HIST 1001 Chapter : September 21st Hellenistic
Document Summary
It"s called hellenistic because it translates from the word helas which means. It is the sucessor to greek city states and lasts about 400 yrs. Greece ends up providing a lot of culture to people that are not greek. The official languages of these kingdoms was greek. How to run their societies, run trade, diplomacy, how to setup schools, how to found cities. It was a very odd combination of a greek top layer, but native foundation. The culture is a weird local and greek mix. Unlike the old polis, these hellenistic cities were not independent, they were ruled by kings. If you wanted to advance in any way in these socities, you would need to make yourself greek. Claim ancestry, speak greek, go to see plays, send kids to greek schools, dress greek. Urban areas were greek, but most rural areas were native, the farm lands were unchanged, they were mostly native and not "greekified"
