Great Pyramid of Giza
1. The fetters of Greece were three fortressed cities: Corinth, Chalcis, and Demetrius. These cities were heavily fortified and were considered strategic sites. The Antigonids of Macedonia controlled the city-states of Greece by keeping strong garrisons at those three cities. The city of Corinth subdued the Peloponnesian peninsula; the Phocians, Locrians and Boetians were regulated by Chalcis; and the Thessalians were dominated by the city of Demetrius. The Greek states were chained in, or "shackled" by these three Macedonian strongholds. Whoever occupied these cities, ruled Greece. The fact that the Antigonids never conquered Greece, and instead only controlled it, suggests that it was essential to their own security and imperative that they be the power that ruled Greece.
2. Two of the seven wonders of the ancient world were located in Egypt: the Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria, and the Great Pyramid of Giza. The Pharos Lighthouse was the last structure to be added to the canon of ancient wonders and its site is now covered by the Islamic Kait Bay Fort. The Pharos guided sailors into the city harbor for 1,500 years and was the last of the six lost wonders to disappear. Earthquakes toppled it in the 14th century AD. Some of the material from the collapsed ruins was used to build the military fort. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the ancient wonders and is the only one still standing in almost complete form.
Two of the seven wonders were located in Asia Minor: the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Artemis' temple or "house of the soul" was partially destroyed by the Goths in 262 AD and completely destroyed by Saint John Chrysostom in 401 AD. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was the great tomb monument of Carian ruler Maussollos. The structure towered over everything else in the city, but King Mausolus never saw it finished. He died during its construction and his Queen Artemesia supervised the completion of it. It stood for eighteen hundred years, before being toppled by an earthquake in the 1400's AD. The size and structure are reasonably well documented. Several of the lion statues that circled the roof are now in museum collections. The four horses that pull the chariot on the rooftop are also well documented and parts of the horses are also in museum collections.The site has been completely excavated, with only columns and evidence for its foundation found.
 Temple of Artemis at Ephesus |
 Mausoleum at Halicarnassus |
One of the ancient wonders was located on the island of Rhodes and stood 110 feet high. Very little is known of the Colossus of Rhodes, although apparently it was toppled by an earthquake in 226 BC. It was an enormous bronze statue of their patron god Helios.
Its existence has never been proven, nor its ruins been uncovered, but the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon may have been the royal gardens of a Mesopotamian palace. Many archaeologists believe that in any case, Babylonia's capital should qualify for inclusion in the canon.
The last ancient wonder is the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, built by the famous Pheidias, who began working on the statue around 440 BC. Over forty feet high, with a base twenty feet wide, and made of ivory and gold, it depicted Zeus sitting in his throne. The legs of the throne were decorated with sphinxes and winged figures of Victory. Greek gods and mythical figures also adorned the scene: Apollo, Artemis, and Niobe's children. In Description of Greece, Pausanias, a Greek traveler who wrote the earliest guidebook to ancient Greece in 150 AD wrote:
On his head is a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. In his right hand he holds a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold ... In his left hand, he holds a sceptre inlaid with every kind of metal, with an eagle perched on the sceptre. His sandals are made of gold, as is his robe. His garments are carved with animals and with lilies. The throne is decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory.
Eight hundred years after it was constructed, the sculpture was moved to Constantinople, but was destroyed by fire in a severe blaze that leveled most of the city in 462 AD.
3. Soon after Alexander the Great's death, the Greek States rose up in revolt. Led by Athens, who paid many mercenary soldiers to help them in their fight. Aetolia and Macedonia's old and strong ally Thessaly sent armies to help. Although they had been relatively pleased with Philip II as their Hegemon, the Athenians, in particular, did not like being controlled by "barbarians" from the north. He had banished the mercenaries and pirates from the Greek States after he had won the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC and established the Hellenic League for them. This gave the Greeks relative independence, with Macedonia as their supreme ruler, but Alexander had interfered with the treaty by forcing the Greek States to take back these roving exiles since they were causing him trouble. Antipater also began to disregard the treaty by placing oligarchies with troops to avoid revolt in the city-states.
With Alexander's death, they decided to fight for their independence and for the revival of their blessed poleis. With Antipater in command, he and Craterus banded together to put down the rebellion. The war took place at Lamia, northwest of Athens, and was subsequently named for the site. The Lamian War began in 323 BC and ended the next year with a crushing blow to the Greek States, especially Athens. Subsequently, they were ruled by large garrisons of Macedonian soldiers and lost many of their privileges and freedoms.
