Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/170

ii4 General History of Europe 173. The Fall of the Old Greek Gods. For highly educated men the beliefs of Stoicism or Epicureanism served as their re- ligion. They usually no longer believed in the gods in the old way. There was complete freedom of conscience far more freedom thaa the Christian rulers of later Europe granted their subjects. The teachings of Socrates would not now have caused his condem- nation by his Athenian neighbors. With the weakening of their faith in the old Greek gods many Greeks adopted the gods of Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, and these became more and more popular. 174. The Larger World of the Hellenistic Age. The older Greek states had been merged into a larger world. For while Greek civilization, with its language, its art, its literature, its theaters and gymnasiums, was hellenizing the Orient, the Orient in the same way was orientalizing the eastern Mediterranean world. But this world of the eastern Mediterranean, which had grown up as a result of Alexander's conquests, had by 200 B.C. reached a point when it was to come under the control of a great new military power from the western Mediterranean. We shall i>e unable to understand the further story of the eastern Mediter- ranean until we have turned back and followed the history of the western Mediterranean world. Iiv Italy for some three centuries the city of Rome had been developing a power which was to unite both the East and the West into a vast empire including the whole Mediterranean. QUESTIONS I. Describe the military machine of Philip of Macedonia. How did Philip gain the leadership of the Greeks ? Tell what you know of the education of Alexander the Great. How did Alexander subjugate the Greek states after Philip's death ? Describe Alexander's campaign ex- tending to the Euphrates River. How did the ancient East come under the control of a European power? How were Alexander's realms divided at his death ? What were the reasons for the political decline of Greece ? il 'II." What is meant by the Hellenistic Age? Describe the ways in which Greek language and civilization were spread into the East.