After Alexander the Great

AFTER ALEXANDER THE GREAT By 35o B.c. Hellenism had not seriously affected any but the more primitive races which dwelt upon the borders of the Hellenic lands, and here, with the doubtful exception of the Macedonians, was rather for the courts than for the people. Everything was changed when by the conquests of Alexander (334-323) Hel lenism rose to material supremacy in all the East as far as India, and when cities of Greek speech and constitution were planted at the cardinal points of intercourse within those lands. The Macedonian chiefs found their pride in being champions of Hellenism. Their courts were Greek in language and atmosphere. All kings liked to win the good word of the Greeks. All of them in some degree patronized Greek art and letters, and some sought fame for themselves as authors. Even the barbarian courts, their neighbours or vassals, were swayed by the dominant fashion. But by the courts alone Hellenism could never have been propagated far. Greek culture had been the product of the city-state, and Hellenism could not be dissevered from the city. It was upon the system of Greek and Macedonian cities, planted by Alexander and his successors, that their work rested. Rome, when it stepped into their place, safeguarded its continuance, and acted as a Hellenistic power.

The Character of the New Greek Cities. The

citizen bodies at the outset were really of Greek or Macedonian blood—soldiers who had served in the royal armies, or men attracted from the older Greek cities to the new lands thrown open to commerce. The cities, of course, drew in numbers beside of the people of the land. The cities were Hellenic in their political organs and functions, with boule and demos and popularly elected magis trates. Life was filled with the universal Hellenic interests, which centred in the gymnasium and the religious festivals, these last including, of course, not only athletic contests but performances of the classical dramas or later imitations of them. The wander ing sophist and rhetorician would find a hearing no less than the musical artist. The language of the upper classes was Greek; and the material background of building and decoration, of dress and furniture, was of Greek design. A greater regularity in the street-plans distinguished the new cities from the older, slowly grown cities of the Greek lands.

Sometimes the Greek city was not an absolutely new founda tion, but an old oriental city re-colonized and transformed. And in such cases the old name was often replaced by a Greek one. Even where there was no new foundation the older cities of Phoenicia and Syria became transformed from the overwhelming prestige of Hellenic culture. In Tyre and Sidon, no less than in Antioch or Alexandria, Greek literature and philosophy were seri ously cultivated, as we may see by the great names which they contributed.