Hellenism began at the end of the fourth century B.C. and ended around 400 A.D. This period of time began with the victory over the Persians by Alexander the Great who linked a wide range of land to the Greek culture. The Greek culture during this time period had great impacts on the three Hellenistic kingdoms, Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt. (Gaarder 127-138)
Hellenism began with the period of Late Antiquity. This began when the Romans conquered all three of the Hellenistic kingdoms. During this period, the boundaries between cultures of different countries were beginning to disappear and people were beginning to doubt their religions and culture. (Gaarder 127-138)
This combining of cultures and religions during the Hellenistic period is called syncretism. Hellenism is known for the syncretism that went on between the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Babylonians, Syrians, and Persians. New religions, philosophies, and sciences were being created from the combining of the creeds of each country before they had merged. In fact, the separations between religions and philosophies were also being erased since both were moving towards the idea that people could be salvaged by death. Science was also becoming a mixture of the sciences of all of the different countries with Alexandria as the center for science because of it’s large amount of resources in its library. (Gaarder 127-138)
Through the combining of culture and philosophies of many countries, four philosophies developed all of which were concerned with happiness of men and the manner in which men should live their lives. These four groups of people were the Cynics, Stoics, Epicureans, and Neoplatonistics. (Gaarder 127-138)
Cynics
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The Cynics, founded by Antisthenes, a student of Socrates, were mainly concerned with what true happiness in life was. They believed that happiness came from not being interested or dependant on external gains such as material wealth and that once true happiness was found, it could not be lost. The cynics believed that people should be happy with what they have and not be worried about other people or external things, even their own health and death. (Gaarder 127-138)
Diogenes was a very poor man that lived in a barrel who was the quintessence of a Cynic. Living with barely anything, Diogenes got a visit from Alexander the Great who was concerned about the way he was living. Alexander had asked him if there was anything that he needed or wanted. Diogenes replied saying that the only thing he wanted was for Alexander to move since he was blocking the sun from Diogenes. This story showed that Diogenes was perfectly happy even with the extremely small amount of wealth and material things he had. (Gaarder 127-138)
Stoics
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The Stoics, who were founded by Zeno, were named after the Greek Word ‘stoa’ meaning ‘portico’ since Zeno would congregate with other Stoic followers of his under a portico. They believed that everyone was like a miniature world with the same ‘logos’ or common sense. They thought that there was a natural law for the rightness of all people and that laws created by countries were just copies of this natural law and that all processes of nature followed this natural law. They believed that people must accept these processes of the natural law. The Stoics’ ideas were monistic in that they believed that there was just one nature and there was no difference or separation between spirit and matter. They contrasted Plato’s dualistic ideas about the universe and the split between spirit and matter. (Gaarder 127-138)
The Stoics were also cosmopolitan since they were more contemporary then the Cynics. Many of them, like Marcus Aurelius who was a statesman, were interested in current affairs and politics. They believed in the idea of humanism created by one of the famous Stoics, Cicero. This was the idea of viewing life by focusing on the individuals themselves, the slogan being “to mankind, mankind is holy” quoted by the Stoic Seneca. (Gaarder 127-138)
Epicureans
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The epicurean ideas were formed by Epicurus who combined the ideas of Aristippus and Democritus. Aristippus was student of Socrates who believed that in life men should try to find all possible enjoyment and wanted to find a way to avoid having any pain at all. Epicurus said that you should always think about the consequences of pleasurable things that you do and the long term results. He said that pleasure can be sensual pleasure of values and that they require the Greek ideals (self control, temperance, and serenity). (Gaarder 127-138)
Epicurus used Democritus’s theory of the atom to help people get over the fear of death so that they could really enjoy life. Democritus had said that when people die, there is no more life and that the ‘soul atoms’ spread out everywhere. Therefore Epicurus said that people should not be scared of death while they are living because death is not affecting you while you are living and that when you do die, you are no more. The four medicinal herbs of Epicurus encapsulate his ideas that he generated. “The gods are not to be feared. Death is nothing to worry about. Good is easy to attain. The fearful is easy to endure” These four statements are the ideas that the Epicureans based their philosophy on.(Gaarder 127-138)
Neoplatonistics
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Neoplatonism was based on the philosophy
of Plato. Plotinus was the most important person in Neoplatonism. He believed
that the world has two poles, one being
God or One and the other is absolute darkness that gets no light from God.
He believed that everything that exists is one, or God, in the sense that God
is the divine light that shines life and existence on everything. The things
that the light did not reach are the matter that everything is made of. The
eternal ideas and forms of creatures are what are closest to the divine light
while the earth, stone, and water are farthest away. This idea is like Plato’s
idea of the came in that the closer the prisoners got to the mouth of the cave,
the closer they got to where all life comes from. (Gaarder 127-138)
Plotinus claimed that he had some mystical experiences in his life in which
he merged with God. This idea of Mysticism is very common in many religious.
Many people claim to have had mystical experiences in which they felt like
they were loosing themselves and they became God. There are two types of mysticism,
western mysticism (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) in which the mystic says
he met with God, and eastern mysticism(Hidusim, Buddism, and Chinese religions)
in which the mystic claims they had a complete union or combining with God. (Gaarder
127-138)
Works Sited
Gaarder, Jostein . Sophie's World. New York: Berkley Book, 1994.
"Diogenes." Research machines. 06 Nov. 2005 <http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0015968.html>.
"Valarie Carberry Gallary." John Hancock Center. 06 Nov. 2005 <http://www.valeriecarberry.com/past_kahn.shtml>.
"Epicurus." Soylent Communications. 06 Nov. 2005 <http://www.nndb.com/people/792/000087531/>.
"Regio V - Insula II - Terme del Filosofo (V,II,6-7)." 06 Nov. 2005 <http://www.ostia-antica.org/regio5/2/2-6.htm>.
By: Raina Chandiramani and Mac Davis