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The Hellenistic period covers the period of ancient Greek (Hellenic) history and Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC〔(Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition. ) Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013. (Archived here. )〕 and the subsequent conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year.〔(Hellenistic Age. ) Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013. (Archived here. )〕 At this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its peak in Europe, Africa and Asia, experiencing prosperity and progress in the arts, exploration, literature, theatre, architecture, music, mathematics, philosophy, and science. It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration, compared to the enlightenment of the Greek Classical era. The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint and the philosophies of Stoicism and Epicureanism. Greek Science was advanced by the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes. The religious sphere expanded to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis, eastern deities such as Attis and Cybele and the Greek adoption of Buddhism. After Alexander the Great's ventures in the Persian Empire, Hellenistic kingdoms were established throughout south-west Asia (Seleucid Empire, Kingdom of Pergamon), north-east Africa (Ptolemaic Kingdom) and South Asia (Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Indo-Greek Kingdom). This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to these new realms through Greco-Macedonian colonization, spanning as far as modern-day Pakistan. Equally, however, these new kingdoms were influenced by the indigenous cultures, adopting local practices where beneficial, necessary, or convenient. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek world with that of the Near East, Middle East, and Southwest Asia, and a departure from earlier Greek attitudes towards "barbarian" cultures.〔Green, p. xvii.〕 The Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization〔(Professor Gerhard Rempel, ''Hellenistic Civilization'' (Western New England College) ).〕 (as distinguished from that occurring in the 8th–6th centuries BC) which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa.〔Ulrich Wilcken, ''Griechische Geschichte im Rahmen der Altertumsgeschichte''.〕 Those new cities were composed of Greek colonists who came from different parts of the Greek world, and not, as before, from a specific "mother city".〔 The main cultural centers expanded from mainland Greece to Pergamon, Rhodes, and new Greek colonies such as Seleucia, Antioch, Alexandria and Ai-Khanoum. This mixture of Greek-speakers gave birth to a common Attic-based dialect, known as Koine Greek, which became the ''lingua franca'' through the Hellenistic world. Scholars and historians are divided as to what event signals the end of the Hellenistic era. The Hellenistic period may be seen to end either with the final conquest of the Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC following the Achean War, with the final defeat of the Ptolemaic Kingdom at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, or even the move by Roman emperor Constantine the Great of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople in 330 AD. "Hellenistic" is distinguished from "Hellenic" in that the first encompasses the entire sphere of direct ancient Greek influence, while the latter refers to Greece itself. ==Etymology== The word originated from the German term ''hellenistisch'', from Ancient Greek Ἑλληνιστής (''Hellēnistḗs'', "one who uses the Greek language"), from Ἑλλάς (''Hellás'', "Greece"); as if "Hellenist" + "ic". "Hellenistic" is a modern word and a 19th-century concept; the idea of a Hellenistic period did not exist in Ancient Greece. Although related in form or meaning words, e.g. ''Hellenist'' (, ''Hellēnistēs''), have been attested since ancient times,〔.〕 it was J. G. Droysen in the mid-19th century, who in his classic work ''Geschichte des Hellenismus'', i.e. History of Hellenism, coined the term ''Hellenistic'' to refer to and define the period when Greek culture spread in the non-Greek world after Alexander’s conquest. Following Droysen, ''Hellenistic'' and related terms, e.g. ''Hellenism'', have been widely used in various contexts; a notable such use of the terms is, following Matthew Arnold, in contrast to Hebraism.〔 〕 The major issue with the term Hellenistic lies in its convenience, as the spread of Greek culture was not the generalized phenomenon that the term implies. Some areas of the conquered world were more affected by Greek influences than others. The term Hellenistic also implies that the Greek populations were of majority in the areas in which they settled, while in many cases, the Greek settlers were actually the minority among the native populations. The Greek population and the native population did not always mix; the Greeks moved and brought their own culture, but interaction did not always occur. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hellenistic period」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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