4. After Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 BC, his corpse was taken to Egypt by Ptolemy I. The body was reportedly accompanied by Alexander's half brother Arrihidaeus, who performed religious rites on the embalmed corpse. The kidnapping of his remains by Ptolemy led to a war amongst his successors in which Perdiccas and Craterus were killed. Alexandria was chosen by Alexander as his empire's capital and Ptolemy believed that his corpse would give the city great status. Ptolemy wanted the body to be buried in Alexandria, in order to fulfill the prophecy of Aristander, Alexander's favourite soothsayer, who had predicted "that the country in which his body was buried would be the most prosperous in the world." By having the body lying in state, it gave Ptolemy an air of prestige and legitimacy when promoting himself as the true heir of the empire. After Alexander died in Babylon, a massive funeral cortege was created for the mummified body for transport to Egypt for burial, taking nearly two years to finish.
The sudden death of Alexander left his generals without any plan whereby the vast territories he had conquered should be administered. Some of his followers, including the rank and file of the Macedonian army, wanted to preserve the empire. But the generals wanted to break up the empire and create realms for themselves. It took more than 40 years of struggles and warfare (323-280 BC) before the separate kingdoms were carved out. Finally three major dynasties emerged: the Ptolemies in Egypt, the Seleucids in Asia, Asia Minor, and Palestine, and the Antigonids in Macedonia and Greece. These kingdoms got their names from three generals of Alexander: Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Antigonus.
5. Demetrius Poliorcetes was the earliest imitator of Alexander the Great. He endeavored to be like him in every way: he dressed, walked, and talked like Alexander, even wearing the horns of Ammon. In 306 BC, Demetrius issued a coin that said he was the son of Poseidon, which was similar to Alexander's contention that he was the son of Zeus. Demetrius even took up residence in the Parthenon in Athens, basically saying he was Athena's younger brother. To strengthen his claim, he resurrected the Corinthian League, and was worshipped by the people of Athens.
After the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, Lysimachus and Epirus' King Pyrrhus united against Demetrius and took control of Macedonia from him. He was left with only his fleet, and having no land base remaining, Demetrius eventually fled to Seleucus for help, where he received refuge and a pension. Demetrius was like Alexander in another way as well: they both enjoyed drinking. In 283 BC, he died in exile, evidently from inactivity and the overindulgence of food and drink.
6. Whom did Alexander appoint as his heir?
Alexander the Great considered himself invincible, a demi-god. He was wounded many times in battle, was very sick from malaria and near death from various infections over the years. He had always recovered and was still a young man. Alexander had never lost a battle and it may have never occurred to him that he could become mortally sick.
Some writers of the time reported that when Alexander was asked about a successor on his deathbed, his answer was "to the strongest." To some historians that reply would have indicated Craterus, who had already left Alexander for Macedonia with 20,000 soldiers. Diodorus wrote about a will that Alexander reportedly left behind with instructions to give Perdiccas his signature ring and therefore, the empire's power. But it is very unlikely that Perdiccas was so power hungry that he would even produce a fraudulent will to persuade Alexander's army.
At the time of his death, Alexander was King of Macedonia, Champion of the Greeks, Pharaoh of Egypt, King of Persia, King of Bactria, and King of Caria. He traveled so much and had so many responsibilities that it is unlikely that he had made any plans in the event of his death -- he was just starting. It is unlikely that he even knew how he was going to administer his growing empire. He probably believed that he would recover from his sickness in Babylon and would rule the world for many more years.
7. Philip Arrhidaeus was the son of Philip II of Macedonia, and an aristocrat from Thessaly named Philinna. Arrhidaeus was Alexander the Great's older half-brother. He should have succeeded their father. Why didn't he?
Traditionally it was said that Arrhidaeus had epilepsy, but many people, including Julius Caesar had that medical problem and still functioned quite well. Plutarch tells us that Arrhidaeus showed so much promise as a child that Alexander's mother Olympias gave him drugs that caused brain damage. This does not seem very likely since he was loved and respected by the Macedonian army and also performed many complicated religious rites. Greeks did not have any compassion for feeble-minded people and certainly would not have put him in charge of accompanying Alexander's body to Egypt. It is possible that Arrhidaeus was simply an ordinary person, who was not willing or capable of leading a physically and spiritually-challenging life.
After Alexander's death, Perdiccas rallied support for Arrhidaeus and hailed him as the rightful king, until Alexander's son with Roxanne was born. With Alexander IV's birth, Perdiccas constructed a dual kingdom for both of them.
