5-5

Key Words: Hellenistic: A combination of Persian, Indian, and Egyptian culture. Alexandria: A city in Egypt that became the center of trade in the Hellenistic world. Colossus of Rhodes: The largest Hellenistic statue

Key People: Euclid: A highly respected mathematician who taugh in Alexandria. Archimedes: A scientist who accurately estimated the value of pi.

Hellenistic Culture in Alexandria
 * Greek culture blended with Persian, Indian, and Egyptian culture to create the Hellenistic culture. A language of Koine was spoken.

Trade and Cultural Diveristy
 * Alexandria was the center of trade in the Hellenistic world, and ships came from the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea with trading items, so Alexandria grew and prospered. Alexandria was also an international community with a blend of cultures from all over the Aegean sea.

Alexandria's Attractions
 * The was a stone lighthouse called the Pharos, and a famous museum and library dedicated to the Greek goddesses of arts and sciences, the Muses, which contained a zoo, botanical gardens, and an art gallery.
 * The Alexandrian library contained lots of scriptures and literature masterpieces, and it was the first research library in the world and helped "promote a group a gifted scholars".

Science and Technology
 * Hellenistic scholars preserved Greek and Egyptian learnings in the sciences, and until the 16th and 17th century, these scholars were responsible for most of the knowledge in the west.

Astronomy
 * Artistarchus, a Greek astronomer, attempted to prove the theories that the sun is much larger than Greece and that the planets revolve around the sun, but no one would support his them.
 * Eratosthenes used geometry to try and calculate the Earth's true size, which he found to be 28,000 to 29,000 miles of circumference, and although he was a bit off, he was a respected mathematician and astronomer, as well as a poet and historian.

Mathematics and Physics
 * Artistarchus and Eratosthenes used the book Elements by Euclid, which is still used in geometry today.
 * Archimedes, a Hellenistic scientist, accurately calculated the value of pi and explained the law of the lever.
 * Archimedes invented the Archimedes screw, a device that raised water from the ground, and the pulley, used to raise heavy objects, and using these ideas, scientist later created other things such as the steam engine.

Philosophy and Art
 * The teachings of Aristotle and Plato influenced Hellenistic philosophy, but in the 3rd century BC, philosophers were more concerned with how people lived their lives.

Stoicism and Epicureanism
 * Zeno, a Greek philosopher, founded a school called Stoicism, which taught that people should live virtuous lives in harmony with God or the laws God made for the universe, and focus on what the could control.
 * Epicurus founded another school of philosophy called Epicureanism, which taught that the gods had no interest in humans, and the only real objects were those that the senses perceived, and that "the main goal of humans was to achieve harmony of the body and mind".

Realism in Sculpture
 * The Colossus of Rhodes, with stood more than 100 feet high, was one of the seven wonders of the world until it was destroyed by in earthquake in 225 BC.
 * Instead of the serene faces and perfect bodies, Hellenistic sculptures were more realistic.
 * In 150 BC, the Hellenistic world declined, because Rome was coming to power.