A Polis is described as “a tight-knit, small community of ancient Greek citizens who agreed on certain rules and customs.” The Polis is said to be one of the first recorded democratic forms of government in the world. At a time in history when most of the world was being run by some form of monarchy, Greece seemed to be living a way of life that called for the inclusion of citizens in the decision-making for their Polis. Selected citizens were allowed to vote directly on issues rather than having a government representative speak on their behalf. The Polis and their democratic nature are said to be responsible for the shaping of the American government and other democratic government entities that we know today. As time carried on and more places were being conquered by the Greeks, communities called “Cosmopolis” began to form. A cosmopolis is defined as “an internationally important city inhabited by many different peoples reflecting a great variety of cultures, attitudes, etc.” As the Greeks began their quest for imperialism, they saw a mixture of other cultures and theirs coming together to form these cosmopolises. Life in the polis differed from life in the cosmopolis in many ways. One, The cosmopolis was composed of many cultures and ways of living. Whereas in the Polis everyone lived “The Greek way” and shared common beliefs and ways of living. Two, by the time that the cosmopoleis began to come about Alexander the Great, did not care for democracy and fairness the way that his greek ancestors before he did, and so the idea of giving citizens the right to decide on the matters that would affect them seemed to have been tossed aside. Lastly, The idea of Democracy was not seen or used as frequently as it was in the earlier stories of the polis. Alexander had a plan and he would do whatever it took to expand the Greek reign as far as he could. Classical Greece is the period where ancient Greece was dominated by Athens. Whereas the Hellenistic world's start is marked by the death of Alexander the Great. The Hellenistic world differs in character from classical Greece in many ways. By the time of the Hellenistic world, Greece had conquered many places and merged a lot of its cultural aspects with that of the people and places that they traveled to. Fighting styles changed, and so did Greece's leadership. Classical Greece began after the period after the end of the Persian war, but by the time the Hellenistic period came in, Greek culture became very diverse with the spread of Greek imperialism around the Mediterranean and Asia. During the Hellenistic age, Greek culture began to infuse and influence different groups that were conquered.The Greek way of life was no longer just being lived out by people of Greek ancestry but by the inhabitants of the cities and communities that Alexander visited and conquered. Religious practices began to change as the classical Greek way of praying to gods and goddesses was replaced by the importance of individual happiness & new views being brought on by new philosophers. This resulted in the decline of the Greek religion as more people began to move away from superstitious beliefs. One example of the fusion between greek religion and its mixing with other cultured was the Buddhist sculpture that Michael Wood viewed while making his documentary on Alexander the Great. Wood explained that the Buddha was wearing a Greek toga. This shows just how much the local people were influenced by greek art and religion. The Classical age of Greece focused on preserving the Greek way of life, while the Hellenistic age showed the Greek influences left behind on the world after Alexander's reigns over the Mediterranean and Asia. Alexander the Great worked vigorously to spread Greek Civilization to other areas of the world. Through researching this topic, I was truly able to gain a good understanding of just how much Alexander the Great wanted to spread the Greek way of life, religion, art, and science forward to the rest of the world. Alexander went to any length he had to achieve what he wanted. Alexander is said to have founded over 20 cities with his name “Alexandria”. These cities were helped to be developed by Greek soldiers, traders, and artisans. Alexander’s expansion of Greek philosophy and science to the rest of the world led to many discoveries in Math and medicine. The spread of Greek culture through the conquests of Alexander also led to the spread of Greek art. There is almost no place in the world that you can travel to today and not see statues that have been influenced by those of the ancient Greeks themselves. Though Greece itself became a smaller part of Alexander the Great’s empire, he was able to take a piece of his homeland with him wherever he went. Thus spreading Greek culture in a way that was never done before. In Michael Woods’ “In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great,” you can see even today the influence that Alexander’s conquest had on each city and country that he visited.Even years after the Persian war he continued to avenge the wrongdoings of the Persians toward the Greeks. He never strayed away from the goal that he set out to accomplish, which was to spread the Greek way of life as far as he could.Not only did Alexander leave a trail of Greek culture behind everywhere he ventured, but he made sure that his name would be one to be remembered. Which he accomplished in the end. Plato, who is a well-known Greek philosopher had many views on democracy and how the government should be run. In his book “The republic” he spoke about what he thought to be the ideal way to run a city. He says “The society we have described can never grow into a reality or see the light of day, and there will be no end to the troubles of states, or indeed, my dear Glaucon, of humanity itself, till philosophers become rulers in this world, or till those, we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.” Plato had a strong belief that whoever would be ruling over the city should possess knowledge beyond that of a king. He came up with a philosopher-king model. Where the Philosopher King would make the decisions for everyone in the society. Plato went on the say “Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophize, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils,... or, I think, will the human race.” Plato did not believe that just anyone could rule over the city and made it very clear. He thought that the average Man was too emotional and uneducated to make decisions that affected the entire city. Plato's critique of Democracy in “The Republic” reflected the changes after the Macedonian conquest of Greece because it shows just how far away people began to stray from the original idea of democracy. Instead, with the reign of Alexander things started to look more like a Tyranny. People could not speak up and say what they truly wanted. Plato states in “The Republic” that “The man who has no self-respect, on the contrary, will imitate anybody and anything; sounds of nature and cries of animals alike; his whole performance will be an imitation of gesture and voice.” This quote reminds me of Alexander and the ruthlessness at which he took to get what he wanted. He had no respect or care for the places or cultures that he destroyed. To me, Plato wanted a ruler that was also a Philosopher because he thought that having an intellectual leader would prevent events like the ones that happened during Alexander's reign. Though Alexander was educated and a student of the Philosopher Aristotle his views differed from that of his teacher. In conclusion, As time rolled on throughout Greek history so did its views on Democracy, societal roles, and the government. The classical Greek idea of a Democratic society seemed to have worked with the smaller Polis but was harder to keep up once Greek culture and ways of life began to spread across the Mediterranean and cities became larger, multiculturally infused cosmopoleis. Alexander the Great’s conquests lead to Greek culture being brought to different corners of the world, and the philosophies and traditions carried out by the Greek people were being used and taken part of by all of the countries that Alexander the Great had conquered.Not only did Alexander leave a trail of Greek culture behind everywhere he ventured, but he made sure that his name would never be forgotten. Philosophers, like Plato, saw early on that there were many issues with democracy, and thought that the leaders of Greece should be Philosophical Kings and that only then Greece and other parts of the world could be at peace. Though Alexander seemed to have strayed away from the beliefs originally held to high importance by the Greek community he was still able to do just what he set out to accomplish.
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