Arrhidaeus married Adea Eurydiki, a fourteen year old girl who had training as a soldier. With Olympias, Roxanne, and Alexander IV on one side, and Arrhidaeus with Adea on the other, it was difficult for Perdiccas to placate both parties. He was eventually assassinated, leaving Polyperchon as the appointed guardian in his place. Olympias somehow managed to bring Polyperchon over to her side and helped her lure Arrhidaeus and Adea into a trap, murdering both of them.
8. The Septuagint is the principal Greek version of the Old Testament. One legend attributes the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek to a group of seventy-two people, who finished their work in seventy-two days. But more likely, the "Seventy" were members of the Sanhedrim, who sanctioned the translation. It was said that the Greek version was made in the reign and by the order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt, in the city of Alexandria.
However, most modern critics suppose that it is the work not only of different hands, but also of different times. It is probable that at first, only the Pentateuch was translated and the remaining books done gradually over time. It is commonly believed that the completed version was finished by the second century BC. The Septuagint is written in the Hellenistic dialect of koine, and is linguistically of great importance for its effect on the diction of the New Testament.
By writing in Greek, the Jews of Alexandria believed they could become equals with the Alexandrian Greeks. At the time, to be considered educated and worthy of recognition, one had to be able to read and write in Greek. Also, for the Jews to spread their teachings, they had to translate them. many Jews had forgotten their mother language and needed access to these works, as well.
In the Greek Church, the Septuagint enjoyed continuous use from the earliest times and is still used today. It contains the books called Apocrypha intermingled amongst the other books, and is the version out of which most of the citations in the New Testament from the Old are taken.
9. Michael Grant calls Alexandria a "curious capital" because it never quite seemed to belong to Egypt. It was linked to the rest of the country by the Nile River, but people still spoke of travelling from Alexandria to Egypt. This isn't really surprising because when Alexander the Great chose the location for the capital of his empire, he was not only building Egypt's new centre but a commercially-oriented Greek metropolis.
With its location and the size of its harbours, Alexandria made a fortune through exporting and trading. As a result of its wealth, Egypt's capital was able to build its famous Museum and Library of Alexandria, along with fabulous palaces and temples. All of these amenities attracted people from all over the Hellenistic World, with scholars and intellectuals in large numbers. Although Alexandria was the first and greatest universal city, with half a million inhabitants, it consisted largely of a Greek population. These Greeks passionately maintained their culture and had special privileges and their own organizations. There was also a large Jewish community, as well as people from many other ethnic backgrounds, including tens of thousands of Egyptians.
Alexandria was an entity onto itself, a superstructure, which was quite different from any other city of its time. A curious capital that became not only the largest Greek city of the time, but more than anything else, a very important centre for culture.
10. After putting some of his satraps to death, Alexander the Great put four of his most trusted generals in charge of certain areas of his empire. After he died, three of the generals wanted the empire to divide into separate kingdoms under their management. In Babylon, the oldest general, Seleucus, was governing. He was a very powerful man and was satrap of the entire eastern Persian Empire. In Egypt, Ptolemy I was the satrap and acting Regent before Alexander's death, ruling from Memphis. He now wanted total control of Egypt for himself.
In Thrace, Lysimachus was the satrap, who ruled on the edges of Macedonia, endeavoring to take over the country. After Antipater's death, his son Cassander did continue to support Arrihidaeus for awhile, but eventually decided to make a deal with the other generals. Cassander wanted to retain the kingship of Macedonia and the leadership of the Greek States. Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy were also content to keep charge of what they already controlled. It was the fourth general, Antigonus Monophthalmus and his son, Demetrius, that these "Separatists" were to fight for years to come, trying to settle the conflict.
11. Demetrius, son of Antigonus Monophthalmus was called "Poliorcetes." Demetrius and his father controlled Phrygia, the Greek Islands, and they ruled the Aegean Sea with their enormous fleet. Although Demetrius is listed in the Epigoni, he was really an intricate component of the Diodichi with his father. Father and son were very close and together wanted to hold Alexander's empire together after his death.
