Hellenistic culture
- Hellenistic culture- Greek culture blended with Egyptian, Persian, and Indian influences.
- The language that was used was called Koine meaning common in Greek
- The common language was very important as it allowed for people throughout all Macedonian empire to communicate in some fashion
- Alexandria- the center of the Hellenistic culture
- Located on western edge of the Nile delta
- Easy for people throughout the Macedonian Empire to get to by ship
- Booming economy due to all the different customs and items that came to Alexandria
- Some similarities to Ellis Island
- Alexandria’s appearance- the rulers spent a lot of money and time into making the city of Alexandria attractive
- The two greatest attractions were the museum and library
- It was said that alexander founded those buildings because Aristotle had given him a love for learning
- The library was the first true research library, it was used for a gifted group of scholars to do their work
- Science and Technology- much of the scientific research that was done in Alexandria was very influential
- Until the turn of the 16th and 17th century, Alexandrian scholars provided most of the scientific information to the west
- Astronomy- the museum contained a small observatory where Astronomers could study the stars and planets.
- Astronomer named Aristarchus made two very important conclusions:
- That the sun was bigger than Greece, stating it was 300 times bigger than the earth. ( actually is 1.3 million times bigger)
- The planets revolved around the sun. unfortunately no one supported this theory and another philosopher stated that earth was the center this theory was supported for the next 14 centuries
- Math and physics- Euclid was a well known mathematician, also wrote a book. Known for writing proofs.
- Archimedes- came up with the value of pi and also explained the law of leverage. He acreated a pulley to pull heavy objects as well.
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