Section+5-5+The+Spread+of+Hellenistic+Culture

Key Words:

 * __Hellenistic__: The outcome of blending Greek (Hellenic), Persian, Egyptian, and Indian cultures.
 * __Alexandria__: Foremost center of Hellenistic world, located right outside the Nile delta.
 * __Colossus of Rhodes__: Largest known Hellenistic sculpture, over 100 feet high, on the island of Rhodes. One of the seven wonders of the world.

Key People:

 * __Aristarchus__: Believed sun was 300 times the size of Earth, and the Earth and other planets revolved around the sun.
 * __Ptolemy__: Believed that the Earth was the center of the solar system.
 * __Eratosthenes__: Director of the Alexandrian Library. Was an atronomer, mathematician, poet, and historian.
 * __Euclid__: Mathematician, his geometry text used by Eratosthenes and Aristarchus.
 * __Archimedes__: Scientist, studied in Alexandria.
 * __Plutarch__: Said how Archimedes demonstrated lifting large objects in front of a crowd.
 * __Zeno__: Philosopher, 335-263 B.C., founded school Stoicism.
 * __Epicurus__: made a school for Epicureanism.

Hellenistic Culture in Alexandria:

 * Because of Alexander, Hellenistic culture emerged, language: koine, helped because different cities from all over the Hellenistic world could speak the same language, communicate better.
 * Trade and Cultural Diversity:**
 * Alexandria became a major trading harbor, where many ships docked, by 300 B.C. it was an international community with all the different cultural backgrounds.
 * Alexandria's Attractions:**
 * Greek god statues, city divided into blocks, gorgeous palaces, Alexander's tomb (visited often), lighthouse Pharos (350 feet tall), famous library and museum (a temple of Greek Muses-gardens, zoo, art galleries, and a dining hall, institute of advanced study).
 * Alexandrian Library: 500,000 papyrus scrolls, first real research library, used by many scholars, and contained literature masterpieces.

Science and Technology:

 * Hellenistic scholars used science documents from the Greeks and Egypt, and until 16th and 17th centries, Alexandria was where most of the scientific knowledge was kept.
 * Astronomy:**
 * Museum also contained an observatory, Aristarchus, and astronomer, made two great conclusions, both disapproved, but realistic, Ptolemy made a conclusion which astronomers believed for 14 centuries, but was very unrealistic.
 * Eratosthenes tried to calculate the size of the Earth by using geometry, somewhere between 28,000 and 29,000, the Earth is about 24,860.
 * Mathematics and Physics:**
 * Euclid: taught in Alexandria, book //Elements// has 465 geometric proofs and propositions.
 * Archimedes, from Syracuse, estimated the value of pi, how to find a circle's radius from diameter, and explained the law of the lever.
 * Archimedes made the pulley, Archimedes screw (brought water to ground), and later scientists used his ideas to build steam engines and a force pump and a pneumatic machine.

Philosophy and Art:

 * 300 B.C., philosophers became worried about how people should live their lives: two major thoughts came from those ideas.
 * Stoicism and Epicureanism:**
 * Zeno created a school for Stoicism, Stoics said that life should be lived in harmony, God rules universe, human desires were bad. Focus on what can be controlled.
 * Epicurus taught that gods ruled the universe, but didn't care about humans, achieve harmony in body and mind.
 * Realism in Sculpture:**
 * Sculptures became very popular during this time, the Colossus of Rhodes was the most famous, and when it toppled from an earthquake in 225 B.C. it's bronze was sold as scrap, another sculpture was the Nike of Samothrace, built in 203 B.C.
 * Soon, though, instead of the perfect man and women, the sculptures became more realistic.
 * Hellenistic culture fell under the new Western civilization, with similar culture to Greek, Rome.