Demetrius' nickname was "Poliorcetes" or "Besieger of Cities" because he had captured many cities, such as Megara and Athens during his conquests. He insisted on the best engineers and scientists to design bigger and better seige ships and machinery for his pleasure. His projects were on a grand scale and even his enemies were impressed by his unique structures. The "City Taker" of Rhodes was likely his greatest invention, measuring ninety-nine feet high with wheels that were each sixteen feet high. thousands of men worked this Helopolis, which Demetrius commissioned Epimachus to design. For almost a year, Demetrius and his army tried to capture the Island of Rhodes but his machine only caused a stalemate. Eventually, the Helopolis became stuck in the mud and was abandoned, later providing capital for the construction of the famous Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. In this case, Demetrius was unable to live up to his name.
12. Epicurus was a philosopher who was born on the Greek island of Samos, located off the coast of Asia Minor. After spending fifteen years in exile, travelling from place to place before settling in Athens. He taught his followers on a piece of land attached to his house, called "The Garden." His Epicurean philosophy was the principal rival to the Stoicism of Zeno, although both were originally of the Platonic Academy.
Epicurus is most famous "as an apostle of pleasure" and advocated that ataraxia was the goal and could be attained by living a life devoid of both suffering and tumultuous desires. He believed that the world was just a series of accidental combinations of atoms, and even the gods were made up of them. Epicurus believed that the fear of death and fear of the gods were the two things that prevented people from having peace of mind. By removing these fears, one could find ataraxia.
Epicurus has wrongly been associated with a hedonistic vision of life. The word "epicurean" has therefore come to be considered as the hedonistic devotion to sensual pleasures of sex, food, and drink. He believed in the "absence of pain," not in the fulfillment of one's every pleasure. For example, sex is a natural desire that can help in the pursuit of peace, but it should be strictly controlled and emotionless.
13. The town of Vergina has been identified as Aegae, the first Macedonian capital city, and the site of its first royal residence. It was known for its fabulous wealth, but Vergina is most famous for the multitude of archaeological discoveries, dating from 340 BC. Eight royal tombs have already been located, containing many valuable artifacts made of gold and silver. However, the most important were the wall-paintings found in November 1977 by Manolis Andronikos. Hellenistic Art was a move towards realism and naturalism, a trend away from classicism. Unfortunately, very little of the original artwork has survived. The realistic mosaics of the Vergina tombs present us with an inspirational scene of the god Hades' famous mythological abduction of Persephone; a mural portrait of a young Macedonian warrior; and a mosaic, which pictures a lion hunt.
 The Abduction of Persephone |
 The Abduction of Persephone, detail |
These paintings are evidence of the transition from what things and people ought to look like, to a more sophisticated realistic genre. Even more recently, archaeologists working in Vergina have uncovered ivory sculptures depicting Philip II and Alexander realistically portrayed with anatomical accuracy. These findings also seem to reinforce the conviction that Hellenistic monarchs tried to outdo one another in all areas, including the building of libraries, the creation of beautiful architecture, great art, and even royal graves and tombs.
14. Stoicism was one of the new philosophical movements of the Hellenistic period. Stoicism can be defined as a philosophical peace of mind, a condition of invulnerable security and tranquility, against which fate or chaos can do no harm. With the death of Alexander the Great came the Hellenistic Period, and with it a "watered-down" Greekness. The world for the Greeks was very disoriented and changeable since many were living in far-flung places like Babylon. The golden age of the polis was now over. There was an intermingling with barbarians and an overall feeling of helplessness against chance or fate. People were striving to find ataraxia and philosophers like Zeno the Stoic were in great demand to help in their search. Although it had its roots in earlier thinkers--particularly Heraclitus and Socrates--it originated as a distinct philosophy around 300 BC when a man by the name of Zeno (c. 336-264 BC) arrived in Athens. Zeno was originally a Cynic, who left to form his own philosophical school of Stoicism in Athens. He came from Cyprus to Athens to teach in a public hall called the Stoa Poikile, from which he derived his school's name. As with so many ancient philosophers, very little has survived of Zeno's own writing, though Diogenes Laertius provides a very long summary of his ideas and those of the other Stoics. Zeno believed that nature could be "the vehicle of world harmony" and that all things in heaven and on earth have a cosmic interchangeability. He taught that if "man can accept his fate in life, then he will find ataraxia or peace of mind. It is the irrational feelings that must be eliminated so as to remove human anxieties. One must be concerned only with the soul, for the spiritual path can lead to the goal of apathy and help "man" to accept what fate has to offer. In acceptance there is no fear. The goal was "peace of mind," through a highly virtuous way of living.
