"By a sort of tacit consent the battle of Chaeronea is considered the minor limit of all that was good and perfect in Greek thought and life. The conquests of Alexander, the high culture of Rhodes and Alexandria, the profound thinking of the later schools, the deep learning, the splendid art, the multiform politics of Hellenism – all this is shut out from the schoolboy, as forming no part of the Greek he is to know, and it is but seldom taken up – with the exception of Theocritus – by those who preserve the habits and prejudices of school in their college life. (...) The proper ground for me to occupy is far higher. My conception of the Hellenistic world is that of a complex society containing almost all the features of our most modern life. The same problems, the same controversies, the same jealousies, were agitating men's minds then that agitate them now. Is it right or is it wrong for the historian of Hellenism to point out these analogies, and to illustrate the conflicts of that day by those which the modern reader can appreciate in the world around him?" - John Pentland Mahaffy
Contents: The Immediate Effect of Alexander's Conquests on Social Life in Greece. The Revolution in Hellenic Life Made by Alexander. The Diadochi as Executors of Alexander's Ideas. The Younger Generation of Diadochi, and the Princesses of Their Day. Home Politics During the Wars of the Diadochi. The Relation of Art and Literature to the Social Life of the Period. The Serious Side of Greek Society. The Religion of the Day. The Golden Age of the Hellenistic World. Alexandria and Its Rivals. The Alexandria of Philadelphus; Antioch, etc. The Literature of Alexandria under the First and Second Ptolemies. The Epics of Alexandria – the Idylls, Bucolic and Dramatic. The City Life of the Third Century B.C., and Its Effects upon the Civilization of the Age. Pergamum and Its Position in the Hellenistic World. The Mercantile Aspects of Hellenism – Leagues and Federations. Public Credit. The Greece of Aratus and His League. The Inner Life of the Period. The Crisis of Hellenism. The Gradual Subjection of Hellenism to Rome. The Crisis in Greece and the Settlement of Asia Minor. Decaying Hellenism in Syria; Its Collision with Judaism. Decaying Hellenism in Egypt. Polybius and His Age. The Importation of Hellenism to Rome.
Contents: The Immediate Effect of Alexander's Conquests on Social Life in Greece. The Revolution in Hellenic Life Made by Alexander. The Diadochi as Executors of Alexander's Ideas. The Younger Generation of Diadochi, and the Princesses of Their Day. Home Politics During the Wars of the Diadochi. The Relation of Art and Literature to the Social Life of the Period. The Serious Side of Greek Society. The Religion of the Day. The Golden Age of the Hellenistic World. Alexandria and Its Rivals. The Alexandria of Philadelphus; Antioch, etc. The Literature of Alexandria under the First and Second Ptolemies. The Epics of Alexandria – the Idylls, Bucolic and Dramatic. The City Life of the Third Century B.C., and Its Effects upon the Civilization of the Age. Pergamum and Its Position in the Hellenistic World. The Mercantile Aspects of Hellenism – Leagues and Federations. Public Credit. The Greece of Aratus and His League. The Inner Life of the Period. The Crisis of Hellenism. The Gradual Subjection of Hellenism to Rome. The Crisis in Greece and the Settlement of Asia Minor. Decaying Hellenism in Syria; Its Collision with Judaism. Decaying Hellenism in Egypt. Polybius and His Age. The Importation of Hellenism to Rome.
