Hellenistic period Facts for Kids

Hellenistic period. Dionysus sculpture from the Ancient Art Collection at Yale.

The Hellenistic period in Ancient Greece (323–146 BC) was after the death of Alexander the Great.

Greek culture, art and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest of Greece.

At this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its peak in Europe, North Africa and Western 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, 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.

Images for kids

The Nike of Samothrace is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Hellenistic art.
Alexander fighting the Persian king Darius III. From the Alexander Mosaic, Naples National Archaeological Museum.
Alexander's empire at the time of its maximum expansion.
The distribution of satrapies in the Macedonian Empire after the Settlement in Babylon (323 BC).
The Kingdoms of Antigonos and his rivals c. 303 BC.
The major Hellenistic kingdoms in 240 BC, including territories controlled by the Seleucid dynasty, the Ptolemaic dynasty, the Attalid dynasty, the Antigonid dynasty, and independent poleis of Hellenistic Greece
Philip V, "the darling of Hellas", wearing the royal diadem.
Greece and the Aegean World c. 200 BC.
Painting of a groom and bride from the Hellenistic Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, near the ancient city of Seuthopolis, 4th century BC.
Gallo-Greek inscription: "Segomaros, son of Uillū, citizen (toutious) of Namausos, dedicated this sanctuary to Belesama"
A silver drachma from Massalia (modern Marseille, France), dated 375–200 BC, with the head of the goddess Artemis on the obverse and a lion on the reverse
Seleucus I Nicator founded the Seleucid Empire.
The Hellenistic world c. 200 BC.
The Dying Gaul is a Roman marble copy of a Hellenistic work of the late 3rd century BC. Capitoline Museums, Rome.
Bust of Mithridates VI sporting a lion pelt headdress, a symbol of Herakles.
Tigranes the Great's Armenian Empire
Coin of Phraates IV with Hellenistic titles such as Euergetes, Epiphanes and Philhellene (fond of Greek [culture])
A sculpted head (broken off from a larger statue) of a Parthian wearing a Hellenistic-style helmet, from the Parthian royal residence and necropolis of Nisa, Turkmenistan, 2nd century BC
Al-Khazneh in Petra shows the Hellenistic influences on the Nabatean capital city
Model of Herod's Temple (renovation of the Second Temple) in the Israel Museum
The Greco-Bactrian kingdom at its maximum extent (c. 180 BC).
Silver coin depicting Demetrius I of Bactria (reigned c. 200–180 BC), wearing an elephant scalp, symbol of his conquests of areas in the northwest of South Asia, where Afghanistan and Pakistan are today.
Indo-Greek Kingdoms in 100 BC.
Greco-Scythian golden comb, from Solokha, early 4th century, Hermitage Museum
Statuette of Nike, Greek goddess of victory, from Vani, Georgia (country)
Carthaginian hoplite (Sacred Band, end of the 4th century BC)
Eastern hemisphere at the end of the 2nd century BC.
Perseus of Macedon surrenders to Paullus. Painting by Jean-François Pierre Peyron from 1802. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.
The Library of Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom, here shown in an artist's impression, was the largest and most significant library of the ancient world.
The Rosetta Stone, a trilingual Ptolemaic decree establishing the religious cult of Ptolemy V
One of the first representations of the Buddha, and an example of Greco-Buddhist art, 1st-2nd century AD, Gandhara: Standing Buddha (Tokyo National Museum).
Bull capital from Rampurva, one of the Pillars of Ashoka, Maurya Empire, 3rd century BC. Located in the Presidential Palace of Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. The subject matter is Indian (zebu), the global shape is influenced by Achaemenid styles, and the floral band incorporates Hellenistic designs (flame palmettes).
Bust of Zeus-Ammon, a deity with attributes from Greek and Egyptian gods.
Cybele, a Phrygian mother Goddess, enthroned, with lion, cornucopia and Mural crown.
Relief with Menander and New Comedy Masks (Roman, AD 40–60). The masks show three New Comedy stock characters: youth, false maiden, old man. Princeton University Art Museum
Zeno of Citium founded Stoic philosophy.
One of the oldest surviving fragments of Euclid's Elements, found at Oxyrhynchus and dated to c. AD 100 (P. Oxy. 29). The diagram accompanies Book II, Proposition 5.
The Antikythera mechanism was an ancient analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions.
Ancient mechanical artillery: Catapults (standing), the chain drive of Polybolos (bottom center), Gastraphetes (on wall)
Head of an old woman, a good example of realism.

Hellenistic period facts for kids

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See also