OUP (2016) h/b 152pp £12.99 (ISBN 9780198759010)
This compact and readable book provides a concise survey in six chapters of the main outlines of the Hellenistic world beginning with the death of Alexander the Great in 323BC and ending with that of Cleopatra in 30B C, which resulted in the absorption of the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt into the Roman Empire.
The first chapter examines the complete change in world view brought about by the conquests of Alexander and the expansion of Greek culture through large-scale migrations of Greek speakers into Egypt and Asia. Although we possess no conventional narrative history of the military and political events of these centuries, there is still a wealth of evidence available from documentary papyri, inscriptions in stone, archaeological excavations, coinage and literary and scientific texts.
Chapter Two briefly traces the history of the period through the establishment and gradual disintegration of the Antigonid, Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Attalid successor kingdoms, along with the rise of Roman power in the Mediterranean after the defeat of Carthage.
In Chapter Three T. deals with the ideology of Hellenistic kingship and its basis not in constitutional legitimacy, but rather in wealth, military strength and quasi-divine charisma, and displayed through the founding of cities and lavish benefactions.
The fourth chapter gives a flavour of the rich intellectual activity of the period centred in particular on the Museum and Library of Alexandria (that ‘chicken coop of the Muses’) with its impressive scientific and mathematical discoveries by thinkers such as Eratosthenes and Archimedes, as well as the production of highly erudite poetry and the industrious editing and critical analysis of the Greek literary heritage. Other centres of learning are also touched upon, including Syracuse, the library of Pergamon and the philosophical schools of Athens.
Chapter Five explores the vast geographical compass of the Hellenistic world, which included locations as diverse as Aï Khanoum on the Oxus River in North East Afghanistan, trading posts for pepper, ivory, spices and luxury fabrics in South India and Sri Lanka, the Scythians on the Black Sea and the Hellenised culture of the city of Naples in Italy.
Chapter Six focusses on Priene in Asia Minor, the best preserved surviving Hellenistic city with its grid plan streets and monumental public archive on the wall of the Temple of Athena Polias, as a case study of daily life in the Greek towns of Asia Minor during the Hellenistic Age.
The book contains two outline maps, a number of small black and white illustrations of coins and artefacts and a basic timeline. But most usefully, in a work that aims to inspire further investigation among sixth formers, undergraduates and interested general readers, there is an eclectic range of books and articles cited as further reading for each chapter. In a small compass T. successfully evokes the great variety and complexity of Hellenistic civilisation, when the Greek language ‘might take a man from Marseilles to India, from the Caspian to the Cataracts.’
Claire Gruzelier