Stoicism had a powerfully developed system of philosophy, which covered logic, ethics and physics. The central beliefs were that the cosmos was a divine being, endowed with a soul that was made of a refined form of matter. Our role on earth was to accept and live according to nature. The Stoics also believed that we should accept our destinies unquestioningly, since they embodied the will of the universe: for that reason their name became synonymous with patience and long-suffering. Epictetus' Stoic philosophy, which influenced the likes of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, is basically that the goal of life is to live in harmony with nature. That means to live the good life, we must both live in accord with our human nature -- as essentially rational, reflective and thoughtful beings -- and conform our actions to the actual conditions of the natural world. The Stoics, especially Chrysippus, are renowned for their logic, which contains the first systematic analysis of how the truth value of a compound proposition depends upon the truth values of its components. The physical theory underlying Stoicism is materialistic. All that has reality is material. Force, which is the shaping principle, is joined with matter. The universal working force, God, pervades all and becomes the reason and soul in the animate creation.
Zeno had a statue raised to him in Athens at public expense. Diogenes Laertius, in Lives of Eminent Philosophers said the inscription read, in part:
Whereas Zeno of Citium, son of Mnaseas, has for many years been devoted to philosophy in the city and has continued to be a man of worth in all other respects, exhorting to virtue and temperance those of the youth who came to him to be taught, directing them to what is best, affording to all in his own conduct a pattern for imitation in perfect consistency with his teaching...
The influence of Stoicism on Greek and Roman culture was enormous. Stoicism became a "popular philosophy" in a way that neither Platonism nor Aristotelianism ever did. In part this is because Stoicism, like its rival Epicureanism, addressed the questions that most people are concerned with in very direct and practical ways. It tells you how you should regard death, suffering, great wealth, poverty, power over others and slavery. In the political and social context of the Hellenistic period (where a person could move between these extremes in very short order) Stoicism provided a psychological fortress which was secure from bad fortune. Historians of philosophy earlier in this century regarded this as a mark against Hellenistic philosophy generally. Stoicism remained an influential movement for five centuries and its basic premise of ataraxia is what we all strive for.
15. The line of Macedonian Kings continued long after Philip II and Alexander the Great. They ruled over the "now" very Hellenized, free people of Macedonia, who were enjoying life in a prosperous country. There was no longer a full time national army, with mostly Greek and Illyrian mercenaries making up the garrisons instead.
But as Philip and Alexander had before them, Rome was becoming a force to reckon with. Philip V of Macedonia fought the First Macedonian War (215-205 BC) against Rome, and also the Second Macedonian War (200-197 BC), which was the result of Philip V trying to expand his empire along the coast of Asia Minor. Pergamum and Rhodes were helped by the Romans and they won the war against Macedonia.
Twenty-five years later with Philip V's son Perseus then ruling Macedonia, they again made military moves against Pergamum. Eumenes II Soter of Pergamum made an appeal to Rome for assistance against the hostilities and this led to the Third Macedonian War (171-168 BC). After three years of sporadic fighting, the climax was reached on the Macedonian coast at Pydna on June 22, 168 BC.
Perseus and his army were defeated terribly by the Romans at Pydna and the battle there ended Macedonian rule altogether. Perseus is thus known as the last legitimate Macedonian king. Macedonia became the first Hellenistic Kingdom to come under Roman power. The Romans then converted the kingdom into four weak republics, ending the freedom of its people. Twenty years later, the republics were abolished and annexed into a Roman province.
16. The Chaldeans were priests from a land in the Tigris and Euphrates valley called Chaldea, sometimes including Babylonia. The Chaldean priests were very influential, using the planets and the twelve signs of the Zodiac to predict the future. These astrological seers used a person's birthday and exact time of birth to work out individual horoscopes.
As Alexander the Great moved eastward and thousands of Greeks began to settle in foreign places, there was a move away from the worship of the Olympian gods toward a more individualized search for peace of mind. Thus began the Greeks' fascination with the worship of stars and astrology in general. They hoped that the predictions made by prophets like Berossus could really forecast their destiny, as well as give instructions on "how to outwit what had been destined" for them.
This Chaldean influence on the Greeks provided excitement and a feeling of control over their own lives. Their interest in astrology led the Greeks into the more scientific study of astronomy in which they made considerable advances of calculation, leading to new fields of mathematics. The Greeks were known as a race of people who adopted ideas from other cultures, adapting them to further their own interests. This is evident in the case of the Chaldeans.
