1. Hellenism as a period. — The reign of Alex- ander the Great marks a period in Greek history, not only by reason of the expansion of Greek influence but also owing to the rise of a new spirit which affected language, literature, art, philosophy, science, civilization in general, and religion.
See J. G. Droysen, Geschichte des Hellenismtufl, Gotha, 1877-78; J. Kaerst, Geschichte des hellenistischen Zeitalters, Leipzig, 1901-09 ; P. Corssen, ' Uber Begriff und Wesen des Hellenismus,' ZSTiV ix. (190SJ 81-95.
(a) Language. — The Greek tribes, hitherto separated by rivalry and difference of dialect and customs, became mixed. A common language, the so-called ' Koine,' combining in its vocabulary and its grammatical forms elements from various dia- lects, took the place of the local dialects, and succeeded even in robbing the Attic of its domin- ating position in literature. Words never used by Attic writers but found in Ionic poets or in Doric inscriptions became current : as, e.g., yoyyvl^u, k\1- ^avos, and so did forms like Xa6s, va6s, i^M" instead of ^v, oida/xev instead of ia-pi.ev. The formation of compounds went on ; as the prepositions had lost somewhat of their meaning, two prepositions were combined : i^airoariWu, iwidiaTaaaw, iiriavvdyu ; and again nouns were formed from these com- pound verbs : i^airoaroKri, iTrididTayiJ.a, itnawayuryri. On the other hand, there was a tendency to use the simple where in former times a compound would have been used. The grammar lost certain moods and tenses : the dual and the optative became almost obsolete ; the pluperfect was rare. The syntax tended to become more simple ; the beauti- ful periods constructed by the Attic classics by means of participles and infinitives used as nouns disappeared ; the infinitive was generally expressed by 'if a or Situs used without a final sense.
Most of these changes can be explained from the point of view of the evolution of the Greek language itself. A language is always growing and changing, and the Koine marks only a step in a long process from the Greek of Homer's time to modern Greek. Of course this development did not always follow a straight line : there was a constant reaction, on. the part of certain authors, against the popular current, in favour of cultured literary forms ; besides the rich and flowerj' Asiani'sm an artificial Atticism was cultivated by the writers of the Hellenistic period.
Moreover, it is evident that an admixture of Oriental elements also influenced the Greek language. The vocabulary of this period shows Persian words [irapdSeicros, dyyapeveiv), as well as
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Hebrew and Aramaic (Trdo-xa, ad^^arov), Egyptian {irdTTvpoi, ^apad)), and Roman (STjvdpLov, KovcrriijSia). Many of the grammatical and sj^ntactical pheno- mena may be explained more readily by refer- ence to the parallels in these languages. One Hebraism is irpoffwirov rivos Xap-^dveiv, whence come irpoauiro\rjWT(j3p and TrpoawTro\r)\jyLa.
See H. A. A. Kennedy, Sources of NT Greek, Edinburgh, 1895 ; A. N. Jannaris, An Historical Greek Grammar, London, 1897; A. Deissmann, art. 'Hellenistisches Griechisch ' in PRE^ vii. 627-6311, Philology of the Greek Bible, Eng. tr., London, 1908 ; A. Thumb, Die griechische Sprache im Zeitalter des Hellenismus, Strassburg, 1901 ; J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena to the Grammar of the ATi*, Edinburgh, 1908. See afso next article.
(b) Literature. — The period of Hellenism marks a decrease in skilful composition, and at the same time exhibits much artificiality. The writing be- comes more popular in form as well as in contents : romance and novel attain to a large circulation ; there is a demand for biography, special history, travellers' guide-books, and the like ; many subjects are treated in the form of letters. Pseudepigrapliy, i.e. writing under an assumed name of some gi-eat authority of former times, is very common. By indulging in this practice, writers acknowledge their own lack of authority and originality. To imitate classical models well is the great aim of most of them, and this is what they are trained to do in the schools. As a matter of fact, they do their best work when writing in the ordinary style of popular talk ; but tiiey are not aware of this, and always aim at something more artistic, taking the artificial for the artistic. Many Hellenistic writers show a special interest in strange countries, peoples, languages, and customs.
See U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Geschiehte der griech- rschen Litteratur~ (Kultur der Gegenwart, i. 8, Leipzig, 1907); F. Susemihl, Geschiehte der griechischen Litteratur in der Alexandrinerzeit, do. 1891-92 ; W. Christ, Geschiehte der griechischen Litteratur^, ed. O. Stahhn and W. Schmid, Munich, 1908-09.
(c) Art. — The same holds true of the fine arts. It is a period of decadence, a natural decrease of physical and mental energy following on a period of highest achievement. In this special case the movement was determined by Oriental influences. The idealism of classic Greek art gave place to realism and symbolism ; natural brightness was turned into austere solemnity, beauty into mag- nificence, charm into sensuality.
See Springrer-Michaelis, Handbueh der Kunstgesehichte, i. {= Das AUertum^), Leipzig, 1911; L. von Sybel, Weltgeschichte der Kunst im Altcrtum^, Marburg, 1903 ; S. Reinach, The Story of Art throughout the Ages, London, 1904 ; J. Strzy- gowski, Orient oder Rom, Leipzig, 1901 ; E. A. Gardner, art. ' Art (Greeli and Roman) ' in ERE i. 870.
{d) Philosophy.— TYiQ philosophers of Hellenism are mostly eclectics ; the general tendency is to- wards the practical questions of life. Stoicism and Cynicism are the leading schools ; their teaching is popular and, indeed, is very often a kind of preaching. Philosophy becomes a sub- stitute for religion : it is moral education. Here again the lack of originality makes itself con- spicuous by the fact that recent products appear either under old names or as commentarits on old books. Tlicre is a tendency to rely on the authority of the ancients. Homer and Plato are treated as the divine text-books from which one has to derive all doctrines by means of allegorical interpretation. Mythology is turned into metapiiysics and physics, or psychology and morals. There is a particular interest in psychological analysis.