Age of Conquests

The Greek World from Alexander to Hadrian (336 BC – AD 138)

Angelos Chaniotis

• Publisher: Profile Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781846682971, 9781846682964
• eBook ISBN: 9781847654212
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

The ancient world that Alexander the Great transformed in his lifetime was transformed once more by his death. The imperial dynasties of his successors incorporated and reorganized the fallen Persian empire, creating a new land empire stretching from the shores of the Mediterranean to as far east as Bactria. In old Greece a fragile balance of power was continually disturbed by wars. Then, from the late third century, the military and diplomatic power of Rome successively defeated and dismantled every one of the post-Alexandrian political structures. The Hellenistic period (c. 323-30 BC) was then one of fragmentation, violent antagonism between large states, and struggles by small polities to retain an illusion of independence. Yet it was also a period of growth, prosperity, and intellectual achievement. A vast network spread of trade, influence and cultural contact, from Italy to Afghanistan and from Russia to Ethiopia, enriching and enlivening centres of wealth, power and intellectual ferment. From Alexander the Great's early days building an empire, via wars with Rome, rampaging pirates, Cleopatra's death and the Jewish diaspora, right up to the death of Hadrian, Chaniotis examines the social structures, economic trends, political upheaval and technological progress of an era that spans five centuries and where, perhaps, modernity began.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Also by Angelos Chaniotis
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Maps
• Maps
• List of Figures
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 How It All Began: From Macedonia to the Oecumene (356–323 BC)
• 2 The Successors: Adventurers and Architects of Kingdoms (323–275 BC)
• 3 ‘Old’ Greece in the Short Third Century: Struggles for Survival, Freedom and Hegemony (279–217 BC)
• 4 The Ptolemaic Golden Age (283–217 BC)
• 5 Kings and Kingdoms
• 6 The City-state in a World of Federations and Empires
• 7 Entanglement: The Coming of Rome (221–188 BC)
• 8 The Greek States Become Roman Provinces (188–129 BC)
• 9 Decline and Fall of the Hellenistic Kingdoms in Asia and Egypt (188–80 BC)
• 10 A Battlefield of Foreign Ambitions (88–30 BC)
• 11 A Roman East: Local Histories and Their Global Context (30 BC–AD 138)
• 12 Emperors, Cities and Provinces from Augustus to Hadrian (30 BC–AD 138)
• 13 Socio-economic Conditions: From Greek Cities to an ‘Ecumenical’ Network
• 14 Social and Cultural Trends: Benefactors, Confrères, Ephebes, Athletes, Women and Slaves
• 15 From Civic Worship to Megatheism: Religions in a Cosmopolitan World
• 16 The Greeks and the Oecumene
• References and Sources
• Bibliography
• Chronology
• Index
• Also from Profile Books