17. Theocritus of Syracuse was speaking of Ptolemy I when he said that "Lagus' son boldly achieved such grand schemes as no man but he could have thought of." The Hellenistic Monarchs were very wealthy and they usually did one of three things with surplus cash: they spent it on a public structure like a library; stored it in vaults; or they gave it to one the cultural arts, sciences, or to a poet such as Theocritus.
Kings like Ptolemy I were always in competition with each other and wanted poets in their courts to write propaganda for them. They were quite willing to pay a lot of money for the patronage. Theocritus was brought to live in Alexandria, supported by Ptolemy I, but primarily by Ptolemy II, who had become even wealthier than his father.
Patronage was garnered through flattery and by comparing the kings and even the kings' wives to gods such as Zeus and Hera. Political conquests and battles were also celebrated in these court poems. After Ptolemy II had put down uprisings in the area around Caria, Theocritus wrote his Encomium of Ptolemy to commemorate it. The monarchs had the resources, and the poets, artists, and scientists needed them to be able to further their work.
18. When he died, Alexander the Great left behind a fairly organized empire with Antipater as his Regent in Macedonia. Antipater was given immense respect because of his legendary expeditions, and should have become Alexander's successor. But Perdiccas was the senior cavalry officer and was a leading candidate for taking over the empire. He may have fabricated a story about Alexander leaving him the "ring" as propaganda to leverage a better position. He was the Regent of the East, but being an aristocrat, he was not well liked by the infantry. He did not have enough support for himself, so he decided to rally for Philip II's son, Arrhidaeus and heralded him as the rightful king until Alexander IV was born. Perdiccas then constructed a dual kingdom for them, but was later assassinated, possibly by Olympias, who wanted her grandson to be the sole heir.
Antigonus Monophthalmus had a higher position than the other generals because he was the Satrap of Phrygia and controlled the entire coast of Asia Minor and the Aegean Sea with his fleet. The other generals were content with carving up the empire: Seleucus was the Satrap of the entire eastern Persian Empire; Lysimachus was the Satrap of Thrace, and Ptolemy controlled Egypt. But Antigonus Monophthalmus and his son Demetrius objected. Antigonus wanted to hold the empire together and become the King of the world. The generals fought each other for many years: the Separatists versus Antigonus Monophthalmus and Demetrius, until the final showdown at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. Antigonus was killed and Demetrius was left only with the fleet. The Battle of Ipsus was an extremely important turning point in history: nobody ever tried to reconstruct Alexander the Great's Empire after it.
19. The Spartan Revolutions of the late 3rd century BC failed because the leaders were weak and "backward looking." King Agis IV was only one of many who believed that the land allotments advocated by the mythological Lycurgus, and the very rigid training of the agoge should be reviewed to bring Sparta back to its "golden age." The Spartan King Areus had lifted the ban on a money-based economy and change came quickly. Compulsory initiation into the ancient system of training ended, and they were now using the Hellenized koine dialect. But more importantly, the equal land allotments were abandoned and the citizens had expensive mortgages to pay to the one hundred men and women who now owned all of it. Still more problematic were the numbers of people who could no longer meet the property requirements of citizenship, leaving the numbers of Spartiates dangerously low. It was these men who had kept the helots in check for centuries. They were now trying to make changes but the privileged few had no intention of giving up their wealth without a fight.
Beginning with King Agis IV, and continuing to 192 BC when Nabis was killed, these rulers sought reform by using methods that had worked in the past. Instead of trying to create wealth and build a solid economic foundation for their poor, they were more interested in increasing their own power and in establishing a strong elite, and above all, a strong army.
20. The Hellenistic Period was one of increased travel. Alexander the Great had founded many Greek cities in faraway lands, and it was a time when Greeks were living all over the Eurasian continent and Egypt. With the koine dialect increasingly becoming a means of universal communication, people could travel more easily. It was also a period when men like Cicero and Julius Caesar went to places like Rhodes and Athens to study at the great philosophical schools of the time.
As people traveled more, there became an increasing demand for travel catalogues to instruct them on the most magnificent sights of the ancient world. Philo of Byzantium and Callimachus of Cyrene both wrote such books, which were known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Philo of Byzantium was a writer, but primarily a mathematician, and Callimachus was a very famous poet and employee at the Alexandrian Library. But writers and intellectuals of the time came into contact with so many of the great minds of the era that they could broaden the horizons of their minds and write on a multitude of subjects. There were many structures of the time that were surely remarkable enough to attract visitors: places such as the Parthenon in Athens, and the Palace at Knossos. But the one characteristic that all of the chosen wonders shared was their gigantic proportions.
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