions are at the heart of this volume: Why did the non-Greek communities of the Eastern Mediterranean engage so closely with Greek cultural forms and political and cultural practices? How did this engagement translate into the daily lives of the non-Greek cultures of Asia Minor, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Egypt? Local engagement differed from region to region, but some elements, such as local forms of the polis and writing in the Greek language, were attractive for many of the non-Greek communities from fourth-century Anatolia to second-century Babylon. The Greek empires and the Greek communities of the Eastern Mediterranean, too, were transformed by these local interpretations. The presence of adapted, changed, and locally interpreted Greek elements deeply entrenched in each community’s culture are for us the many forms of Hellenisms, but it is ultimately these categories, too, that this volume wishes to examine.

scholarly journals The collapse of empire at Gordion in the transition from the Achaemenid to the Hellenistic world

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 109-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elspeth R.M. Dusinberre
Keyword(s):  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Secondary Importance ◽  
Cultural Exchanges ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Hellenistic World ◽  
The Impact

AbstractGordion, ancient capital of Phrygia, was a large and thriving city of secondary importance during the period of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (ca 550–333 BC). Recent work makes possible a reconsideration of the site: evaluating its architecture, finds and use of landscape within and after the socio-economic and administrative context of the Achaemenid imperial system enables the following new overview. During the Achaemenid period, Gordion’s populace participated in the broad cultural exchanges enabled by the imperial system and may have emphasised animal husbandry. When Alexander’s conquest led to the collapse of the Achaemenid administrative infrastructure, the impact on Gordion’s economy and cultural circumstance was profound. Its population plummeted, the architectural and spatial organisation of the site changed dramatically and new directions and means of trade and cultural interaction developed. Gordion’s archaeological remains reflect and emphasise the tremendous historical and political changes attending the end of the Empire and the beginning of the Hellenistic period.

Classical Greece to Ptolemaic Alexandria: Writers and Readers

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-82
Author(s):  
Derek Attridge
Keyword(s):  
Lyric Poetry ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Classical Greece ◽  
Greek Culture ◽  
Extensive Collection ◽  
Speaking Voice ◽  
The Impact

When the Phoenician alphabet was adapted for use in Greece remains a matter of debate, but the impact of writing on poetry appears most clearly around the end of the sixth century BC when papyrus rolls became more common. However, it was not until the establishment of Alexandria as a major centre of Greek culture in the later fourth century that the reading of poetry on the written page became the norm. This chapter focuses on the experience of poetry in Alexandria in this period. With the loss of the musical dimension of Greek lyric, poetry became more exclusively a matter of the speaking voice, and the epigram became a favoured genre. The extensive collection of papyrus rolls in the Library of Alexander made the work of earlier writers accessible and encouraged highly allusive verse. These qualities are best demonstrated in the poetry of Callimachus, one of whose poems is discussed as an example of the dramatic recreation of performance in a work designed to be read.

Tyrants, Letters, and Legitimacy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sian Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Written Communication ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
The World ◽  
Fourth Century Bce ◽  
And Function

The chapter explores the part played by letters in how tyrants in the world of fifth- and fourth-century BCE Greece exercised power, with a specific emphasis on processes of decision-making and the role of state institutions that embedded the ruler within the wider political community. The focus is on the place and function of letters in the traditions surrounding the rulers of Syracuse (Dionysius I and II, Timoleon, and, moving into the Hellenistic period, Agathocles). A nuanced picture emerges: whereas the classical tyrants did not attempt to impose a model of rule through written communication within their poleis, where traditional oral methods of rule continued, in communications outside the polis tyrants moved gradually towards the letter as part of the consolidation of their rule.

Atticism and Asianism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Kim
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Second Sophistic ◽  
Essential Component ◽  
Greek Culture ◽  
Prose Style ◽  
Fourth Century Bce ◽  
Positive Light

This chapter treats two imperial Greek phenomena that have often been paired, usually in opposition: Atticism and Asianism. It first describes the theory, practice, and development of Atticism, the attempt by imperial Greeks to write in the language of the fifth and fourth century bce, treating its stylistic and grammatical variants and outlining its relation to imperial classicism. The second part treats the so-called “Asian” prose style associated primarily with the Hellenistic writer Hegesias of Magnesia and reminiscent of Gorgias and the first sophistic. The term itself is not current in the Second Sophistic, but the chapter argues that the style and aesthetic to which it refers are not only present in the work of many writers, but are also portrayed in a positive light by Philostratus. The tension between the classicizing tendencies of Atticism and the unclassical flavor of Asianism is an essential component of imperial Greek culture.

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