Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:51 AM Sayfa
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Anatolia and magnificent temples were erected for them. Important
steps were taken in positive sciences during the Hellenistic Period,
during which the first academies (akademia) for scientific research
were established. Schools, which were formed in an organized and
detailed manner, played an important role in spreading the bright
civilization of the period. Tarsus and Alexandria were cities where university-level
education was provided and where many Anatolian scientists,
whose inventions retain their importance even today, were
educated.
Euklides of Alexandria, who organized the geometrical knowledge
available up to then, Apollonios of Perge, who put forward intriguing
theses in mathematics, Philon of Byzantion, who is known for his
invention in the area of war machinery, and Hipparhos of Niceae
(‹znik), who calculated the times when day and night are equal, were
the famous scientists of that age. Aristarkhos of Sisam found that the
Sun was 12 times greater than the World’s diameter, put forward that
the World revolved on its own axis and around the Sun, and thus he
was blamed for impiety.
One of the most important artistic segments of the Hellenistic Period
was the art of sculpture. This art is divided into three sections as the
Early Hellenistic (330-225 BC), the Middle Hellenistic (225-160 BC)
and the Late Hellenistic Period (160-30 BC). Since realism dominated
Hellenistic sculpture, sculptures of people from all walks of life and
from all ages were made, while the slender and gracious bodies of
idealism were replaced by seemingly large, muscled bodies with the
influence of the east. Their facial expressions were calm and their
body lines were soft. Many famous sculptors were produced during
this age. However, among these, Lysippos’s style dominated the
Hellenistic Period. Lysippos was the sculptor of the palace of
Alexander the Great during the transition period to Hellenism and
worked under the philosophy “I want to display a human not as it
actually is but as it seems to me.” Today, however, only the Roman
replicas of his sculptures exist.
Alexander’s Sarcophagus, which was supposedly created in 312 BC
and which has scenes of Alexander hunting and battling, is one of the
leading works of the Hellenistic Era. Even though this work in Sidon
was named after Alexander because of the embossments of Alexander
on it, it in fact belongs to Abdalonymos the king of Sidon. This king