Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:51 AM Sayfa
The Hellenistic Period 330-30 BC
Culture, Art and Architecture in the Hellenistic Period
Cultivated and raised in Anatolia, this civilization was a result of the
mixture of the Hellenistic culture and the culture of the east. It is
important in its creative nature and universal character. A feature of
the Hellenistic culture, which spanned a wide spectrum, was that it
was made of diverse races as opposed to Greece or Macedonia which
were of the same race, and had a supranational policy which did not
discriminate on the grounds of religion and language. For instance,
the state founded by Alexander the Great was by no means a
nationally characterized Macedonian Empire.
Alexander held the opinion that the Hellenistic culture he wanted to
form shall be based on the Hellenistic culture in general. However, he
was highly impressed by the cultural and scientific accumulation of
the east and this interaction was reflected in the Hellenistic culture.
To transfer the Hellenistic life style here, he established about 70
cities-mostly named Alexandria-organized them as Hellenist city
states and settled Macedonians and Greeks here. Alexander also
encouraged those local people who sympathized with this culture to
settle here. In these cities, the people had the right to select their own
laws and administrators. The cities continued to exist in the
Hellenistic Period for many years as a cultural center. Wanting to
establish this culture, Alexander married a Persian princess despite
protests by the Macedonians, and encouraged his soldiers to marry
Persian women as well.
Greek was the common language in the territories of Alexander and
the only difference between the free people was whether they
assimilated the common culture or not. The blending of people also
led to the blending of their beliefs in the ancient times, Kybele in Asia
Minor, Istar in Mesopotamia, Astarte in Syria, Isis in Egypt, and
Demeter in Greece were goddesses who were worshipped ever since
the earliest times. Tykhe represented all of these gods during the
Hellenistic Period and The Kingdom of Seleucos declared her the chief
goddess. While the cult of Kybele continued in Anatolia, Zeus,
Dionysos, Apollon and Athena retained their importance in Western
185