10222 The History of the Hellenistic World

Credits: 6 intermediate credits in Ancient History

Prerequisites: none

Recommended: Classical Greece

Authors: Ephraim David, Menachem Luz, Binyamin Shimron, Rachel Zelnick; Israel Shatzman, Avraham Mizrachi, Aviva Katsir

The course surveys the changes in the Greek world at the end of the classical period and discusses Hellenistic culture and politics following the conquests of Alexander the Great. Students are introduced to the political, economic and cultural processes that shaped the culture of the Hellenistic world and to the causes for its decline. Source material for the course includes both selected ancient sources and modern research.

Topics: Greece in the 4th century BCE; Plato and Aristotle; Alexander the Great and the conquest of the East; The successors of Alexander the Great; The Hellenistic kingdoms – political history; The Hellenistic monarchy; Society and economy in the Hellenistic world; Philosophy in the Hellenistic age; The history of Hellenistic literature – schools and trends; Hellenistic art; Roman conquest of Greece and the East.