45. THE HELLENISTIC AGE
HELLENISTIC LITERATURE
These splendid cities in the Orient were the centers of much literary activity. Their inhabitants, whether Hellenic or "barbarian," used Greek as a common language. During this period Greek literature took on a cosmopolitan character. It no longer centered in Athens. Writers found their audiences in all lands where Greeks had settled. At the same time literature became more and more an affair of the study. The authors were usually professional bookmen writing for a bookish public. They produced many works of literary criticism, prepared excellent grammars and dictionaries, but wrote very little poetry or prose of enduring value.
THE MUSEUM AT ALEXANDRIA
The Hellenistic Age was distinguished as an age of learning. Particularly was this true at Alexandria, where the Museum, founded by the first Macedonian king of Egypt, became a real university. It contained galleries of art, an astronomical observatory, and even zoological and botanical gardens. The Museum formed a resort for men of learning, who had the leisure necessary for scholarly research. The beautiful gardens, with their shady walks, statues, and fountains, were the haunt of thousands of students whom the fame of Alexandria attracted from all parts of the civilized world.
THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY
In addition to the Museum there was a splendid library, which at one time contained over five hundred thousand manuscripts—almost everything that had been written in antiquity. The chief librarian ransacked private collections and purchased all the books he could find. Every book that entered Egypt was brought to the Library, where slaves transcribed the manuscript and gave a copy to the owner in place of the original. Before this time the manuscripts of celebrated works were often scarce and always in danger of being lost. Henceforth it was known where to look for them.
[Illustration: LAOCOON AND HIS CHILDREN (Vatican Museum Rome) A product of the art school of Rhodes (about 150 B.C.). The statue represents the punishment inflicted on Laocoon a Trojan priest together with his two sons. A pair of large serpents sent by the offended gods have seized the unhappy victims.]
[Illustration: VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE (Louvre, Paris) Commemorates a naval battle fought in 306 B.C. The statue, which is considerably above life-size, stood on a pedestal having the form of a ship's prow. The goddess of Victory was probably represented holding a trumpet to her lips with her right hand. The fresh ocean breeze has blown her garments back into tumultuous folds.]
SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES
The Hellenistic Age was remarkable for the rapid advance of scientific knowledge. Most of the mathematical works of the Greeks date from this epoch. Euclid wrote a treatise on geometry which still holds its place in the schools. Archimedes of Syracuse, who had once studied at Alexandria, made many discoveries in engineering. A water screw of his device is still in use. He has the credit for finding out the laws of the lever. "Give me a fulcrum on which to rest," he said, "and I will move the earth." The Hellenistic scholars also made remarkable progress in medicine. The medical school of Alexandria was well equipped with charts, models, and dissecting rooms for the study of the human body. During the second century of our era all the medical knowledge of antiquity was gathered up in the writings of Galen (born about 130 A.D.). For more than a thousand years Galen of Pergamum remained the supreme authority in medicine.
ANCIENT AND MODERN SCIENCE COMPARED
In scientific work it seems as if the Greeks had done almost all that could be accomplished by sheer brain power aided only by rude instruments. They had no real telescopes or microscopes, no mariner's compass or chronometer, and no very delicate balances. Without such inventions the Greeks could hardly proceed much farther with their researches. Modern scientists are perhaps no better thinkers than were those of antiquity, but they have infinitely better apparatus and can make careful experiments where the Greeks had to rely on shrewd guesses.
EXTENSION OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
During the Hellenistic Age men began to gain more accurate ideas regarding the shape and size of the habitable globe. Such events as the expedition of the "Ten Thousand" [17] and Alexander's conquests in central Asia and India brought new information about the countries and peoples of the Orient. During Alexander's lifetime a Greek named Pytheas, starting from Massilia, [18] made an adventurous voyage along the shores of Spain and Gaul and spent some time in Britain. He was probably the first Greek to visit that island.
ERATOSTHENES, ABOUT 276-194 B.C.
All this new knowledge of East and West was soon gathered together by Eratosthenes, the learned librarian of Alexandria. He was the founder of scientific geography. Before his time some students had already concluded that the earth is spherical and not flat, as had been taught in the Homeric poems. [19] Guesses had even been made of the size of the earth. Eratosthenes by careful measurements came within a few thousand miles of its actual circumference. Having estimated the size of the earth, Eratosthenes went on to determine how large was its habitable area. He reached the conclusion that the distance from the strait of Gibraltar to the east of India was about one-third of the earth's circumference. The remaining two-thirds, he thought, was covered by the sea. And with what seems a prophecy he remarked that, if it was not for the vast extent of the Atlantic Ocean, one might almost sail from Spain to India along the same parallel of latitude.
[Illustration: PROGRESS OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE IN ANTIQUITY
Map, The World according to Eratosthenes, 200 B.C.
Map, The World according to Ptolemy, 150 A.D.]
PTOLEMY
The next two centuries after Eratosthenes saw the spread of Roman rule over Greeks and Carthaginians in the Mediterranean and over the barbarous inhabitants of Gaul, Britain, and Germany. The new knowledge thus gained was summed up in the Greek Geography by Ptolemy [20] of Alexandria. His famous map shows how near he came to the real outlines both of Europe and Asia.
THE PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM
Ptolemy was likewise an eminent astronomer. He believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that the sun, planets, and fixed stars all revolved around it. This Ptolemaic system was not overthrown until the grand discovery of Copernicus in the sixteenth century of our era.